Despite having the highest national average productivity in soybeans – around 65 sc/ha –, the Federal District could achieve an average productivity of 150 sc/ha with the best management and the most appropriate technologies, also guaranteeing sustainability. In this context, the challenges in eco-efficient management for high crop yields were discussed at the 4th technical meeting on the Embrapa-Emater-Rural Producer partnership, held at Embrapa Cerrados (DF) on July 9th.
The meeting was attended by around 15 rural extension agents from Emater-DF and researchers. Successful experiences of the partnership were presented and demands and actions were discussed to strengthen soybean farming in the Federal District as the first harvest, as well as alternatives for the second harvest (safrinha) with corn, sorghum, millet and safrinha cattle.
The general head of Embrapa Cerrados, Sebastião Pedro, highlighted the need for greater connection between the partnership's agents, with more frequent meetings to prepare work plans. “We are in Planaltina, DF, and we have a regional Emater-DF office here. We want to think with you about a way to get closer together and understand demands more quickly, as you have a much greater reach, and also to react more quickly and assertively to produce more technical information and guide producers”, he stated.
For Sebastião Pedro, each agricultural crop in the DF, despite high productivity, can be even better utilized. “From the DF, we can form a reference for the rest of Brazil. Here we have several Embrapa units, one of the best structured Emater in the country and a territory that responds quickly, as the farmer is highly tech-savvy,” he noted.
The general manager highlighted the need for greater agility in actions, since from this year onwards Brazil will have the strongest and most competitive economic sector in agriculture. “We have to develop our own technology, be more efficient, produce more at a lower cost and harm the environment less. Every year, a new problem will arise and we will have to react quickly,” he pointed out, citing the technical meeting held three years ago on the corn leafhopper.
The manager of the Intelligence and Planning Center (CIP) at Emater-DF, Carlos César da Luz, represented the agency's executive director, Loiselene Trindade da Rocha. He highlighted the close, decades-long relationship between Emater and Embrapa. He also spoke about the CIP, a structure that is being created to think about strategic planning together with other institutions and verify, based on demands, responses in the short, medium and long term.
Luz recalled that Emater-DF was involved with the soybean issue for a long time during the construction of the Japanese-Brazilian Cooperation Program for the Agricultural Development of the Cerrados (Prodecer) but, later, it began to focus on the production of various agricultural commodities. “It’s time for us to resume. There are many things that the rural extension service, in conjunction with research, can solve, such as management and negotiation processes with trading companies, as some producers are left alone because they are not linked to organizations”, she mentioned.
He highlighted that the DF has a true innovation ecosystem, with universities, rural extension, research institutions and financial agents close to each other. “From the point of view of partnerships between institutions, we will build a different point of view in DF and RIDE-DF. The Secretary of Agriculture has this vision. We are together,” he concluded.
Pedro Ivo Borges Passos, operations coordinator at Emater-DF, noted that although the grain production area in the DF is small, the region has great potential, which will be optimized with the structuring of the Agroindustrial Poles of Rio Preto and PAD-DF . “The idea of holding periodic meetings is very good because it promotes rapprochement with producers. We see what’s happening and react,” he says.
The deputy head of Technology Transfer at Embrapa Cerrados, Fábio Faleiro, recalled previous editions of the technical meeting and the partnership plans discussed. He recalled that from the meetings the Safra-Brasília Expedition was created with the themes “soy, corn and irrigated crops” and “fruit growing - passion fruit”.
“Planning meetings with Embrapa, Emater and producers together are the best way to really impact agribusiness in a positive way, recognizing the importance and space of large, medium and small producers”, he commented.
As recent activities resulting from the partnership, Faleiro mentioned the holding, this year, of the ronline meeting on dairy and beef cattle farming and Training in Tropical Fruit Farming, which is bringing together experts to address, by February 2022, 17 fruit farming topics, in addition to promoting technical visits to rural properties with successful cases.
The supervisor of the Unit's Technology Transfer Programming Implementation Sector (SIPT), Sérgio Abud, gave a presentation on the challenges in management and eco-efficient management for high yields in soybeans, content that can also be applied to other agricultural crops.
Abud explained that Embrapa's soybean genetic improvement program focuses on developing high-yielding varieties that can meet the producer's needs. “The issue of eco-efficiency is linked to high productivity at a viable cost for the producer, including from an operational point of view, and the minimum possible impact on the environment,” she stated.
He pointed out that the DF has the highest average soybean productivity in the country – around 65 sc/ha in approximately 52 thousand hectares of planted area. “But how much are we failing to produce and why?” he asked, highlighting that there is a scientific model adapted to the Brazilian reality that determines potential productivity, stipulated at 250 sc/ha; the attainable productivity and the real productivity of soybeans.
Among the factors that determine the potential productivity of soybeans, the first point is genetics. “The varieties currently developed have a greater focus on high productivity. For this reason, producers have to pay attention to crop management so as not to lose productivity”, said the SIPT supervisor.
The other points are the arrangement of plants (spatial distribution of plants per m² and per hectare), solar radiation and temperature. “We (in Brazil) have a great range of light throughout the year, but it changes according to the date. Because of this, the producer must pay attention to the best planting time to make better use of the availability of light during the soybean cycle and obtain higher yields”, he emphasized.
“And here in DF the altitude is good (average of 1000 m), the nights are cool and the temperatures are not very high during the day. Temperature is a crucial factor for the functioning of RuBisCO, an enzyme that regulates the carbon concentration, and therefore productivity, of plants”, he explained.
The attainable productivity, also determined by a scientific model, is limited by the availability of water for the plant in a given year or location. For the DF and region, attainable productivity is estimated at around 150 sc/ha. “Today, with climate conditions, genetics and everything else being the best possible, but with limited water, we can produce 150 sc/ha. If our real average productivity is 65 sc/ha, our productivity deficit is 85 sc/ha, that is, this is what could be escaping”, commented Abud.
He showed that among productivity record holders, even on farms that use rescue irrigation in soybeans in the region, productivity historically does not exceed that of record-breaking crops in rainfed conditions.
“There is possibly a factor that reduces productivity in irrigated areas, which could be the amount of water applied at the time when the plant needs it most. It doesn’t matter how much water falls on the leaf, but rather the water available in the soil, which is removed by the plant at the time and in the quantity it needs”, he explained, arguing the need for experiments to determine the production coefficient from the leaf blade. 'water applied at the different stages (moments) of crop development.
Real rainfed productivity is that obtained in farming, and will depend on the producer's level of technology. “This is the point that concerns us most. There are many factors that reduce productivity and act intensely: planting time, method of planting, pests, diseases, weeds, stress from interaction with products and their metabolism and the quality of the harvest. We have to better understand the plant's response to products and their mixtures through interaction with plants”, he highlighted, reinforcing that the genetics currently developed are more sensitive to the management applied to the crop.
“Agronomic problems are in the hands of agronomists. We have to solve this”, he warned, remembering that Embrapa's genetic improvement program is attentive to the needs of producers, offering conventional and genetically modified cultivars adapted to the different Brazilian soy growing regions. “One side is to have genetics adapted to the producer’s needs; the other is for the producer to adapt to the needs of genetics. And then agronomic knowledge is of fundamental importance”, he highlighted.
The SIPT supervisor explained that the year's climate efficiency is calculated by the ratio between the estimated attainable productivity and potential productivity, which varies depending on the location, region and season. The efficiency of agronomic management in the field is the ratio between the actual harvested productivity and the estimated attainable productivity. “If we are producing 65 sc/ha, which is very good, but the attainable productivity is 150 sc/ha, that means we have a 50% productivity deficit. We need to understand what is happening and how to resolve it to reduce productivity losses,” he pointed out.
Abud showed the management used by productivity record holders and highlighted that there are some pillars of fundamental importance for obtaining these results, such as building soil fertility with a deeper profile, allowing good development of the root system and the storage of water and oxygen for plants; the choice of a variety adapted to each production environment; the excellent seed treatment; planting with good plant distribution; excellent phytosanitary management and desiccation at the right time; and high quality harvest. “The producer must do basic management, but do it well. Agronomic quality associated with operational quality is necessary for the success of the crop”.
In this way, with high agronomic or management efficiency, the producer becomes increasingly less vulnerable to the low climate efficiency that may occur during the harvest. “When the producer has good agronomic efficiency and climate efficiency changes, he will still be more successful”, he concluded.
At the end of the meeting, participants learned about the technological showcase with Embrapa corn, sorghum and millet cultivars installed in the Unit's experimental fields.
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