Rio Grande do Sul legislature approves text in favor of agricultural aviation

By 31 votes in favor and 12 against, the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul approved the Telmo Fabrício Dutra Bill – PL 442/23, which declares Agricultural Aviation as of Relevant Social, Public and Economic Interest in Rio Grande do Sul. The vote took place earlier this week, as reported by Cultivar Magazine. 

The proposal authored by Congressman Marcus Vinicius (PP) was also signed by 23 other members of parliament. “It was a victory for common sense,” highlighted the executive director of the National Union of Agricultural Aviation Companies (Sindag), Gabriel Colle, shortly after the result was announced by the president of the AL, Congressman Adolfo Brito (PP). With that, the text will now be sanctioned by Governor Eduardo Leite.

“It is a way to combat prejudice and shed light on the safety and high technology of the sector. We now hope that the debate around the topic will become rational,” added the Sindag director. 

The vote was attended by a delegation from the sector, with around 30 people. In addition to Sindag directors, businesspeople and professionals from the sector, the group also included the presidents of the Brazilian Institute of Agricultural Aviation (Ibravag), Júlio Augusto Kämpf, and of the Special Commission for Aeronautical and Aerospace Law (Cedaea) of the Rio Grande do Sul section of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB/RS), Eduardo Teixeira Farah.

It is also worth remembering that the name of the law pays homage to the former president (between 1997 and 1999) and one of the founders of Sindag, on July 19, 1991. Telmo Dutra was also one of those responsible for structuring the entity in Porto Alegre. In the capital of the state that is the birthplace of Brazilian agricultural aviation – and the state with the largest number of companies in the sector. From there, the entity gained national and international prominence, with a focus on the human and technological development of the sector.  

Safety

“We were already expecting a vote with this significant margin,” commented Congressman Marcus Vinícius, reinforcing the importance of the initiative. “The parliamentarians also understood this,” he added, referring to the number of signatures on the project. The focus was “to provide legal certainty so that agricultural aviation could continue to work with the various rules it already has.”

The congressman also criticized attempts to ban the sector, emphasizing that there is no more regulated tool for crop management. Regarding the claim that products are lost due to drift during applications (a risk for both aerial and ground-based tools when the application climate parameters are not respected), the congressman was categorical: “It is a smokescreen (for an ideological issue). It is as if we were trying to ban road freight transportation in the state because a driver failed to comply with traffic rules.”

pioneer action

In addition to being the birthplace of the agricultural aviation sector in the country (in 1947), Rio Grande do Sul currently has the second largest fleet in the segment in Brazil – with more than 400 agricultural aircraft, behind only Mato Grosso (which has around 600 aircraft). It is worth remembering that the segment also includes agricultural drones. The sector is present in 24 states and is essential to guarantee productivity in crops that are important to the economy of Rio Grande do Sul, such as soybeans, corn and wheat. In addition to rice, which is highly dependent on aerial tools and essential to the economy of Rio Grande do Sul – remembering that RS produces 70% of Brazilian rice.