John Deere precision agriculture technologies integrate new ILPF certification

Announcement of credit lines facilitated for farmers who adopt the Crop-Livestock-Forest Integration system is a historic milestone

29.09.2020 | 20:59 (UTC -3)
Rodrigo Bifani

John Deere Brasil, through its precision agriculture technologies, will contribute with data analysis from its equipment to provide even more efficiency to TrustScore, developed by Ceptis, the system responsible for certifying rural properties and guaranteeing access to credit lines exclusives announced by the ILPF Network. The resources for the lines will be obtained through the SAFF (Sustainable Agriculture Finance Facility / Facilitated Financing for Sustainable Agriculture), the first financial mechanism established by the ILPF Network. SAFF was one of the projects selected in 2020 by the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (The Lab), a fund developed in Europe as a program to accelerate investment options that mobilize resources for sustainable development in emerging markets. In total, around US$68 million will be made available in the first year, with US$62 million in credit for the producer and US$6 million to finance certification programs, research, technology transfer for technical assistance and certification. A pilot project will be implemented on a farm in the Cooperativa Cocamar region, in Paraná.

Another new feature is that certified rural properties will be able to use the resources to purchase agricultural machinery. "Precision agriculture combined with systems such as ILPF and the analysis of data generated in agricultural activity bring cost reduction, therefore economic and - mainly - environmental benefits. This environmental certification combined with the financing mechanism developed by the ILPF Network is a milestone of Brazilian sustainable agriculture", says Paulo Herrmann, president of John Deere Brazil.

It works as follows. John Deere machines are connected to the Operations Center, a platform that integrates operational and agronomic data collected through JDLink - the brand's fleet management system. With it, it is possible to visualize the entire crop cycle, from soil preparation to harvest, in addition to analyzing information such as speed maps, planning of work that each piece of equipment will carry out remotely, fuel reduction, intelligent use of inputs, among others. Through the Operations Center, the farmer will be able to provide agronomic data directly to TrustScore, strengthening compliance with goals and criteria established by the certification.

Efforts to spread sustainable and responsible agriculture in the country show their gains, in addition to the financial ones: the goals established by the Low Carbon Emission Agriculture Plan (ABC Plan) of 2009 and by the ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate change by the government Brazil, in 2016, signaled an increase of 4 million hectares in this system by 2020. According to IBGE, the country has currently reached 15 million integrated hectares and is now seeking to reach 30 million by the end of the defined period. This would triple the initially proposed objective. The launch of SAFF is an incentive for producers to produce and preserve more, and still be financially rewarded for doing so.

Efficient movement

The ILPF allows, when integrated in the same area, different cultivation modalities to minimize producer risks, enrich local biodiversity, improving fertility and soil use, directly impacting productivity. The system is capable of recovering degraded areas and sequestering carbon, creating 'savings' for the producer.

Due to the improvement in the agronomic aspect, it is worth highlighting the social role of the ILPF. When adopting the system, production extends throughout the entire agricultural year, resulting from crop rotation, agricultural activity and in addition to forestry care. With this, employees can now have more stability (when they were often "harvest workers"), guaranteeing permanent jobs and better security for their families. In addition to regular work, these employees gain diverse experiences by following all the different processes, providing better professional qualification and expanding knowledge.

John Deere has been actively working to communicate the concept and knowledge of the system over the last 15 years, including having acted in the founding of the ILPF Network, a public-private partnership currently formed by Embrapa, John Deere, Syngenta, Cocamar, Ceptis, Bradesco, SOESP, Brazilian Institute for Development and Sustainability (IABS) and JPG Asset Management. She was also directly involved in the development of a model farm for the Network in partnership with one of her clients: the Santa Brígida farm. The unit began adopting the ILPF in 2006, with the initial objective of recovering degraded pastures and making the farm economically sustainable. The property is now one of ILPF's Technological Reference Units (URT) and produces beef cattle, soybeans and corn, in addition to maintaining eucalyptus trees. In a survey carried out 10 years after adopting the system, Santa Brígida saw low-productivity livestock farming multiply the number of arrobas per hectare per year by 10 times. There was also an important increase in corn and soybean harvests.

Other efforts were also adopted by the world's leading company in the manufacture and sales of agricultural machinery. To spread knowledge of the system, the John Deere Foundation, in partnership with Embrapa, launched, in 2012, during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the documentary "Land and Sustainability", which brings to light the benefits of ILPF and success stories, such as Fazenda Santa Brígida. Click here to watch the video.

Four years after the launch of "Terra e Sustentabilidade", in partnership with Embrapa and the Ministry of Culture, the company launched the documentary "Vida no Campo" on Farmer's Day. The work portrays stories of transformation of five families, from different regions of Brazil, who earn their livelihood through the Crop-Livestock-Forest Integration (ILPF). Follow here.

This year, an episode of the John Deere Conexão live series had the theme precisely "producing and preserving is possible". Click here to check out the virtual meeting and learn more about ILPF.

To learn more about ILPF check out the Company Website and that of ILPF Network.

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