Data management shapes more sustainable agriculture aiming for low carbon emissions

With the advancement of technology in the field in recent years, producers have available in the palm of their hand, in just a few “clicks”, hundreds of pieces of information about the progress of their crops, from the performance of the machines to even news about the weather or market. . However, the greatest difficulty is organizing this data package in a precise way that is easy to interpret for day-to-day decisions.

To facilitate this arduous task, the startup Sima – Integrated Agricultural Monitoring System, has gone beyond collecting data in the field. The tool allows producers and companies to create a large database in which they can store the entire production and productivity history of the mapped areas and access them at any time from anywhere.

This expertise in Big data e Data Science already consolidated in several Latin American countries, it is also focused on contributing to sustainable agriculture, especially in the Bayer Carbon initiative, a pioneering project that seeks to intensify the adoption of sustainable management practices and carbon sequestration in agriculture together with producers, with the Embrapa and other partners.

The management practices encouraged by Bayer aim to increase productivity with greater carbon sequestration within the productive areas of rural properties. Another benefit is that, in the future, this activity could help generate carbon credits when this market is consolidated in agriculture. The credits can be sold by the farmer to companies that wish to neutralize their CO² (carbon dioxide) emissions. The initiative launched in 2020, has more than 400 registered producers, focusing on soybean and corn crops, in 15 states, surpassing 80 thousand soil samples analyzed.

According to Ana Carolina Guedes, System and Partnerships manager for Bayer's Carbon Business for Latin America, even today, the standard methodologies and protocols used for soil carbon certification were not compatible with the reality of agriculture, especially in a tropical setting like Brazil. “For this reason, we have developed, alongside farmers and several partners, such as Embrapa, a new standard for soil carbon monitoring, reporting and verification processes,” she said. “The use of digital solutions agtechs how Sima is crucial in this stage of data collection and monitoring”, he added.

A major differentiator of this partnership is that Sima already works together with Bayer on projects in Argentina and Mexico, something that facilitated the adjustment and alignment of technology in the initiative. “For the specific case of this project, some adjustments were made to meet the needs, and this agility and adaptability is one of the great benefits that has led Bayer to work increasingly closely with startups. All information regarding crops, management (operations, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) and monitoring has already been collected and stored since the beginning of the project”, highlights Ana Carolina.

Transforming data into decisions

The volume of information in a project of this magnitude is vast and this data can easily be lost if it is not organized in an appropriate format, in this sense the Sima platform has been fundamental. According to Rafael Malacco, Market Development Manager, the startup today, in addition to developing software and applications, has a team specialized in Data Science whose function is to transform data into information that will be easily interpreted by customers.

Still according to Malacco, another difference is Sima's investment in service, that is, the special care with after-sales so that from the first moment the customer comes into contact with the tool, they understand the general objective of the project. “Partnerships like this with Bayer go far beyond providing a platform for imput of data, the main role is as the general organizer of this journey, taking care to technologically promote data so that people who use the tool have it in hand when capturing the data, guiding this field activity to make the most of it”, reinforces .

After collecting data in the field and duly storing it, it works as input for Bayer's technical team and initiative partners to analyze each agricultural system and create a technical value proposition. The data also serves as a basis for suggesting management alternatives, especially considering interventions based on monitoring — that is, assertiveness in choosing the product and the dose administered to the target in question, which directly impacts agronomic efficiency, profitability and sustainability. “Having all this information recorded in a standardized way helps us with calculations and mathematical modeling regarding the agricultural system used, something essential for the success of the Bayer Carbon Initiative, but also supports us in environmental and sustainable analyses, such as: the carbon balance and environmental impact indexes”, says Ana.

With the project, the idea is to support farmers to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices that directly impact productivity. Thus, they will be rewarded not only for what they produce, but for the way they produce it. “Developing a technique that leads to a more scalable solution for measuring carbon in the soil and also contributing to the construction of a more sustainable agriculture, depends on all the information we have collected, in addition to scientific evidence and experiments", he states. the professional.

According to the manager, Bayer believes that it is impossible to be self-sufficient in innovation, which is why it is a priority to work increasingly on the open innovation model, through partnerships with agtechs, universities and academics. “We constantly evaluate how to enhance and expand partnerships with companies like Sima, which will be increasingly relevant for the expansion of our projects and for us to achieve a higher level of productivity and sustainability in agriculture”, he adds.

Results in Practice

Farmers participating in the Bayer Carbon Initiative have cutting-edge technologies for soil analysis and receive guidance to adopt more sustainable agronomic practices, generating management improvements to increase production potential, in addition to reducing environmental impacts in the field and increasing carbon sequestration in the ground. Among these practices, the farmer can invest in cover crops (plant species that help improve soil quality); use efficient irrigation systems that save water; invest in better seed technologies and production monitoring, among other measures.

One of the partner farms in the project is the Bom Jesus farm, based in Unaí/MG, owned by farmer Alessandra Folador. The 3.735-hectare property grows soybeans and corn. According to the farmer, joining the project came about through an invitation from Bayer and they accepted because of the knowledge that the initiative will generate for everyone. “The objective of this partnership is to draw up a plan that results in an increase in carbon in the soil. We know that productive soils that yield greater profitability are directly linked to higher levels of organic matter,” she said.

According to the owner, sustainable initiatives like this help to increase productivity and improve farm results. “The gains are many, the project allows us to collect data and helps us in making more accurate decisions, so we are increasingly improving our decision-making with a greater mass of data”, concludes the producer.