Innovation in the field predominates on the first day of Digital Agro

New technologies and the offer of digital solutions for those working in the field and in agribusiness were highlighted in the panels and presentations by researchers, entrepreneurs and large companies on the first day of Digital Agro, an unprecedented fair focused exclusively on agricultural innovation. The event, which takes place until Friday, 22/9, in Carambeí, in Campos Gerais do Paraná, is promoted by Frísia Cooperativa Agroindustrial and aims to bring new digital technologies closer to the producer and the agribusiness chain.

“Automation and digitalization of data is increasingly present in our daily lives”, said Renato Greidanus, president of Frísia at the official opening of the event. “And our role, the role of cooperatives, is to bring this technology into practice, bring it closer to the field,” he said. In the same vein, the technical manager at Fundação ABC, Luís Henrique Penckowski, says that “the range of digital technology products available today for farmers today is impressive. We have definitively entered the era of algorithms and statistical georeferencing.” For the president of the Organization of Cooperatives of Paraná (Ocepar), José Roberto Ricken, “it is not enough to exist, all this technology must be in usable condition, and cooperatives can do this first”.

Automation, Robotics and Sustainability

Automation and the use of robots in the agricultural sector is already a reality. According to data from the International Federation of Robotics, around 35 thousand robots are expected to reach the world's fields by 2019. According to the professor and researcher at the Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering at the University of São Paulo, Rafael Vieira de Sousa, the market robotics is expected to generate US$74 billion per year, between industrial and service uses, which includes use in agriculture.

With a packed audience, the agricultural machinery sector was also present at Digital Agro. North-American Robert Zemenchik, global Precision Agriculture manager at Case IH, showed the “autonomous tractor” that should hit the market in approximately ten years, with the possibility of working 24 hours a day, without an operator. Soon after, New Holland's Marketing Director for Latin America, Eduardo Kerbauy, showed the advances in the use of alternative fuels, with the methane-powered tractor that is being tested in the Campos Gerais region. In addition to using organic waste produced within the farm itself, this tractor does not generate CO2 emissions, saves 30% on fuel and reduces noise by 50% in the Brazil operator's cabin. Thus, the methane-powered tractor represents an important step in the implementation of a self-sustainable agribusiness model.

The first day of Digital Agro panels also featured a presentation by Rafael Martins Garcia, from DeLaval, a pioneering company in the development of robots for livestock farming. “The Campos Gerais region is at the forefront of dairy robotization,” he stated. Currently, Frísia Cooperativa Industrial has a pioneering project with a robot being used in one of its cooperative properties.