Agrishow Special: Agrishow debates how to make weather forecasts more reliable

Create a platform capable of integrating the 500 meteorological stations that currently exist in the Brazilian weather forecast system, with the hundreds of private stations installed by rural producers on their farms. This measure would represent a significant improvement in the quality of weather forecasts used in agriculture. This assessment was a consensus among the participants of the panel “The Climate in Brazil in 2018 and its Impact on the 2018/2019 Harvests”, promoted this Wednesday (2), by Climatempo, in the Knowledge Arena of the 25th Agrishow – International Technology Fair Agricultural.

“Sharing information and data between the largest possible number of measuring stations is essential to provide greater reliability in forecasts, which is a fundamental instrument for rural producers’ decision-making”, stated Carlos Magno, president of Climatempo. “In most agricultural crops, the climatological window for planting or harvesting is usually very narrow. For this reason, having a forecast that is as reliable as possible is essential for the producer, as, especially in the case of large plantations, an error can represent the difference between profit or loss”, stated Júlio Cézar Busato, president of the Associação Baiana of Cotton Producers (Abapa), one of the panel participants.

In the next panel, Evaristo de Miranda, general manager of Embrapa Territorial, gave a lecture on Land allocation, use and management and Agriculture 4.0, emphasizing the need to seek the correct data. According to him, there is a large amount of information, from agricultural machinery sensors and meteorological stations, available on the internet. “But we need to look for the right data, that is, the correct data, to facilitate work in the field, if we have to combat rust, for example”, summarized Miranda, highlighting that the data would not be restricted to weather forecasts, but with more accurate data on crops.

Miranda mentioned that a pilot project, involving Climatempo and Embrapa Territorial, called Agroeste, with cotton production, should soon begin a project in Bahia, with the intention of having more correct data. He emphasized that large producers will have faster information, but that small producers, through organized cooperatives, will also be able to improve communication in the field.

Also participating in the panel was Danielle Bressiani, R&D manager at Labs Climatempo, who presented the Agroclima PRO application. And Rafael Guimarães, president of Hughes Brasil, highlighted that the company will have, by the end of this year, around 4.900 cities with satellite internet coverage. According to him, 22% of rural households in the country are still without an internet connection, mainly in the North region.

Writer José Luiz Tejon, who was the panel moderator, highlighted: “The better coordinated the production chains, the less uncertainty”. And he added that, with around 500 meteorological stations connected by satellite, Brazil has the possibility of having detailed information, similar to that existing in the United States. “The time is today, now”, he concluded.

Agrishow 2018 began on April 30th and ends on Friday, May 4th. The fair is an initiative of the main entities in the segment in the country: Abag – Brazilian Agribusiness Association, Abimaq – Brazilian Association of Machinery and Equipment Industry, Anda – National Association for Fertilizer Diffusion, Faesp – Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of the State of São Paulo and SRB - Brazilian Rural Society. The event is organized by Informa Exhibitions, part of the Informa Group, one of the largest publicly traded promoters of fairs, conferences and training in the world.