Field Day presents details about the Soybean Cultivar Competition

AgroBrasília, in partnership with the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company of the Federal District (Emater-DF), held the Soybean Cultivar Competition Field Day on the morning of last Friday (6). The 12th edition of the event brought together around 400 people, who were able to learn details of the tournament, such as the participating companies and registered cultivars. The field day took place at Fazenda Pedro Carmo, at PAD-DF.

The competition is an opportunity for farmers to evaluate the productive potential of cultivars, in addition to observing the quality of root development and the genetic variety of the seeds. In the 2020 edition, there are 17 participating companies, with 63 cultivars – 6 of the RR type and 57 Intacta RR2. RR soybean is tolerant to the herbicide Glyphosate. Intacta RR2 soybean is tolerant to glyphosate and has the ability to control some caterpillars that attack the crop.

President of the Agricultural Cooperative of the Federal District Region (Coopa-DF), which organizes AgroBrasília, José Guilherme Brenner highlights that the entity's involvement in organizing the tournament increases the credibility of the results. “We are a producer cooperative. So, the competition is an initiative by producers for producers, with real results, with characteristics that help the farmer to stay updated and make decisions at the time of planting.”

Brenner also assesses that one of the main factors that explains the high levels of soybean productivity in the Federal District is the evolution in the variety and quality of cultivars. “Following this evolution is essential for the producer to achieve success and, in this sense, cultivar competition has played an important role. Producers in the region recognize this and many await the results of the competition. Companies have also increased their participation in the tournament, which shows that our work is reliable,” he says.

In the 2019/2020 harvest, legume productivity in the Federal District reached 3.500 kg per hectare, one of the best in the country and above the national average, which is 3.300 kg/ha. In relation to the last harvest, the indicator grew by 6,1%. The Federation unit has also been standing out in the production of high-quality seeds, and the local chain establishes parameters that impact the entire national agribusiness.

Today, the DF is home to 74,5 thousand hectares of soybeans, which generate around 260 thousand tons of the product. In 2017 and 2018, of these 74,5 thousand hectares, more than 30%, or around 27 thousand hectares, were dedicated to seed production. Each year, the Federal District exports around 39 thousand tons of soybean seeds to other states as an input in grain production, and the local market generates around R$20 million.

For João Nestor, a rural producer from Cristalina (GO), who has participated since the first edition, the event helps in planning the next planting. “Here we can see the launch of company varieties. As it is a cultivar competition, they bring the best. Sometimes, on the farm, we don’t have access to this knowledge. Therefore, days like this and the competition are essential for us to make decisions and find out about the launches.”

Similar conditions

The tournament materials were planted under similar conditions, from November 18th to 22nd, 2019. The result will be announced at AgroBrasília, which takes place from May 12th to 16th.

At the beginning of the Field Day, the manager of the Emater office at PAD-DF, Marconi Borges, explained to the participants the parameters adopted in planting to guarantee maximum smoothness in the competition. “In this controlled environment, producers are able to have accurate information about the varieties,” he said.

Coordinator of the test stages, the agronomist from Coopa-DF Lafayette Machado, detailed technical points of the cultivation, such as rainfall rates in the period, products used to treat the materials, techniques adopted. Furthermore, he reiterated the tournament organization's efforts to guarantee equal treatment of cultivars.

Form

The Field Day was sponsored by the companies Alltech Crop Science, Bayer, Dimiagro, KLF, Koppert, Mosaic, Nutrimax and Vegetal.