The Planting Revolution in Brazil

Before-equipment

These photos highlight the work of a creative farmer in Mato Grasso, Brazil, who took advantage of old planters (above) and modified some parts and added meters, spending less than half the price of a new row planter. This large farm retrofitted more than 10 planters with the best technology (below).

Retrofitted-planter

While I currently work independently in the area of agricultural technology, I also participated in all of the development of Precision Planting equipment in Brazil. I can say that planting in Brazil has changed significantly due to the use of Precision Planting meters in the country.

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It all started with a partnership with the Brazilian brand Stara in South Brazil in 2011. We have to give the merit to this company because it has done much of the tropicalization work on the equipment, where many points of improvement have been made.

With Monsanto’s purchase of Precision Planting in 2012, the business expanded in Brazil, including the development of commercial and engineering teams. Still, many challenges have been encountered with this equipment because the conditions in the U.S. are very different from ours, such as soil and wear parts of the equipment. Also, the Brazilian agricultural market is not accustomed to the equipment aftermarket.

However, we have noticed excellent performance of the equipment when well regulated. We also have had improvements in the planting of soybeans, corn, beans, and cotton. And because of this situation, other farm equipment companies have invested their use of this technology in Brazil.

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In the last four years, manufacturers such as Tatu Marchesan, Vence Tudo, and Kuhn have added vSet meters and thus have had high increases in their planter sales. We also had the launch of CNH in Brazil with Precision Planting meters, giving even greater competitiveness to the business.

In addition, during my visit to the Farm Progress Show in August, I learned about the great work that AGCO intends to do in Brazil in the next few years. With the company’s intense research work on U.S. crops, I know that this will be replicated in Brazil. I talked to many professionals at the show who were very excited about AGCO’s work in other geographies. One area that should evolve is the company’s research on down force sensors, a tech issue that is studied little in Brazil but that has great impact on the depth of planting.

During my visit to the Farm Progress Show, I also congratulated Gregg Sauder, the founder of Precision Planting and current president and founder of 360 Yield Center, for all his work and for being part of this planting revolution in Brazil and in the World.

Gregg-Sauder-and-Mauricio-Netto

Gregg Sauder (left) and Mauricio Nicocelli Netto at the 2017 Farm Progress Show.

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