Soy and cotton plantations are the ones that use the most precision agriculture in Brazil
According to data released at the 9th Brazilian Congress of Precision Agriculture (ConBAP), which brought together about 700 people, between August 9 and 11 in Campinas (SP), soy and cotton producers are the ones who most use precision agriculture techniques in the country. SLC Agrícola is one of these producers, which strongly invests in technology as a competitive advantage, capable of economic results that in 2022 reached the proportion of BRL 5.00 in return for each BRL 1.00 invested.
Data from the Precision and Digital Agriculture Market survey, conducted in 2021 by IHS Markit with support from the Brazilian Association of Precision and Digital Agriculture (AsBraAP), which interviewed 1,087 people in 11 Brazilian states, indicate that the adoption rate of precision agriculture (PA) is 66% for cotton and 34% for soy.
According to Ronei Sana, Digital Agriculture Manager at SLC Agrícola, the company began using Precision Agriculture in 2003, for everything to soil monitoring, with different layers of data, evolving to localized applications of inputs using heat maps. "When we talk about precision agriculture, we usually talk about a series of technologies that today can: analyze and correct the soil; generate productivity maps while harvesting; generate heat maps, indicating the need for localized application of a certain input (fertilizer or pesticide); generate variable seed rates and plant using machinery with embedded technology. Each of these steps helps to reduce production costs as they reduce the inputs used, while improving productivity and reducing environmental impact”, Sana explains.
There is no ignoring the benefits that precision equipment contributes to agricultural production. Research indicates gains of 5 to 10% in each technology adopted. "In 2022, only with the use of application we were able to reduce the cost of insecticides at SLC Agrícola by 6%”, Ronei Sana states.
Among the challenges pointed out for adopting precision and digital agriculture in Brazil, ConBAP speakers pointed out the lack of qualified labor. According to the lecture from Prof. Dr. Antônio Luís Santi, from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), among the agronomy courses throughout the country, 58% approach PA as part of another subject, and only 21% have the subject as a mandatory requirement.
The survey was developed by agronomist Mariana Poll Moraes and is called “Teaching and Research in Precision Agriculture in Agronomy Courses of Brazilian Higher Education Institutions (HEIS)”. She shows that the most used tools to assist in teaching precision agriculture in Brazil are GPS (90%), software (70%) and penetrometers (60%). The study also reveals that most research in the area on PA (80%) deal with georeferenced management of soil and plant attributes.
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