Agrobusiness Column: Latest Brazilian Agro-Industry News; Water Resources Technology Lacking (Week 33/2020)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – One of the latest Brazilian agricultural frontiers, western Bahia state is currently a major cotton, corn and soy production pole, in addition to state-of-the-art cattle-raising.

The region’s success is primarily related to the rural producers’ willingness to bet on the use of technology for soil correction, sowing, crop management, harvesting and water management. Not by chance, the plantations of western Bahia are currently one of the most technologically advanced in the country.

Luís Eduardo Kasuya, commercial director of Kasuya Agronomic Intelligence, based in the municipality of Luís Eduardo Magalhães (Bahia), has been following the permanent progress of incorporating technology and innovation in rural properties in western Bahia for years. In an interview with AGROemDIA, Kasuya says that one of the region’s features is to combine technology and innovation in agriculture. This has turned West Bahia into one of Brazil’s major grain exporters.

According to Kasuya, technologies to better use water resources are still lacking. The central region of Brazil is one of the largest, if not the largest, agricultural plains in the world. With sandy soil, it is on top of the Urucuia aquifer, a veritable underground freshwater sea.

One of the largest farms in the Americas is located in the region, and belongs to the Franciosi brothers. The Santo Antônio farm, for instance, has about 200 kilometers of internal roads. It is the largest irrigated farm in the Americas, and consequently the most productive in the region.

The eight farms of Brothers Franciosi together correspond to about 60,000 hectares. Soy, corn and cotton are the main crops sold both domestically and abroad by the group.

Agritech startups

With investments starting at US$1 million, Agrofy, the Argentinean agritech startup, is an e-commerce platform. It is a large agribusiness focused, more precisely, on agricultural machinery.

Currently, Agrofy has 280 employees and operates in seven countries, including the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Uruguay.

Orbia, a joint venture between Bayer Crop Science and Bravium, broke a historical record in the agro market and sold over R$100 million in supplies in less than 24 hours, exceeding past results by 600 percent.

The producers’ buying and marketing habits are in the process of being updated. It is amid this scenario that Orbia was born, a marketplace that unites three initiatives focused on agribusiness: purchase and sale of supplies, a coalition program and a platform for the sale of commodities.

In early June, it promoted the largest digital agribusiness activation during Orbia Day, when they sold over R$10 million in agricultural supplies in only three hours.

The company has a base of nearly 170,000 registered users, covering about 70 percent of the country’s planted area.

In addition to Orbia, another platform emerges in the rearview mirror, and it is fast, the Aproxima Grãos. The platform is ready to be launched, and as its name suggests, it will bring grain producers and buyers closer together.

Five more fishing terminals will be privatized

Five new fish processing terminals that have been qualified by the Investment Partnership Program (IPP) will be granted to private initiative. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) will prepare the bidding procedures to enable the concession of these structures.

The public fish processing terminals in Natal (RN), Aracaju (SE), Vitória (ES) and in Santos and Cananéia (SP) were qualified by the program.

According to the schedule presented to the Ministry of Economy, MAPA plans to complete the concession of these terminals by the end of 2021. Currently, the Cabedelo (PB), Belém (PA) and Manaus (AM) terminals are already in the process of being privatized.

Digital cotton conference platform 

The peaceful waters of the Todos os Santos Bay in Bahia will be stirred by the 13th Brazilian Cotton Conference (CBA), on August 17th, 18th and 19th next year (2021), at the Salvador Convention Center, as pledged by the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers (ABRAPA), the event’s organizer.

The event will feature online participation of legislators from different parts of the world. The event’s topic will be “Brazilian cotton – challenges and perspectives in the new world scenario”.

Sustainability under debate

To stress environmental sustainability in Brazil, BW Expo, Summit and Digital 2020 – 3rd Biosphere World is preparing an innovative event, from November 17th to 19th. BW 2020 will be held online, with live broadcasting.

Cargill’s right arm for digital strategy and innovation, new products, and business development in Latin America, João Alexandre Lopes de Carvalho will be one of the main speakers at the 2nd edition of the Open Food Innovation Summit. Maurício De Bortoli of Sementes Aurora has also confirmed his presence. The event will take place online on October 14th and 15th.

The event will introduce solutions for hyper-local food, the diversity present in the delivery system, the significance of food care, handmade food and the zero waste concept.

In order to diffuse ”precision and digital agriculture” concepts, its challenges and the panorama of new frontiers, the Brazilian Association of Precision Agriculture (AsBraAP) promotes the first On-line Seminar on Precision and Digital Agriculture. The event will take place from September 1st to 3rd.

AsBraAP will feature daily and free lectures on topics such as challenges for the diffusion of precision and digital agriculture, among other agritech areas that conjoin agriculture and technology.