Crop-industry-livestock integration contributes to low-carbon agriculture

Brazil, in the last two decades, has stood out on the international scene with significant increases in agricultural production, due to increased productivity, whether in agriculture or livestock, placing itself among the main competing countries in food and agroenergy production. , with the capacity to meet the strong increase in global demand for these products.

We are one of the main protein suppliers in the international food market, exporting our surpluses to more than 215 locations around the world.

All these advances are the result of the increased use of technologies by rural producers, innovation in production systems and mainly the determination of our anonymous rural heroes.

A good example of innovation and rationality in the use of natural resources carried out by a rural entrepreneur can be seen at Goiás Verde Alimentos, an agro-industrial company, located in Luziânia-GO, where several irrigated agricultural crops are produced (corn, tomatoes, beans, wheat, peas, guava, etc.) with the use of water from dams built along the bed of the Pamplona river, to store water from the rain that falls during the summer period, which runs from November to March.

This is a very intelligent and efficient strategy for rational use of water, as the excess rainwater is reserved for irrigation of crops during the off-season or dry period and, if it were not stored, it would be lost when carried along the river and would not be possible. the intensification of land use, with an increase in the supply of quality food, generating jobs and income.

There they use the Direct Planting System (SPD) which does not require soil preparation, reducing the cost of diesel oil, with the consequent reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases, allowing harvesting and planting operations to be carried out simultaneously, as the machines that harvesting summer crops are followed by seeders that plant winter crops, or rather, irrigated or off-season crops, because in fact there is practically no winter season in the region.

Another relevant aspect of SPD is that the straw resulting from crop residues from the previous crop protects the soil against the direct action of sunlight and wind, keeping the water supplied by irrigation in the soil for longer, generating water savings of up to 30 % and the consequent reduction in energy costs.

Furthermore, this straw that covers the soil also prevents the spread of very severe diseases such as white mold (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) which attacks the main irrigated crops such as beans, tomatoes and peas, which can cause losses of up to 80% of production and whose chemical control is very costly and moderately efficient in cases of high incidence of the fungus in crops.

Straw is a physical barrier that makes it difficult for light to penetrate the soil and therefore reduces the germination of seeds (spores) of the fungus, reducing its spread and consequently reducing the use of fungicides to control it, resulting in reduced risk. environmental contamination and poisoning.

In Goiás Verde, much of the irrigated area is cultivated with green corn to supply raw materials for the canning industry. The ears of green corn are harvested and sent to the agribusiness for processing. The stalk and leaves that remain in the crop are harvested and chopped by a silage machine and transported by dump trucks to a silo, strategically built in a marginal pasture area close to the pivots.

There, this green mass is ensilted and/or mixed with concentrates to be supplied to batches of lean cattle, kept in confinement, in a covered structure for greater comfort for the animals. The residue from corn cobs (straw, cob, discard) that went to the agroindustry is also used to feed animals. Nothing is lost.

But rationality in the use of resources and inputs does not stop there. The feces of animals kept in confinement are collected daily and stored in paved areas, where they are mixed with ground rock of natural phosphate and are inoculated with bacteria that promote partial solubilization of the nutrient phosphorus and produce biofertilizer.

The production of soluble phosphate fertilizers is carried out through chemical and industrial processes that require large amounts of energy and emit high concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG).

At Goiás Verde, 80% of the fertilizer used annually is produced on the farm itself, providing a considerable reduction in production costs and a significant contribution to mitigating the causes of global warming and climate change.

Examples like this are worthy of an award and, at the very least, of being widely publicized and followed, especially in a country whose Federal Government has made a voluntary commitment to reduce GHG emissions by almost 40% by 2020.

Nothing is lost there, or almost nothing, as all that is lost is the ox's cry, which can be recorded. It's the countryside doing its part to feed the world, conserving natural resources and contributing to low-carbon agriculture.

Agricultural Engineer,

Specialist in Crop-Livestock-Forest Integration and Direct Planting System

Consulting and Agribusiness Field

(61) 3012-9760/9978-4558

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