Science and technology allow record soybean harvests in Brazilian crops

At 2022/23 harvest, Brazil is expected to produce more than 150 million tons of soybeans, according to the National Supply Company (Conab), a new record national, which keeps the country in the world leadership in grain production, followed by from the United States and Argentina.

Historically, the Brazilian Research Company Agriculture (Embrapa), which on April 26th will complete half a century of existence, comes leading research networks to generate sustainable solutions for increase soybean production, reduce production costs, CO2 emissions related to its production and increase producers' income.

"Our teams are very proud to participate in this successful chapter and we understand that our contribution to soy agribusiness places Embrapa as a reference world in the development of technologies for culture in tropical regions”, assesses the general head of Embrapa Soja, Alexandre Nepomuceno. “All the effort in Tropicalizing this crop allowed Brazil to stop being an importer of the grain, in the 1970s, to become the largest producer and exporter of soybeans in the world. This is all supported by science and innovation”, celebrates Nepomuceno.

Survey carried out by Nepomuceno, indicates that the soybean crop was the one that grew the most in Brazil over the last five decades, so much so that from 1973 to 2023, production increased by more than 1000%, with the area increasing by just over 400%, demonstrating the productivity increase. “We can say that the continuous increase in soybean productivity per hectare is based on science and technology, allowing that producers adopt the best technologies in agricultural production Brazilian. Brazil is thus able to produce more in less space and with quite efficiently”, highlights Nepomuceno.

At the moment soybeans are cultivated in 20 states and the Federal District and the main states producers are: Mato Grosso, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Goiás. Much of the Brazilian production is exported to Asia (especially China) and Europe, among other regions of the planet.  

Tropicalization of soybeans

Founded on April 16, 1975, in Londrina (PR), Embrapa Soja's mission is to develop sustainable technologies for soybean production in Brazil. Until the 1980s, commercial soybean plantations in the world were restricted to regions with climates temperate and subtropical, whose latitudes were close to or higher than 30º.

"O Brazilian producer had to use cultivars imported from the United States that were adapted only to the southern region of Brazil”, explains the researcher Carlos Arrabal Arias. “With Embrapa Soja’s research, we managed to break this barrier, developing varieties adapted to tropical conditions with low latitudes, allowing the cultivation of oilseeds throughout the territory Brazilian”, says Arias.

Second the researcher, the first genuinely Brazilian cultivar was Doko, launched in 1980, for Central Brazil. “After this launch, the soybean genetic improvement continued generating new cultivars with high performance, with high health and adapted to the regions of Brazil”, explains Arias.

A Embrapa is one of the only institutions that develops different platforms technological technologies in parallel: both conventional soybeans with resistance to several pests and diseases, as well as genetically modified soybeans resistant to insects and herbicides. Currently, Embrapa Soja curates one of the largest banks soybean germplasm assets in the world. There are more than 65 thousand accesses (types) of soybeans that keep the genetic variability of the grain, guaranteeing the solution of problems of the past, present and future.

The focus is cultivation sustainability

In addition development of new cultivars, Embrapa Soja has recommended practices responsible management ranging from sowing to post-harvest of soybeans. "To the technologies are put at the service of the sustainability of production, serve different profiles and sizes of agricultural properties, contribute to the producer's profitability, to the preservation of the environment environment and to generate benefits for society as a whole”, explains Adeney de Freitas Bueno, head of Research & Development at the Unit.

A expansion of soybean cultivation is directly associated with the adoption of the System Direct Planting (SPD), which is based on reducing soil disturbance with preservation of its cover by cultivated plants or their plant residues and in crop rotation. “SPD reduces erosion and saves on correctives, fertilizers and soil preparation operations, in addition to allowing greater storing water in the soil, benefiting the crop in times of drought”, explains researcher Alvadi Antonio Balbinot, from Embrapa Soja.

A research also collaborated in the last five decades with a set of recommendations for equalize the use of Brazilian soils, especially those with high acidity and low natural fertility, from the application of limestone and fertilizers based on technical criteria. “These recommendations collaborated with the actions that allowed the cultivation of soybeans in the Brazilian Cerrado”, says the researcher Adilson de Oliveira Jr.

Other contribution to the soybean production system was the inoculation with bacteria N fixers (rhizobia). “This solution provides estimated annual savings by R$ 38 billion per harvest, by eliminating the use of nitrogen fertilizers”, according to researcher Mariangela Hungary, from Embrapa Soja. In 2014, Embrapa Soja identified another beneficial bacteria that stimulates soybean growth (azospirillum). The association of these bacteria results in productivity gains of around 16% per year. A biological nitrogen fixation used in soybean cultivation also allows reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. 

You Embrapa Soja researchers also generated technologies that provide integrated management of insect pests, diseases and weeds, through different methods – chemical, mechanical, biological and cultural – to prevent and control these problems, making soybean production viable in different soil and climate conditions in Brazil. The adoption of Integrated Management of Insects (MIP-Soja) allows to reduce the use of insecticides in crops by 50%, ensuring greater profitability for the soybean farmer, as well as greater preservation environmental.

In the last 50 years, Brazilian research has also generated technologies to improve the quality of soybean seeds. “The use of seeds with high vigor promotes productivity gains of more than 9%, compared to the use of low quality seeds”, highlights the researcher José de Barros França Neto. 

New challenges, new solutions

For collaborate with the productive sustainability of soy, currently, Embrapa has been directing its actions along four research axes: Advanced Genetics, Bioinputs, Low Carbon Soy and Digital Agriculture. Research has been aimed at increasing the participation of biological inputs in the control of insect pests and diseases and in promoting plant growth, as well as replacement of fertilizers of non-renewable origin with basic inputs biological. 

O Low Carbon Soy Program (SBC), launched by Embrapa Soja, aims to attest to the sustainability of Brazilian soybean production, based on the measurement benefits and certification of production practices that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. 

In addition Furthermore, there is a revolution in laboratories, led by genome editing. “This technique has been allowing the editing of the soybean genome, making it possible delete or alter small parts of the plant's own DNA to achieve desirable characteristics. In Brazil, and in many countries, genetically edited by CRISPR/Cas technology, for example, has been considered conventional, non-transgenic, which speeds up its insertion into the market”, explains Nepomuceno. 

A digital transformation has been bringing changes in the field, through connectivity, remote sensing, sensors, drones, among others. "A digital agriculture enhances crop monitoring, rationalization in the use of inputs, facilitating and increasing the producer’s efficiency in their decisions, allowing an increase in productivity and profitability”, argues Nepomuceno.

"With the integrated conduct of these four research axes, we are putting the Embrapa Soja in facing major contemporary challenges and in search for sustainable solutions for soy agribusiness”, concludes the general head of the Unit.

Grain that feeds

A Soy is a caloric-protein food, which contains between 36% and 40% protein in grains, being the main source of quality protein in the world and available in large volumes. Legumes are the basis of animal feed, ensuring improvements in the quality of pork, beef and poultry, as well as in milk, eggs and other products of animal origin. In human nutrition, soy is used directly in cooking (grain, oil, flour, bran, protein isolated and lecithin) or even as raw material in the food industry. A From technological development, the grain began to play multiple functions and uses, and can also be used for the production of biofuel, cosmetic industry, therapeutic products, tires, as well as other uses not conventional.