It is not new that agriculture has been going through a scenario of transformation in its production processes. Climatic uncertainties, such as the drought faced in the summer crop and the severe cold, predicted for the winter of this year, are factors that worry farmers across the country. In addition, the war between Russia and Ukraine directly affects Brazilian agribusiness.
In the face of all this, producers became even more concerned, since, according to data released in March/2022, as a result of this war, fertilizer prices had an unimaginable increase, compared to what was paid in recent harvests. . Potassium, for example, an essential element for agricultural production, tripled in value in just one year, from US$ 300 in February 2021 to US$ 1,100 per ton in 2022, because Russia is the main source of the input. used in Brazilian crops.
As usual, the Brazilian farmer once again needed to look for new alternatives to overcome all the uncertainties in the crop, and with that, more and more, it was realized the need to increase the demand for information on fertility rates, liming and nutrition recommendations. soil and plants, with the aim of optimizing the resources invested in crops.
Precision agriculture, an old acquaintance of producers, showed (again) its importance in this scenario, since the data generated through the soil, which are obtained with collected samples and sampling quality criteria, reveal information. From these data, it is possible to have knowledge about the nutrients present in the soil and to estimate their quantity and availability, generating fundamental data for the development of strategies to maintain the levels of these nutrients. In this way, we guarantee that the vegetative and reproductive growth phases of each crop are not harmed by the lack or excess of fertilizers.
Through detailed soil knowledge, in addition to nutrient maintenance or correction strategies, another factor stands out in the scenario of high fertilizer costs: safety in decision-making. With the data generated at hand, the farmer will run less risk when fertilizing the soil and liming, in addition to having accurate information about each field of the crop and the doses to be applied accurately. Therefore, the purchase of fertilizers is carried out in an intelligent way, rationalizing the entire investment with these products.
Therefore, in order to have better results in the next crops, in addition to using the appropriate strategies, it is necessary to ration and rationalize all the resources necessary for the production process, after all, it will still be possible to feel, for many years, the reflexes of the actions carried out by the other side of the continent.
