During the activities of the XXIII Latin American Congress of Soil Science and the XXXVIII Brazilian Congress of Soil Science, which takes place from July 31st to August 04th, Embrapa presented two new technologies: the AgroTag application and the technological solution GeoABC+, component of the IS_Agro project, which was presented on the first day of the event (31/7).
The AgroTag tool is available for Android mobile devices (cell phones, tablets), from where the collected data is automatically sent to a platform, WebGIS (online geospatial mapping and analysis system). The platform, which has nine modules, has important information for the producer such as the CAR (rural environmental registry) and satellite images prepared for the agricultural sector, which can be accessed directly in the field.
Researcher Luiz Eduardo Vicente, from Embrapa Meio Ambiente (Jaguariúna, SP), said that one of AgroTag's differences is that it collects data in the field in the form of a collaborative network (the user provides and receives data), stores data in the cloud ( online), providing tools for processing geospatial data, making it possible, for example, to temporarily monitor the property.
The Agrotag platform has a specific website with all information about its use and associated projects, maintaining a network of partnerships with universities and other institutions such as BNDES and state governments, such as the government of the state of Pará, which uses Agrotag as a public policy in implementation of the Sustainable Territories project. In addition to maintaining involvement with several of the Company's own research units, at various levels and projects, and private sector companies in different regions of the country.
“AgroTag has a collection of digital data - especially digital maps of Brazil - strategic for application users such as rural producers and extension workers, among others, who collect data on the property and are then able to analyze this data in the light of these maps”, he highlighted. .
According to him, the Congress is the ideal stage to launch partnerships made with AgroTag, such as the GEOCis/ESALQ group, from Piracicaba (SP), coordinated by professor José Alexandre Demattê. This group develops and applies digital image processing techniques resulting, for example, in large-scale maps of mineralogy (30 meters) and soil carbon stock throughout Brazil.
At the event, the group of more than 20 undergraduate and postgraduate academics, as well as postdoctoral fellows, provide information every day about the application and how to use the stored data. “We are celebrating this partnership at this Congress, showing large-scale mapping, low-cost mapping involving satellite images available to users,” said Vicente. He added that AgroTag is an official FAO software for the WorldSpecs project, involving the collection of soil spectroradiometric data for the entire world.
Embrapa was also responsible for presenting the GeoABC+ technology, a project developed by Embrapa Solos (RJ) that aims to detect production systems, such as crop-livestock-forest integration (ILPF), and the low carbon emission policy. GeoABC+ is a component of the IS_Agro project, which is developing digital solutions for creating, estimating and disseminating agro-socio-environmental indicators.
Researcher Margareth Simões, from Embrapa Solos, commented on how the technological solution came about. According to her, there is a need to have methods and indicators that prove the sustainability of Brazilian agriculture, especially low-carbon agriculture. “We didn't have methods to prove how these systems are doing, if they're growing, where they're growing, we didn't have a way to monitor them. Many years ago, this survey was carried out over the telephone. So Embrapa took on this challenge, investigating whether remote sensing and the use of satellite images would be able to determine a complex target such as integrated production systems, and the answer was yes. We were successful in our research,” she said.
Monitoring is carried out using artificial intelligence, time series of satellite images, high-performance computing, mapping these integrated systems year by year and calculating Brazilian agricultural indicators and relating them to integrated systems with various production chains, such as that of soy.
The technology was presented at Solos Floripa 2023 due to the growing interest shown by its tools and also as a way of responding to a demand from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa), so that Brazil is classified by appropriate metrics, since only the general metrics were applied to Brazilian agricultural data by international forums, limiting the country to occupy positions below its reality regarding agricultural sustainability.
Simões clarified that the technology's users are decision makers, international forums, ministries and public policy management bodies. “We are also in partnership with the ILPF network, which involves a public-private partnership and is very close to rural producers”, he highlighted.
The event also featured the seminar “Soils and Biomes as inducers of coordination and economic governance”, which was moderated by researcher José Carlos Polidoro. The National Soil Survey and Interpretation Program in Brazil (PronaSolos) was presented by Maria de Lourdes Mendonça Santos Brefin, general manager of Embrapa Solos.
The researcher sought to identify participants from other countries to show the news, as PronaSolos, which has been running for eight years and is presented at each edition of the Congress, has regular data and information updates. Maria de Lourdes also remembered the academic segment, a large portion present at the event. “This is the future generation that could become the country's soil scientists. Our purpose is to bring lectures that boost this ego, showing what is important for the studies of our soils”, she added.
Regarding Embrapa's participation in the Congress, Maria de Lourdes Brefin informed that Embrapa Solos, which participates in all editions, is represented this year by 23 members of its team, all financed by research projects. “Each one is here with a specific function and performance, the stand is moving the space, as only Embrapa is offering presentations of applications and technological solutions, publications and project launches every day, making connections with numerous units of research by the Company and other partner companies", he concluded.
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