Registration begins for the National Soybean Maximum Productivity Challenge

Soybean farmers who wish to challenge themselves to obtain production gains on their properties will be able to sign up for the 12th edition of the CESB Maximum Soy Productivity Challenge starting today, October 30th. The Challenge promoted by the Brazilian Soy Strategic Committee (CESB) is one of the main events in the area of ​​soybean cultivation in Brazil and can be considered as one of the main means of contributing to the increase in the average productivity of the oilseed in the country, which will be consolidated as the largest producer and exporter of soybeans in the world in the 2019/2020 harvest, according to data from companies in the sector, such as consultancy INTL FCStone and Safras & Mercado. Registration for the CESB Challenge can be made via the Committee's website (www.cesbrasil.org.br) until January 31, 2020.

The registered areas must be between 2,5 and 10 hectares and can compete in one of the two categories of the Challenge: irrigated or non-irrigated planting (rainfed). In this edition, a new registration system was adopted, with a more modern and intuitive interface, to facilitate access and monitoring by participants.

After the reveal of the champions, which will take place in June 2020 during the National Forum for Maximum Soybean Productivity, participants will receive a certificate of participation containing their national, regional and state classification. CESB will also send a technical report of the audited areas with georeferencing, as well as a description of the production field, technical management information, photographic records and other additional data.

Productivity increase

The president of CESB, Leonardo Sologuren, states that the importance of the Challenge is in helping producers find ways to achieve vertical production growth, that is, aiming to increase productivity, in a sustainable and profitable way. According to Sologuren, in the last ten years, the area planted with soybeans in the country grew by 51,2%, while the jump in average productivity was only 5,7%. “It is a fact that the technological potential of soybeans has been little explored. While the average Brazilian productivity was 55 bags/hectare, CESB has already observed numerous cases of producers producing above 80 bags/hectare on a commercial scale,” he reports.

Sologuren also highlights the great participation of soybean farmers in the 2019/20 CESB Challenge. It is estimated that more than 4 rural producers from the most diverse states of the country will participate. "The CESB has analyzed over the last few years the factors that make possible the expressive increase in productivity, working together precisely with those who know the most about the subject: the rural producers".

increase in areas

The highlight of the last edition was the increase in terms of planted area, in hectares. The 11th edition of the Challenge managed to reach 11,1% of soy plantations in Brazil, which represents 3,98 million hectares. In total, Brazil now has around 36 million hectares.

For the 12th edition, the executive director of CESB, Luiz Antonio da Silva, expects that number of participating areas to grow even more, due to the fact that soybeans are consolidating in all regions of Brazil, demonstrating high adaptability to all types of Brazilian soil. “This shows that the CESB Challenge has achieved its objective, which is to disseminate information so that more and more soy farmers can reach high levels of productivity”, he emphasizes.

irrigated champion

In the 2018/2019 edition, producer Maurício de Bortoli, from Cruz Alta, in Rio Grande do Sul, had to face a 23-day drought, which was combatted with the application of three sheets of water during the reproductive phase. “Although these blades did not meet the full water needs of the soybean crop, they were essential to ensure that there were no greater losses in productivity during this phase, which is the most demanding in terms of water needs”, highlights agronomist and agrometeorologist Paulo Sentelhas, member of CESB.

The productivity achieved by the soybean farmer in Rio Grande do Sul was 123,88 bags of soybeans per hectare in the 2018/2019 harvest, which represents more than double the national average, which is 53,4 sc/ha in the 2018/2019 harvest, according to data from the National Supply Company (Conab).

The current record in the CESB Challenge was achieved by producer Marcos Seitz, from Guarapuava (PR), who reached the mark of 149,08 bags of soybeans per hectare. He was the champion of the 2016/2017 edition.

record in audits

When the harvesting point of the registered area approaches, the producer and/or consultant must ask CESB for an auditor to visit to verify and measure the productivity of the area. For this edition, the request must be made by May 5, 2020. The first audits start from the first half of January, when harvesting begins on crops with early cultivars and/or irrigated system.

The number of audits carried out by CESB in the Maximum Soybean Productivity Challenge increased by 44% in the 2018/2019 edition, compared to the volume of the 2017/2018 edition. CESB technicians visited 863 soybean farms throughout Brazil in the last edition of the Desafio, against 597 in the previous one.

Audits have been carried out since 2015 by technicians and agronomists from the company Somar, which has been operating in the field of agricultural monitoring for over ten years. According to Somar's director, Juliano Nunes, every field auditor undergoes exclusive CESB training in order to be able to monitor all the works that will determine the champions of the CESB Challenge for Maximum Soybean Productivity. The measurements are carried out from the harvest to the packing of production in the warehouses, in order to be able to certify the weighing as accurately as possible.

Nunes emphasizes that the audit is important because it generates a document that proves the high productivity achieved by soybean farmers, which are later transformed into successful cases. “This information is disseminated in the agricultural environment, in accordance with CESB's principles of producing more without increasing cultivated areas, thinking about sustainability and guaranteeing profitability”, he says.