1. Introduction Latin America and the Caribbean have the largest reserves of agriculture frontier in the world. During the 50 years from 1961–2011, the agricultural area in the region increased significantly, from 561 to 741 million hectares, with the largest expansion in South America, from 441 to 607 million hectares. In 2011, the agricultural land in use in Latin America and the Caribbean amounted to 770 million hectares.