J. Assy shares news from the World Agri-Tech fair in the USA

At the end of March, the city of San Francisco, in the USA, hosted the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, the largest innovation event focused on agribusiness in the world.

José Roberto Assy, CEO of J. Assy, a reference company in technology applied to agribusiness, was at the event and followed the discussions. The executive highlights three main approaches in which Brazil already has good practices, but are now receiving global attention: agriculture with low carbon emissions, biological control of pests and diseases, in addition to robotics and automation of agricultural machinery.

Direct planting and reducing carbon emissions

“A concern that has grown around the world is the implementation of more sustainable agriculture, which helps combat climate change, which means crops with less carbon emissions. In practice, we already have this in Brazil with direct planting”, explained José Roberto Assy. “It is carried out by distributing straw directly over the soil, without plowing or harrowing. Brazil is already a world champion in this management: almost 90% of our area of ​​large crops is direct planting”.

The executive explains that, in addition to the considerable reduction in carbon emissions, direct planting with straw contributes to soil fertility through the deposit of organic matter, in addition to preventing erosion.

Less chemical pesticides, more biological solutions

According to the CEO, another topic of broad discussion at the meeting was the intensification of the use of biological pesticides to replace chemical ones. Data from the Brazilian Association of Biological Control Companies (ABCBio) also highlights the growth of the biological pesticides market. According to the institution, the biocontrol industry is growing 5,3 times faster compared to the chemical industry.

Biological pesticides can be classified as either macrobiological, which include mites, insects and nematodes; and microbiological, which include viruses, bacteria, protozoa and fungi. Examples of this practice are the use of live ladybugs to exterminate aphids in various crops, in addition to the wasps Cotesia flavipes and Trichogramma galloi that parasitize the sugarcane borer, a pest that affects sugarcane.

Robotics and automation

José Roberto Assy also highlighted the emphasis received by the automation and robotics segment in agribusiness, including autonomous vehicles. “Another point discussed in this aspect was regenerative agriculture, which proves to be extremely technological so that you can apply as few chemicals as possible, and thus be able to regenerate the soil and its biological life as quickly as possible. In this regard, I realize that, in Brazil, including J. Assy itself, is very well prepared to provide the best equipment”, he highlights.

“These two days of event showed that Brazil is an important player in global agribusiness, including in providing technology. We are at the forefront in many practices, and I believe that this is a territory that we must appropriate to be a reference both in Latin America and in global agribusiness”, concludes the executive.