Apr 01, 2019
Brazilian Farm Show Highlights Various Agricultural Technologies
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
When someone mentions the state of Mato Grosso, the first thing that comes to most prople's mind is soybean and corn production, but the agriculture of Mato Grosso involves much more than just the production of these two important crops. The state also produces cotton, rice, dry beans, sorghum, sunflowers, sugarcane, ethanol, forages, poultry, hogs, forestry products, and it has the largest cattle herd in Brazil at about 30 million head.
In addition to the mega-farms in Mato Grosso, there are many small family farmers as well. The state of also contains huge areas of Amazon rainforest and many indigenous reserves as well. In fact, only about 7% of the state's land is used for row-crop production. As a result, the farm shows in Mato Grosso try to address all the various types of agriculture in the state.
One of the first big farm shows in Brazil, the Harvest Show BR-163, just completed a 4-day run last week in the city of Lucas do Rio Verde in Mato Grosso. In addition to the traditional equipment and crop displays, the farm shows in Brazil present educational seminars as well. At the Lucas show, Embrapa, which is the Brazilian agricultural research service, highlighted more than 30 technologies for farmers and ranchers of Mato Grosso.
The technologies highlighted by Embrapa encompassed a wide range of topics including:
- The importance of using high quality soybean seed.
- Soybean pest management.
- Comparing GMO soybean varieties and conventional soybeans (non-GMO), which continue to be produced in Mato Grosso.
- Integerated pest management for corn production.
- New sweetcorn hybrids.
- Integerated pest management for cotton production.
- N-till plating.
- Dry bean production.
- New high yielding pasture grasses.
- Conversion of degraded pastures into row crop production.
- Integerated crop-forage-forestry rotations.
- Herbicide resistant dryland rice varieties.
- High biomass forage sorghum varieties capable of producing 150 tons of dry biomass in six months which can be used for cellulose ethanol production.
- Newest innovations in grass-fed beef production.
- Cattle feedlot economics and management.
- Semi-confinement of beef cattle.
- Etc., etc., etc.
The educational programs were grouped by crop and topic on individual days so attendees could choose which day to attend by which crop or technology was being highlighted.