agriculture of the future

Connected agriculture is one of the main solutions for sustainable production, capable of providing food for a growing global population. And it is already a reality in Brazilian crops. A survey carried out by Embrapa, the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) and the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), revealed that 84% of Brazilian farmers use at least one digital technology as a tool to support agricultural production .

Technology has allowed grain production in the country to grow by more than 300% in the last 20 years, while the planted area has increased by around 60%, according to Conab. And this is a concept we seek when developing an agricultural machine project: increasing productivity on a scale larger than the area produced. We already see equipment working in the field linked to intelligent systems that, in real time, read data and provide information to guide the producer to get the best potential from their crops.

The evolution of agriculture brought us the Direct Planting system in the 1960s, which reduced the impact of agriculture on the environment, with changes in soil management, and increased farmer productivity. Then we had the genetic improvement of seeds and, currently, we are experiencing the digitalization of agriculture, which intensified agricultural production a little more and brought major operational improvements. Today, for example, autopilot technology improves soil management to plant more crops within the same area and bring more efficiency to planting.

Another example is the weather stations on farms to capture data on the climatic conditions within the crop and provide greater accuracy about the climate. The analysis of the database, which is fed year after year with climate and productivity information, brings some answers, such as how much the climate has or has not impacted production, what is the pattern in the seasonality of rain and drought, characteristics of a possible summer season , helping to make more assertive decisions on a daily basis. 

All of our equipment at Massey Ferguson has some type of embedded technology and intelligent systems that contribute to production efficiency. An interesting example is the Momentum folding planter, which was a milestone in planting solutions in Brazil. The equipment was designed by Brazilians and for Brazilians and designed through responses and feedback from rural producers. The implement is Massey Ferguson's first global project developed 100% in Brazil, bringing the best planting quality in the world to Brazilian crops and offering greater versatility for transportation and agility to the farmer.

The technology embedded in the equipment guarantees the best planting quality by distributing the seeds at the correct depth, which also increases productivity. Another highlight is the transport system, developed for the Brazilian reality. It is a machine that came to solve one of the producer's problems, which is moving equipment between plots. Momentum, when closed for transport, is 3,6 m wide, overcoming obstacles to move around. A versatile machine for transport in Brazilian reality.

The objective of precision agriculture is not only to increase yield, but also to produce sustainably and make efficient use of inputs. The awareness of sustainable production is in focus. In spraying, we use technology to prevent agricultural pesticides from being applied excessively, bringing savings to the producer, and consequently reducing the environmental impact.

Connectivity is one of the main factors that influence and help in the use and dissemination of technology. Currently, we can observe in the field several ways to take data to rural properties. In more distant cities, we have fiber optics or radio connections, bringing internet to the farms. In other regions we have mobile data coverage, which is very important for transferring data from the machine. We recently had approval for the commercialization of broadband internet via satellite in Brazil, favoring the expansion of rural connections in more distant regions.

We see that connection in the field has been increasing in recent years, but it is certainly the main challenge for further advancement in the adoption of technology on rural properties. Massey Ferguson is one of the founders of ConectarAGRO, a non-profit civil association that aims to promote the expansion of the internet in remote areas of Brazil, to connect people, machines and instruments, enabling the Internet of Things (IoT) in agriculture.

The scenario is promising and the use of data will increasingly be an ally in decision-making for producers and consultants in the field.

Leonardo Plixo, Marketing Technology and Planters coordinator at Massey Ferguson