New scenario for agriculture

With the increase in population and improvement in people's income, especially in populous countries such as China and India, the demand for a greater supply of food increases and, consequently, new challenges are posed to agriculture.

Increasing the production of food, fiber and energy, through increased productivity, is the great challenge for producing countries, such as Brazil. This way, it will not be necessary to open new areas. This can be achieved with the incorporation of technologies, some very simple, and many with practically zero cost. Sowing at the right time has no cost. However, when the farmer sows at the most suitable time, he is minimizing risks and may also experience productivity gains. Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (ZARC) is a public policy, available and within the reach of the majority of Brazilian farmers. In this new scenario, intensifying and integrating are fundamental tools for increasing productivity. Not only physical productivity, but also all factors of production. As an example, crop-livestock integration (ILP) is a strategy to recover degraded pastures and, therefore, improve the productivity of beef cattle farming, in addition to freeing up area for the cultivation of grains, fibers and energy. Along with improving productivity, which, in general, will occur through the intensification of technologies that will allow greater control of the production process, such as the digitalization of agriculture.

Improving productivity is the best strategy to ensure food security. This requires the quantitative and qualitative availability of food, but this alone will not be enough. The food must meet consumer demands. If, on the one hand, society has increased demand for food, fiber and energy, on the other hand, it also demands that they be produced in a sustainable way. Sustainability is seen here as the ecologically correct, socially fair and economically viable way to produce food, fiber and energy. Production models that prioritize the more rational use of natural resources, especially soil and water, will be more attractive to consumers. Production systems with greater diversity of species, which degrade the soil less and contaminate the environment less, are those most recommended. Thus, the direct planting system, where practices such as crop rotation, not disturbing the soil and permanent soil cover, is more suitable than that system in which few species are cultivated, the soil is disturbed through the use of plows and harrows and, most of the time, remains uncovered.

With soil disturbance, especially in tropical environments like ours, where there are high temperatures and humidity, organic matter is more easily burned, consequently the soil's productive capacity is reduced. In some cases, the effect of soil movement is so perverse that it can lead to degradation. Degraded soils, in addition to having their production capacity reduced due to erosion processes, contribute to the silting of water courses and the emission of greenhouse gases. When considering production factors, production costs and population demands, one comes to the conclusion about the size of the challenges for agriculture. For the farmer, regardless of the cultivated area, so that he can continue producing and earning profits, it is imperative to increase productivity and reduce costs. To reduce costs, it is necessary to improve management processes, so that, in the end, the producer knows, with certainty, how much it cost to produce a liter of milk, a bag of corn or a bag of beans. In addition, of course, to how much a machine hour costs you for each operation carried out from sowing to harvesting.

With this information, the producer will be able to identify points that are subject to improvement to increase the productivity of production factors. In addition to increasing productivity, it is necessary to consider sustainability, the possibility of traceability and certifying the health and nutritional quality of what is produced. Aspects that will be increasingly demanded by consumers. Considering that many buyers are only interested in large quantities of a given product, the producer, to face this challenge, with quality standards, will necessarily have to organize themselves into cooperatives and/or associations or even strengthen existing ones. Increasing the productivity of production factors and cultivated species, incorporating new consumer demands into the production process, is decisive for agriculture to meet the challenges facing it.

By Fernando Mendes Lamas, Researcher at Embrapa Agropecuária Oeste