Pioneering system in the world mitigates environmental impact and increases the effectiveness of aerial application of agrochemicals

Founded just over three years ago by two young entrepreneurs from São João da Boa Vista (SP), the company Dominus Soli is revolutionizing the concept of aerial application of agricultural pesticides. Tool developer Spray Plan, the first analysis system launched in the world to monitor the operation of agricultural aircraft, Dominus Soli has gained a wide customer base, made up of rural producers who seek to reconcile agricultural productivity with mitigating the impact of agrochemicals on the environment.  

The company's managing partners, Antonio Loures Soares Junior and Marco Antonio Lino Junior explain that the Spray Plan analysis system, originating from an innovation project, transfers to agribusiness managers a decisive set of information to measure results obtained with the application of agrochemicals, by air, on rural properties.

"The Spray Plan system diagnoses failures recorded in aerial applications. It is a resource that prevents damage to crops, increases the productive potential of crops and protects living organisms that are not the target of these treatments, such as bees", summarizes Loures. The executive has been working in the agricultural aviation market for more than ten years.

Lino adds that the company's clients are mainly sugar and ethanol plants, as well as large producers of cotton, rice, citrus, fruit and vegetables and soybeans, which together concentrate around 2,5 million hectares of crops targeted for agrochemical applications.

 According to Dominus Soli directors, the Spray Plan system generates analytical reports containing quantitative and qualitative indices associated with aerial applications. It is possible to assess, for example, whether the instructions for a certain treatment contracted by the rural producer with an agricultural aviation company were in fact complied with by the pilot when carrying out the service. 

“The analysis system allows you to plan, evaluate and correct parameters such as programmed bandwidth, effective application, flow rate, volumes of mixture deposited outside planned areas, areas not covered by products and overlapping applications. Through the Spray Plan, it is also possible to control and redirect the volume of inputs used”, adds Loures.

The two businessmen attribute the rapid growth of Dominus Soli in the Brazilian market to the agility that the Spray Plan system brought to rural producers, particularly in decision-making involving the application of agricultural pesticides. 

“Identifying errors that occurred during an aerial application helps the producer to correct serious problems linked to agricultural production and environmental issues. Anchored in the analysis system, it also reduces treatment costs and raises your expectations regarding the productivity and competitiveness of your crop”, reinforces Lino.

Numbers - Data collected by Dominus Soli in the last two years shows that the adoption of the Spray Plan system increases the coverage effectiveness of agrochemical products from 75% to 96% of the treated area. “Through conventional aerial treatment, in areas where maturators are applied, we noticed that waste of up to 15% in product volume occurs, due to the lack of control over the quantity of inputs delivered to aircraft, for example”, highlights Antonio Loures.     

The executives also state that producers who do not take into account appropriate technical standards for aerial crop treatments suffer losses of up to 50% in the volume of agricultural pesticides used, due to the occurrence of 'drift', evaporation or unfavorable climatic conditions for execution. of the application. 

“When there is no control over these notes, there is also a loss of agrochemical efficiency. There are several reports of customers who used conventional methods to apply insecticides and did not completely control the target pests, in addition to having increased the impact of products on organisms that were not targets of the treatments”, points out Marco Antonio Lino.  

Data from Sindag – National Union of Agricultural Aviation Companies – shows that today there are 240 agricultural aviation companies in operation, in addition to 565 operators linked to farmers and cooperatives. The total number of aircraft in use is close to 2080. Also according to the entity, in the national territory around 70 million hectares of crops receive annual applications of agricultural pesticides by air. Most agricultural aviation service providers are distributed in the states of São Paulo, Bahia, Goiás, Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul.

“It is Dominus Soli's task to act to integrate all parties involved in aerial agrochemical application operations: producers, agronomists, pilots and aviation service providers. Our work model proposes that partners value good practices in agricultural aviation, with a view to the continuous improvement of crop treatments and the sustainability of Brazilian agriculture”, concludes Loures.