American executives point to Brazil as one of the largest irrigation markets in the world

During a visit to Goiás, three of Lindsay's main executives, the world's leading brand in the development of irrigation technologies, confirmed that Brazil is the second largest market for its products and services. Randy Wood and Brian Ketcham, respectively global CEO and CFO of the North American multinational, and Eduardo Navarro, general director of the brand in South America, were in Goiânia last week and spoke to some press vehicles specializing in agribusiness. In the capital, they were received by Cauê Campos, CEO of Pivot, an authorized Lindsay dealer in the country and national leader in the sale of agricultural machinery and irrigation systems.

In an interview with journalists from the agricultural sector, the two American executives said that Lindsay is currently present in 90 countries, and of these, Brazil is its second largest market, second only to the United States, where the brand's headquarters are located. "Within the national scenario, Goiás is fantastic and represents the largest domestic market for our products”, highlighted Randy Wood.

When justifying why Brazil is today a large potential market for irrigated agriculture, Wood highlighted that our country, in addition to a huge territorial extension with vast agricultural potential and a strong domestic consumer market, has a “very mature and very connected agribusiness in technology.” Figures from the 2021 Irrigation Atlas, prepared by the National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency (ANA), show that Brazil currently has more than 8,2 million hectares irrigated, but has the possibility of advancing to another 4,7 million hectares by 2040, which would represent an increase of 51% in our irrigated area.

Faced with the imminent need for food production of gigantic proportions, given the increase in the world population, Lindsay's CEO believes that so-called precision agriculture is the only possible way to meet this global demand. “Years ago precision agriculture was considered very complicated, but today it is much more accessible. And Brazil has made good use of its potential", stated the executive.

Highlighting that Lindsay currently accounts for a large share of central pivots sold nationally, the brand's CFO, Brian Ketcham, stated that the numbers for irrigation agriculture in Brazil are impressive and the goal for 2022 is to reach an even larger share of the market. Brazilian. “In addition to growing more here, we want to bring other new technologies that we are developing here,” he said. The American executive also assessed that irrigated agriculture is the natural and most sustainable way to meet the high demand for food in the world. “It is more sustainable because you have a system that will apply water at the right time and quantity, which directly reflects on productivity, which can increase by up to 40%, and quality. Contrary to what one might imagine, it is also not such a high investment for producers, since a central pivot irrigation system, for example, can pay for itself in two to three years”, he reveals.

Culture change

And speaking of sustainability, despite being a planting system that guarantees high food productivity in a sustainable way, Eduardo Navarro, general director of Lindsay in Latin America, states that in Brazil there is still a very mistaken view of a large part of society on irrigated agriculture. For him, new irrigation technologies are the fourth agricultural revolution in the world, because it is the only means capable of adding 30% to 40% of productivity in the same harvest, with reduced costs. He also recalled that of the entire agricultural area in Brazil, only 7% is irrigated, but this area accounts for 40% of the value of agricultural production in the country.

“We need to demystify this idea that irrigated agriculture is a ‘waste of water’. Quite the opposite. We do not consume water, because all the water that irrigation captures from nature is returned in the same way, without any contamination, unlike what happens in many industrial processes. It happens that society often has an idea of ​​something, but doesn’t have all the information at hand,” he argues.

When talking about Brazil's agricultural potential, Navarro stated that our country, due to its different rainfall profile, in relation to the vast majority of other countries, is the only place in the world where it is possible, using high precision irrigation systems. , have up to five harvests in two years. “In Goiás, for example, it is now possible, using irrigation, to produce three crops in a year, using irrigation,” he says.

Modernity

According to Cauê, irrigation technology enabled Brazil, which was already an agricultural powerhouse, to consolidate itself as the world's great breadbasket. “With irrigated agriculture you can produce in regions that were not possible before and this creates more opportunities within agribusiness. If before you had, for example in Goiás, lands in regions like Rio Verde, which were always highly valued for soybean production, now you have new agricultural frontiers in the state, with the Vale do Araguaia region where many producers have migrated from livestock to agriculture”, says the CEO of Pivot.

According to Cauê, agricultural irrigation systems are at a very high level of technology, within what the so-called agriculture 4.0 calls for, and progress depends on the farmer understanding the benefits and investing in connectivity. “Today we already have the technology to connect any central pivot to the internet. What looks like the future today is the present. It just depends on the farmer understanding the benefits and acquiring the technology. Today we already sell technology to connect any pivot to the internet”, claims Cauê Campos.