Internet in the field advances, but there are still areas without connection – 04/26/2023 – Market

In a four-year period, a program created by agribusiness companies made it possible for more than 12 million hectares that had been completely disconnected to have an internet signal. The service is essential for the good performance of the most modern agricultural machines.

Despite this, even São Paulo, the state with the most covered areas, has rural areas without connection, which prevent rural producers from having real-time access to the conditions verified by the equipment. As a result, decision-making is delayed, which can lead to financial losses.

Created in 2019, the ConectarAgro association saw the shutdown of the analog TV signal in the country as an opportunity to occupy the 700 MHz frequency. The old range of communication companies started to propagate the 4G connection system in the countryside.

The program began with eight founders, and today there are 43 associates and supporters — including competitors such as Valtra, Case, New Holland and Massey Ferguson.

ConectarAgro does not sell systems, but encourages development so that the services and equipment sold by its associates are effectively used by rural producers.

Data from the association show that the countryside currently has less than 12% coverage, while in cities the index exceeds 98%. It does little good for the producer to pay prices above R$ 1 million for a machine that allows the transmission of information in real time if he cannot use the system.

“The perception that the telecommunications infrastructure is fundamental for the continuity of the productivity increase cycle is growing stronger”, said Ana Helena de Andrade, president of ConectarAgro.

“Agriculture comes with increasing productivity, that is, it produces more with less land, land use does not grow at the same rate. We have record harvest after record harvest basically due to technology.”

The connection helps the producer in the most varied ways. With a tablet, smartphone or computer, he can control activities from afar. Thus, it knows whether the machine operates at its maximum efficiency or whether the soil moisture is adequate to perform the desired service, for example.

The 700 MHz frequency allows the signal to reach an area of ​​up to 35,000 hectares with a single antenna, depending on the topography, at a cost of between R$ 350,000 and R$ 400,000.

Leader in Latin America of Climate FieldView, Bayer’s digital agriculture platform, Alexandre Pimenta said that digital transformation is one of the company’s strategic pillars, alongside sustainability and innovation.

“We understand that, alongside agribusiness and technology companies, we can shape the future of digital agriculture,” he said.

Bayer’s platform allows the producer to analyze the property by square meter and make decisions for the most efficient use of inputs and natural resources, without having to wait to correct problems.

The service combines test results of the brand’s hybrids and makes recommendations to the producer on the ideal amount of seeds for each zone of his field. Brazil is the company’s second largest market, after the United States.

In places without connection, the producer collects data offline and uploads it to the cloud when he is in a place with internet access.

The system proposed by ConectarAgro is open, which means that where there is a telephone tower –they belong to TIM, another founder–, anyone can connect to the internet.

So far, communities totaling one million inhabitants in 485 municipalities in 12 states have benefited. There is an ongoing pilot project to help teachers in rural schools that previously did not have the internet.

The growth in the total number of areas that gained connectivity is mainly in the Midwest, due to investments by large grain producers seeking to connect planters and harvesters.

“Even in São Paulo there is a need for investments to have what we call adequate coverage”, stated Ana Helena de Andrade, from ConectarAgro. “The state has a strong ethanol and sugar industry with integration of agricultural and industrial chains, but it has room to grow due to investment in telecommunications.”

The area covered in the last four years by the program is greater than the entire territory of Cuba, for example, but there was still, in 2022, more than 70% of rural properties in the country without connectivity. The area covered data should be updated next week, during the Agrishow, in Ribeirão Preto.

“Having a larger area covered in the country, it is clear that the possibility of selling products increases. Because the producer will have, for example, a modem to get data in real time in the field when he doesn’t have any 3G there, even more a 4G?” asked Trimble’s marketing manager, Giancarlo Fasolin.

He said that there is a great deal of room for growth in connectivity in agribusiness if the Brazilian territory is compared with the scenario seen in Italy.

“There, all the tractors have a modem and everyone is sending data all the time. They have to inform the government about what is happening in order to receive the subsidies. The field is completely connected, the producer has detailed control of the operation. “

There are other initiatives in the market also involving brands linked to agribusiness. In the same year of the appearance of ConectarAgro, John Deere commercially presented a program for the installation of transmission towers for connection in places not reached by the operators, in a model in which the producer does not need to make his own investments in infrastructure.