Southern Stage of the Two Harvests Program mobilizes more than 600 participants

The third traveling seminar of the Programa Duas Safras no RS - more production throughout the year - exceeded expectations on July 12th, held at the Centro Português 1º de Outubro, in Pelotas. More than 600 people were present throughout the day following the program's lectures focused on technical and market discussions regarding corn and soybean cultivation in lowlands and the Crop-Livestock Integration (ILP) system. The program featured reports on producers' experiences and was attended by several leaders of producer unions in the Southern Half of the State, as well as personalities from Rio Grande do Sul's agribusiness. The next stage will take place in Alegrete, on August 16th. In total, the Program will complete 10 editions by December.                          

The event was opened by the Superintendent of Senar/RS, Eduardo Condorelli, who highlighted the moment experienced by agriculture in Rio Grande do Sul as an opportunity for the internal and global scenario. “We bring together producers and students so that they can learn about the technologies available at Embrapa's research centers, and can make decisions to expand their businesses, which will influence and expand the economy throughout society,” he said. According to him, the agenda showed not only the will of entities, but clear signs of market and economic scenarios for participants, and throughout the day, technologies were presented that can be used to intensify production systems and bring innovations, and at each stage of the itinerant seminar, the focus of the programming will meet the specificities of each region.

Eduardo Condorelli reinforced that the Program's expectation is to break paradigms, which is not just the planting of rice, but other plantings in floodplains, such as investing in winter crops. “We plant almost eight million in RS in the summer, and only 1,300 million in the winter, whose crops can have more production”, he emphasized. He also recalled that in this new reality an entire crop of winter cereals was exported through the Port of Rio Grande, highlighting the current market demand.

During the day's program, there were four panels on Economic and Market Scenarios; Livestock in Integrated Production Systems; Maize Production in Lowlands; and Sulco-Camalhão System in Lowlands. Giovani Theisen and José Maria Parfitt, researchers from Embrapa Clima Temperado, presented some technologies to the participating public. 

Giovani Theisen was part of the economic panel, in which he showed technical options that agricultural research has available and meet the idea of ​​the Two Harvest Program. “We present the options for grain management technologies such as soybeans, corn and wheat in lowlands, with the integration of livestock farming. We indicate three ways to increase production: advance in areas where agriculture was not practiced; seek greater productivity; make more crops per year,” he said.

Giovani cited, as an example of the advancement of agricultural areas, the axis between Jaguarão and Barra do Ribeiro, which has an area of ​​800 thousand hectares, with a flat surface, in lowlands. Of these, 150 ha are dedicated to rice cultivation and 130 ha are allocated to soybeans, which he asks: “ - And the rest of the area is dedicated to what type of production? We seek to point out numbers to show how we can better use agricultural areas for food production.” According to him, Embrapa, through the four research units in the South of the country (Temperate Climate, Southern Livestock, Swine and Poultry and Wheat) are mobilized to technically indicate viable technologies for the Program. “In fact, with the shortage of corn for the poultry segment, the formulation of alternative feeds for animals based on rice and winter cereals such as wheat, triticale and others is being studied.”

Researcher José Maria Parfitt presented grain production technology using ridge furrows, aimed at lowlands, with the aim of diversifying the production system. “RS still has rice cultivation as its flagship, but we have a scenario that points to a reduction in areas of this cultivation. As there is a reality of water availability in our region, and with the support of the use of furrow-ridge technology, irrigation becomes available for the development of this crop, which is scarce in the State, corn then becomes a grain option to be produced, as it is the new agricultural frontier in Rio Grande do Sul”, he explains. For Parfitt, the State should reach around two to three million hectares of soybeans and corn in the coming years. This panel was also moderated by the technical coordinator of the Terras Baixas Experimental Station, André Andres.

The activity included the presentation of ILP technologies made by researcher Danilo Santanna, from Embrapa Pecuária Sul, who showed some alternatives such as Pasto sobre Pasto and Pasto 365 Dias technologies as a diversification of rural properties in forage production as a way of maintaining livestock production integrated into the agricultural area, expanding the business and increasing the producer's income. The panels also featured reports from rural producers Gabriel Mello de Souza Fernandes, from Estância Santa Maria, Pedras Altas; Lauro Ribeiro, from Agropecuária Canoa Mirim, in Santa Vitória do Palmar; and Paulo Nolasco, from Fazenda São Francisco, in Jaguarão.