New technologies applied to agribusiness

With the world's population growth, the demand for agricultural production has increased, encouraging the search for new technologies and ways to achieve more assertive and sustainable results. Today, people's concern about what they eat is increasing, and proves the need to give more importance to the quality of agriculture and the products produced.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global agricultural production is expected to grow by 20% in ten years. Brazil, currently the third largest exporter, behind only the United States and the European Union, plays an important role in meeting this demand.

One of the ways to optimize agricultural production is through the use of technology, whether by improving agrochemical and biological solutions, such as better phytosanitary products and improving seed and meat animal genetics, or by improving production processes. creation, production and management. On all fronts, technology plays a fundamental role in this revolution.

Contribution of Brazilian startups to national agribusiness

The so-called "agritechs", technology startups focused on agribusiness, are responsible for a relevant part of the achievements of Brazilian agricultural production in recent years. They promoted a revolution in the countryside, with gains in productivity, quality and income for producers.

In a mapping carried out by the consultancy KPMG, in partnership with Distrito, it was found that there are already at least 135 technology companies focused exclusively on agribusiness, out of a total of around 7 thousand startups across Brazil, which proves that The search for innovation is a trend and also a necessity.

Until a few years ago, small producers or family producers were resistant to the use of technologies. Fortunately, this scenario has been changing drastically. If before the producer trusted his intuition when planting, harvesting or irrigating, now he relies on precise information collected in the field and cross-referenced with various other sources, such as climate forecasts and updated satellite or drone images.

Technological assistance in managing the aerial application of pesticides

The use of pesticides is a key activity in agricultural production. Without this practice, crops would be left hostage to fate against attack by larvae, fungi or any other elements that could hinder production. Furthermore, aerial application is an expensive activity and, if not carried out correctly, can cause harm to the producer and neighboring regions, if the product is applied in environmentally protected areas, such as water sources or inhabited areas.

For large producers, with extensive planted areas, aerial application is the ideal option, as the aircraft offers greater yield and speed. With this in mind, São Paulo startup Perfect Flight created a system that allows you to accurately visualize, through maps, the quality and performance of the pesticide application carried out. A pioneer in this sector, the startup was born out of the need of two of its partners, cousins ​​Josué and Kriss Corso, who, as cotton producers and massive users of aerial spraying, did not have data that would allow them to analyze the quality of the applications carried out. Therefore, many problems arising from poor application were not possible to be detected and corrected until a negative sign appeared in the crop.

Faced with this need, a cloud computing system was developed, capable of reading the data recorded in the LOG files (a type of flight file, which contains aerial and application data) of the aircraft and creating a report with a visual map of the application. and data that allows analyzing the quality of the action, at the end of 2015. Currently, the system also offers an environmental report, which shows the security parameters of restricted areas.

The continuous use of the system's functionalities and regular monitoring of the quality of aerial application guarantee significant results in increasing production and crop quality. One of Perfect Flight's success stories is a sugarcane factory in the state of São Paulo that adopted the use of the system in the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 harvests. During the period, 78.523 planted hectares received 369 applications via aerial spraying. The tool allowed an improvement of 13.46% in the application success rate, 6.99% in the loss rate, 8.26% in the failure rate and 8.46% in the application uniformity rate.

OThe numbers demonstrate the impact of technology both in saving chemical products, which are no longer wasted through losses and failures, and in increasing productivity and, consequently, the company's profitability.