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By Roberto Arruda, commercial director of Skyone
The rise of the Agriculture 4.0 concept, more than just highlighting the importance of connectivity in the field, has helped the sector increase its productivity and overcome its main challenges, such as people management, costs, logistics and storage, as well as the lack of planning and the 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% use it to access information and plan farm activities; 43.3% to manage the rural property; 40.5% for buying and selling inputs, products, and production; 32.7% for mapping and planning land use; and 30.2% for forecasting climate risks.
This investment in technology in agribusiness is directly connected to the 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, in conjunction with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), global food production needs to increase by 70% by 2050 to guarantee food supply for the nearly 10 billion people who will make up the world's population by then.
Given this scenario, ensuring such a large increase in production is challenging, but most obstacles can be overcome with effective data management, making investment in technology an increasingly assertive and strategic action.
Investment in technology and data management in agribusiness
Technology is capable of bringing great data visibility to agribusiness, allowing managers to understand the operation from end to end. This volume of information allows for increased operational efficiency, since it is possible to instantly track fieldwork, as well as gain agility in decision-making.
With data collected in the field and entered into a system, for example, it's possible to quickly map the required quantity of supplies, compare it with what's available in stock, and proceed with the purchasing process if necessary. This reduces expenses and time, in a connected and agile way.
Having information readily available at your fingertips adds professionalism and security, as it updates the entire history of purchases, sales, and negotiations in real time, regardless of location – whether in the countryside or the city.
Challenges in the sector and how to overcome them
In general, management is one of the main challenges in agribusiness today. When it comes to cost management, the problem lies in the constant increase in input costs, which requires adequate control to ensure a good profit margin on the final sale. Regarding logistics management, the market lacks greater operational efficiency, which can be achieved through a strategy of cargo monitoring, delivery management, and proper distribution.
With regard to storage, technology supports inventory management and intelligent distribution, ensuring a secure storage for everything that is produced, avoiding the need to slow down production due to storage constraints.
Furthermore, training and retaining good professionals is possible with good talent database management, reinforcing the role of technology in agribusiness, even in the human resources management division.
Finally, but no less importantly, although the new generations taking on the work of developing agribusiness are concerned with adopting best practices supported by technology, digital security is still a secondary concern, a culture that needs to evolve, since entrepreneurs 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.
Comprehensive data management, in turn, supports the resolution of all these bottlenecks, as it is able to compile all the information and strategically map out what needs to be done, considering the best cost-benefit ratio for the business owner.
The implementation of technology in agribusiness
According to the Emerging Technologies Agro 2022 research by MIT Technology Review, the three technology areas most likely to receive investment from agribusinesses and input manufacturers are data-based: analytics and big data (4.26), 5G connectivity and the Internet of Things (4.25), and artificial intelligence and machine learning (4.14).
All these investments are supported by technological pillars such as cloud solutions. This is because, with cloud migration solutions, it is possible to increase operational efficiency by leveraging a single infrastructure, regardless of the volume of data. Systems integration allows for the connection of the farm and the 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 flows efficiently from end to end with minimal risk.
In general terms, technology in agribusiness is fundamental for the complete mapping of operations and identification of vulnerabilities. However, it is essential to have an attentive team, capable of continuously monitoring all environments and understanding 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 profit margins.
In other words, the entire operationalization of this strategy should be the responsibility of subject matter experts who will make the necessary adaptations for the cloud and system integration, always maintaining a secure environment and paying close attention to safeguarding the most important asset in the entire chain: the data. This allows managers to focus their efforts on what truly matters and closely monitor the evolution of their business.
Check out the article published on the Portal Painel Logístico website.
