Technology: the day of an agriculture 4.0

There is much to be proud of in Brazilian agriculture.

What many do not know is that Brazil is one of the most innovative countries in agricultural technology in the world, with the potential to export its discoveries. The much talked about agriculture 4.0, the Internet of Things (IoT), which provides for the real-time connection of data collected by digital technologies, promises a revolution.

Development, as well as contact with new technologies, have always been crucial steps in the evolution of humanity and many have already realized that implementing technological innovations in their business is the best way to gain high productivity and be successful.

“Agricultural technology developed in Brazil is generally more robust and resilient than that of many developed countries,” says Technology Innovation, Robotics and Automation Strategy Specialist and former Director of Innovation for Latin America at John Deere Alex Foessel.

Brazil is the country that offers the greatest opportunity to innovate, create value and feed the world, however, the lack of people trained to use technology is still a limiting factor in the potential for gains in productivity”, he commented.

Agriculture 4.0, the arrival of the Internet of Things (IoT) to the countryside.

If in the past the rural producer used intuition and experience to make decisions, today he has at his disposal numerous data to help him and, in some properties, the interconnection of data is already a reality.

The future will be marked by Producer 4.0, which will have all kinds of digital devices connected to databases, networks and the internet, so that they “talk” to each other or can be accessed remotely.

In this future, the producer sees on his tablet, even during breakfast, that four autonomous harvesters are already in the field while, in another field, irrigation has already started based on the data of soil moisture and rainfall volume. While studying with his son, he follows a panel with the productivity indicators of the crop and guides the team that is online discussing the next steps. On the way to the farm, he hears a course on employee engagement and thinks about how to reduce accidents in operations. When walking through the field, he scans a corn leaf and verifies that the application is correct in recommending the application of herbicide in minimum doses in the field. In the cafeteria, he watches a football game with the employees and comments on the new courses he is acquiring to train the team.

In the afternoon, he sees a drone in the sky that checks the evolution of the crop and failures in the planting and, in conversation with the agricultural technicians, they decide to send teams for replanting at the same time. Afterwards, it analyzes the soil fertility, fungi and pest graphs and approves the input purchase recommendation indicated by the soil management software. Suddenly, an alert pops up on the screen indicating the need for preventive maintenance on a machine. At the end of the day, he finds new employees in the office completing training in soil management software.

This vision already happens in some properties, but it will be a journey to reach scale. For this, the producer will need employees, partners, suppliers and consultants to be familiar with the technology to make it a useful ally.

This is and will be the great challenge:

“The future is the result of human-machine collaboration, with gains for all sides. By working with more knowledge and security, people allow technology to reach its full potential, producing more and contributing to multiplying productivity in the field”, concludes Foessel.

Founded in June 2020, Werkey is a company that emerged from the need for a solution that promotes the convergence of in-person and online course offerings from different brands and their dealer networks, to train customers and users in a single portal. of its solutions for agribusiness and heavy construction in Latin America.