Technology developed by an agricultural startup helps in the production of strawberries

Strawberry cultivation generates income for more than 30 thousand Brazilian families, most of them family farmers. The fruit market is expanding, with good consumer demand. There are different cultivars, but, in general, they need sunny days and cool nights to produce the best strawberries. The small plant with short roots is demanding in terms of physical, nutritional and labor conditions, needs that have been facilitated by the use of technology, an ally that is changing the reality of cultivation in the south of the country.

In Rio Grande do Sul, the main strawberry producing regions are Vale do Caí and Serra Gaúcha. In Caxias do Sul, on the property of rural producer Fernandes Andreazza, the adoption of the use of a Digital Field Notebook - called Demetra - helps in decision-making on the property, where 120 thousand strawberry plants are grown in the district of Santa Lucia do Piaí. The tool, developed by the startup Elysios Agricultura Inteligente, is a digital platform, in which the farmer can, in an easy and practical way, record day-to-day activities in the fields through an application on the smartphone.

The fruits, produced with the use of biological pesticides, without agrochemicals, have a guaranteed market in large supermarket chains in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. “After giving instructions to the people on the farm, I know when they are completed because everything is in the app and I saw that they have already completed them. The Field Notebook means that we record everything that happens within the property, I can monitor it remotely”, explains the rural producer, who shares the Granja Andreazza brand with two brothers. Also an agronomist, Fernandes states that he plans to expand the use of technology to the consultancy service, in which he provides assistance to other farmers. “We saw that the platform is viable and helps, both in recommendations and in monitoring pests and diseases. I intend to extend this work to my clients”, says the consultant, who was one of the pioneers of strawberry cultivation in the municipality, in 1995.

Andreazza is expanding the use of technology on the property. Less than a month ago, he installed the Elysios sensing system next to the construction sites. “I want to monitor the climate conditions in the greenhouses, I believe the result will be a success”, he believes. The system works intelligently, controlling factors such as irrigation, temperature and humidity, among others. With integrated wireless network communication, it also provides accurate data on soil nutrients, rainfall and leaf wetness, the system knows the ideal amount of nutrients for the best plant production, developing the plant in its optimal state. 

“I believe that strawberries can be an alternative for small properties. A well-cared for plant has an average productivity of 900 grams to one kilo plant/year. The production of a good volume of fruit allows the area to be economically profitable”, he believes.

In the west of Santa Catarina, the França family has been cultivating strawberries since 2019. Karine and Daniel exchanged their professional careers, in Curitibanos, for rural life, with their three young children. Upon recommendation from the manager of a financial institution, they began using the Demetra system on the property where they harvest, on average, 700 kilos of strawberries per week. “We see the application as a game changer, as we were able to computerize farming, allowing employees to also be feeders of information and creating direct communication with our agronomist. This means we can work more quickly on pests and diseases. The harvest became more precise, in terms of numbers, not to mention the traceability that opened doors for us in supermarkets. This increased our profitability, as we removed a middleman”, explains rural producer Karine França. 

The former bank employee states that they record activities while still in the field, making the routine on the property easier. “The application is simple, intuitive and allows you to receive information offline, as you don't get Wi-Fi on the farm and we don't have a carrier signal at home. Furthermore, the reports help us make decisions, such as, for example, anticipating next week's sales, as it is possible to know the average harvest we will have”. Strawberries França are sold directly to consumers and in three supermarkets in the region.

The Demetra Digital Field Notebook was developed by Elysios Agricultura Inteligente, a startup - or agtech, as agro startups are called - based in Porto Alegre that has been on the market for five years. “Inputs used, hours worked and sales made in that harvest, everything is recorded in a simple way and it is possible to compare with previous ones, it makes this easier. For the next year, the producer only has to renew the harvest and update the system, he does not need to create everything again. With the Field Notebook this was not possible”, explains Luiz Fernando Rauber Albé, agrotechnology leader at Elysios. And he explains the versatility of the platform: “The application was developed and designed together with vegetable and fruit producers. With this, we were able to make it comprehensive and have settings in the system that make it versatile and fast, with the necessary settings for each crop. Whether by dividing areas, plantations, courts or greenhouses. So, he can have all this correct division of crops to, in the end, have a correct analysis of that harvest”.