Management and technology maximize high coffee productivity in the 2022 harvest

The 2022 coffee harvest is already in the final stretch. According to the National Supply Company (Conab), the harvest has already reached 99% of the area destined for the crop and some producers are already celebrating the results of the season. Coffee growers who are customers of the Corteva Agriscience Coffee Line achieved productivity exceeding 27,4 bags per hectare (sc/ha), the national average projected by Conab with the management and high technology of the company's solutions.

This is the case of Dirnei de Barros Pereira, owner of Fazenda Nova Itália, with 280 thousand trees, in Pedregulho (SP), who achieved 61.81 sc/ha this season in the areas that received treatment with Corteva products. In the 2020 harvest, production was 60 sc/ha. In 2021, there was no harvest, as the crop underwent pruning. “The management we carried out with the fungicide Aproach Power, in comparison with the standard treatment on the farm, brought us a very positive result. We achieved a gain in cherry coffee, which is a higher quality bean. We noticed that the number of coffee cherries at the end was greater with the growth of branches, in addition to the control of rust and secondary diseases”, he celebrates.

“Corteva believes it can contribute to the development of the coffee sector through technologies that meet the needs of farmers and increase the productivity and profitability of coffee plantations. With Aproach Power, producers are able to protect their coffee plantations from diseases of the aerial part of the coffee crop, such as, for example, Coffee Rust, Cercosporiosis and Phoma. The solution was developed after more than 10 years of research and works in a systemic way with the flexibility to be used from the first to the last application. It protects the crop throughout the entire harvest”, explains Rafael Pons, Coffee Portfolio Leader at Corteva Agriscience.

Combating the miner

In addition to helping coffee growers achieve high productivity, the Corteva Coffee Line portfolio is an ally in combating the main pests that affect the crop. At Fazenda Bom Jesus, with 1,3 million coffee plants, in Cristais Paulista (SP), the Revolux insecticide helped break the leafminer's cycle in a year with low load, preserving the crop so it can produce well in the next harvest. “Considering that it is a technology of great value for the coffee grower, it creates a bottleneck for him to be able to vary the active ingredient and break the cycle of the mining bug, which was a key point in our work”, explains Guilherme Oliveira, technical manager at Labareda Agriculture, which operates on the property.

According to Oliveira, the application took place in some experimental areas to better understand the product and the principle. “As a result, we were very pleased with the progress he provided throughout all the surveys. What caught the most attention was the quality and duration of the active ingredient in the crops. We noticed that the solution remained in the coffee plantation for more than 60 days”, he points out.

The Revolux insecticide is composed of two new active ingredients, Jemvelva active and Methoxyfenozide, and works with exclusive modes of action to help coffee growers combat leaf miner (Leucoptera coffeella). The insect can cause losses of more than 50% in productivity, with high losses of leaf areas that compromise the harvest. The technology acts throughout the pest's entire life cycle, has translaminar activity and offers a long period of control, broad spectrum and excellent toxicological profile.

Revolux is also recommended for adoption within Integrated Pest Management (IPM), in order to offer more sustainable production and assist in the maintenance and duration of other technologies in the field. The two active ingredients won the green chemistry award, endorsed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for their specific actions on target insects and selectivity for beneficial organisms.

The Corteva Agriscience Coffee Line has a complete portfolio of insecticides, acaricides, fungicides and herbicides to help and maximize coffee grower productivity.