Integrated management: a holistic view of agriculture

Currently, integrated management in agriculture is widely used to define the control of pests and diseases in crops. However, the discussion about its applications must go much further. In a sector in which we increasingly seek the tripod: productivity, profitability and sustainability, this concept needs to be analyzed in a broader way, allowing a holistic view of the agricultural production system.

It integrates “good agricultural practices” and always seeks a balance between the best agronomic and economic results, within a sustainable concept, which will not harm the environment, people or animals. In this sense, integrated management does not have maximum production as its only objective, it must also include socio-environmental aspects.

To achieve this harmony, crop monitoring for data collection must be periodic. With this data, the producer can compare the cost of a certain management action, in relation to the benefit it will bring, such as the impact on productivity, for example. With this analysis, it is possible to adopt more assertive and sustainable measures, which can range from biological, nutritional treatments, among others. Data-based decisions avoid waste and excessive costs, in addition to allowing more effective productive management throughout the entire cultivation cycle.

Within these practices, biotechnology has helped producers to increasingly adopt integrated management on their farms. Through these solutions, produced from natural sources, it is possible to generate low impact on the environment and contribute to the best quality of the soil-plant system, preserving natural resources. These are tools that aim to increase productivity and profitability while maintaining the balance and longevity of the environment.

Therefore, we can highlight the benefits of this management for both the producer, nature and, consequently, the consumer. This is because, with it, maximum profitability is possible, with the optimization of available resources, whether agricultural, acquired or fixed inputs, such as water and soil. The result is a production system that will remain efficient over time. For the population, the advantage is food security in harmony with the socio-environmental issues of its production.

Although we have a way to go, there is great room for optimism when it comes to the broad application of integrated management in crops. Those who have already brought a new meaning to the concept as an operational routine, within their farms, experience its benefits and work to promote improvements and advances in these actions. When you know it and put it into practice, there is no one who doesn't celebrate the beneficial results for everyone.

In order for us to advance the debate even further, an educational process is needed throughout the links in the production chain. We need to be clear that the sector works with exhaustible sources, and it is in this sense that integrated management works and is essential. The quality of the resources we use and how we leave them for the next generations is an equation that will give more longevity to the production process as we know it today. 

Ney Ibrahim, Commercial Director at Alltech Crop Science Brasil