*By Roberto Arruda
The rise of the concept of agriculture 4.0, more than bringing to light the importance of connectivity in the field, has helped the sector to increase its productivity, as well as to overcome its main challenges, such as people management, costs, logistics and storage, in addition to the lack of planning and security of the entire chain. To this end, the adoption of technology in agribusiness has grown as a true ally.
Data gathered by the entities Embrapa, Sebrae and Inpe indicate that 84% of those interviewed use at least one digital technology in their production process. Among them, 66.1% exploit it to access information and plan the property's activities; 43.3% to manage the rural property; 40.5% for purchase and sale of inputs, products and production; 32.7% for mapping and land use planning and 30.2% for climate risk prediction.
This investment in technology in agribusiness is directly connected to this market's need to integrate and scale its operations. This is because, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Brazil, together with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), global food production needs to increase by 70% by 2050 to guarantee supply to almost 10 billion people who will make up the world population by then.
Given this scenario, ensuring such an increase in production is challenging, but the majority of obstacles can be overcome with effective data management, which makes investment in technology an increasingly assertive and strategic action.
Investment in technology and data management in agribusiness
The technology is capable of bringing great data visibility to agribusiness, which allows managers to understand the operation from end to end. This volume of information allows for increased operational efficiency, as it is possible to instantly track field work, as well as gain agility in decision-making.
With data collected in the field and entered into a system, for example, it is possible to quickly map the required quantity of inputs, compare it with what is available in stock and proceed to the purchasing process, if necessary. This reduces expenses and time, in a connected and agile way.
Ensuring information in the palm of your hand also provides more professionalism and security, as they update, in real time and regardless of location – whether in the countryside or in the city –, the entire history of purchases, sales and negotiations.
Industry challenges and how to overcome them
In general, management is one of the main challenges facing agribusiness today. When it comes to cost management, the problem lies in the constant increase in inputs, which requires adequate control to ensure a good profit margin in the final sale. When it comes to logistics management, the market needs more operational efficiency, which can be obtained from a strategy for monitoring cargo, managing delivery and correct distribution.
Regarding storage, technology supports inventory management and intelligent distribution, ensuring a safe deposit for everything produced, avoiding the need to slow down production due to storage obstacles.
Furthermore, training and retaining good professionals is possible with good talent database management, reinforcing the role of technology in agribusiness, even in the people management division.
Last but not least, although the new generations that have taken on the work of agribusiness development are concerned about adopting best practices supported by technologies, digital security is still in the background, a culture that needs to evolve, since Business owners run risks by allowing vulnerabilities in their systems. In addition to daily backups, it is essential to have a structured action plan so that, in extreme cases, it is possible to restore the most recent environment possible.
Complete data management, in turn, is what supports the resolution of all these bottlenecks, as it is capable of compiling all the information and strategically mapping out what needs to be done, considering the best cost-benefit. to the entrepreneur.
The implementation of technology in agribusiness
According to the Emerging Technologies Agro 2022 survey, by MIT Technology Review, the three areas of technology with the highest probability of investment, by agribusinesses and input manufacturers, are based on data, being: analytics and big data (4.26), 5G connectivity and internet of things (4.25) and artificial intelligence and machine learning (4.14).
All of these investments are supported by technology pillars such as cloud solutions. This is because, with cloud migration solutions, it is possible to increase operational efficiency by exploiting a single infrastructure, regardless of the volume of data. Systems integration allows the connection of farming and factory to the office, in addition to reducing expenses and speeding up the consolidation of information, even in remote regions. Finally, security solutions ensure that all this information travels from end to end efficiently and with minimal risks.
In general terms, technology in agribusiness is fundamental for fully mapping operations and identifying points of vulnerability. However, it is essential to have an attentive team, capable of monitoring all environments continuously and that understands not only technology, but also the sector, so that it is possible to identify the real challenges and apply the most appropriate solutions, increasing productivity and margin .
In other words, the entire operationalization of this strategy must be under the responsibility of specialists in the subject who will make the necessary adaptations to the cloud and system integration, always keeping the environment safe, paying attention to protecting the most important asset in the entire chain, which are the data. This way, managers can allocate their efforts to what really matters and closely monitor the evolution of their business.
*Roberto Arruda, commercial director at Sky.One
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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