Sindag prepares airstrip in Sertãozinho for aeroagricultural conference

With less than two weeks to go before the Brazilian Agricultural Aviation Congress (AvAg Congress) 2022 lands in the city of Sertãozinho, in the interior of São Paulo, machines must prepare, in the next few days, the ground for the arrival of the planes for the exhibition at the Center of Zanini Events. The aero-agricultural landing strip will be located in the area close to the left side of the 12 thousand square meter pavilion, which will also host the technology and equipment exhibition. And where the panels and debates of the event, which takes place from July 19th to 21st, will take place. The venue will have more than 150 brands present on aircraft, drones, embedded technology, equipment and services stands.

“We already have the machine prepared, we just need to schedule its transport to the place where we are going to prepare the runway”, explains the president of the National Union of Agricultural Aviation Companies (Sindag, which promotes the event), Thiago Magalhães Silva. The Zanini Center is located in the western part of the city (Avenida Marginal João Olézio Marques), next to the Armando Sales Oliveira State Highway (SP-322). The AvAg Congress celebrates its return to Sertãozinho in person, after two years of events via the web due to the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Which, for Thiago Silva, occurs at an important moment for the sector. Especially regarding discussions involving the market and institutional relations and with society. In addition to panels addressing demands and trends for the sector (on fuel prices, harvest expectations, demand for commodities, maintenance costs and other aspects). The program will also feature debates on the digitalization of companies, continuous improvement and application technologies. Not to mention the parallel meetings with businesspeople, authorities and experts.

This also includes the equipment display. From state-of-the-art DGPSs (which not only guide the pilot in each “shot” over the crop, but also control the application system with centimeter accuracy and also record the entire operation) to high-performance turboprop aircraft. And through systems that “fine-tune” the precision adjustments of nozzles and droplet atomizers.

Not to mention the drones, which this time are firmly on the list of stars at the technology exhibition. In no less than 14 stands and with flight demonstrations including a device with an ethanol-powered engine, which promises to break the autonomy limitations of electric batteries – until now the main obstacle to better performance when dealing with crops.

Academy

There is also space for exhibitions of universities, technical schools in the region and the presence of regulatory bodies in the sector, such as the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) and the Ministry of Agriculture. In fact, in terms of research, the AvAg Congress program includes the exhibition of the Agricultural Aviation Scientific Congress, with nine works vying for awards from first to third place and the Special Innovation highlight. With the academic scenario also having the graduation of the first two classes of the MBA in Management, Innovation and Sustainability of Agricultural Aviation (partnership between Sindag and Faculdade Imed, from Passo Fundo/RS).

Still talking about graduations, the event will also feature the presentation of agricultural pilots who participate in the 4th Brazilian Aerial Forest Fire Fighting Course (see below). In fact, the water-dropping demonstrations by plane – simulating a flame attack on the land next to the event pavilion – will be among the highlights for the public, in the three days of programming and always at noon.

Among the largest in the world

Currently, the AvAg Congress is the main Brazilian aeroagricultural event – ​​and one of the largest in the world in the sector, alongside similar meetings in the United States, China, Argentina and Uruguay. Furthermore, Brazil has the second largest aircraft fleet in the world, with more than 2,4 planes and helicopters operating in the field. Behind only the North Americans and ahead of powers such as Argentina, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other countries.

“It is an aircraft that plays an important role in dealing with crops (application of chemical or biological products, sowing and application of fertilizers), as it is the only tool for this with specific and broad regulations, in addition to having specialized personnel in all areas. phases of its operation”, explains the president of Sindag, Thiago Magalhães Silva. He also highlights predicates such as speed and precision that not only optimize the application of inputs (by reducing losses and avoiding the need for rework), but also avoid losses due to crushing of the crop (since there is no machine running over the plants). “Therefore, it is an indispensable tool in crops essential to the country, such as soybeans, sugarcane, rice, cotton and others”, he explains.

Fire fighting

Capacity increasingly recognized also in theaters of operations against vegetation fires. Hence the pilot course with a class scheduled for before the AvAg Congress. An improvement, since, since 1969, this type of operation has been among the sector's legal prerogatives. Thus, during training in Ribeirão Preto, professionals will have two days of theoretical part on fire behavior, communication (with technical phraseology) and other topics. The final two days are practice, where each pilot will have to make at least four launches against targets representing fire points.

In this case, practicing orientation on the circuit, approach, attack and return. The training takes place in partnership between Sindag, the Fundação Astronauta Marcos Pontes (Astropontes) and the company Pachu Aviação Agrícola, with support also from RP Aero Agrícola, Aeroglobo Aeronaves, Zanoni Equipamentos and MS Trainings.

Increase

In fact, the sector's expectation is that the use of its flame-retardant planes in natural reserves and plantations will increase significantly from now on. Not only because of the fire season, which is starting (in most of the country it lasts from July to September), but because of the approval by the National Congress, on June 22, of the Bill (PL) 4.269/2020.

The device, which awaits sanction by the President of the Republic, changes the Brazilian Forest Code (Law 12.651/2012), consistently and definitively including agricultural aviation in government policies against flames in Brazil. Last year alone, according to a Sindag survey of companies in the sector and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio, which already hires planes to protect federal reserves), Brazilian agricultural planes released almost 20 million liters of water against flames in the Pantanal, Chapada dos Veadeiros, Cerrado Nordestino and other reserve areas, in addition to fires in crops in the country.

Decades of stories and encounters

Within the program, the return to normality in this post-critical phase of Covid is being celebrated with the theme New Times. But also celebrating the past, as the AvAg 2022 Congress also marks the celebrations of 75 years of Brazilian agricultural aviation. Thus, in addition to the tributes foreseen in the program, the main spaces of the event were renamed in honor of the pioneers of the sector in the country. 

“Furthermore, for 30 years, Sindag has been organizing the sector’s annual meeting, which takes place at this time, not by chance. Because the middle of the year marks the off-season in most of the country, it is the time when businesspeople, pilots and other professionals in the sector can take time to reunite with their colleagues”, explains Thiago Silva.

A reality that, in fact, has been repeated for more than 50 years. Since the first aeroagricultural meeting in the country was promoted in 1971, by the Ministry of Agriculture. In this case, the Annual Meeting of Brazilian Aerial Applicators, held between the 9th and 18th of July of that year, at Parque Anhembi, in São Paulo – held within the 3rd Agricultural Technique Fair (Fetag).