The challenge comes from the field and the seeds are the solution.
This is how the best agricultural technologies are created: when innovation is center-aligned with the farmer demands and in the actual problems shared in agricultural shows and technical visits.
In this article, we will explore how technology in agriculture impacts yield in grain crops, providing significant benefits for the planting and cooperating with the production of food and environmental preservation.
Companies such as Stara, that have been dedicated since its foundation to the creation of own technologies, lead innovation in the sector of agricultural machines in Brazil.
In the company factory buildings, in the town of Não Me Toque, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, products worldwide known were developed: the Topper 5500 agricultural controller, the Imperador 3.0 sprayers, among others. These pieces of equipment are examples of solutions that were born from demands of farmers and that are part of the innovative Stara DNA.
They are innovation stories and trends such as the ones told below. Advances that help to shape the agriculture future.
Agricultural technologies: what is it and how important is it?
The agriculture technology involves the application of tools and automatic processes to improve the efficiency in the cultivation and in farm operations in general.
The digital transformation in the field involves the usage of advanced agricultural machines to the implementation of management software, the usage of the Agricultural GPS and the application of Precision Agriculture techniques.
The importance of the evolution of the pieces of equipment is in the capacity to boost productivity, reduce costs and minimize the environmental impact in crops, especially when facing the current weather conditions and other challenges faced by the Brazilian farmers.
The on-board tools on agricultural machines are good examples of the usages of technology in agriculture. They are more efficient and accessible. They enable that the farms of all sizes optimize the soil preparation and boost the production with a fertilizer spreader, a planter, and a sprayer, monitoring the crop information in all stages of the crop.
When did the technology in agriculture come up?
The introduction of the agricultural technology in the field gets back to the beginning of mechanization with the advent of industrial machines and tractors. However, in the last decades, especially with the implementation of the Precision Agriculture techniques in the country, that the first products and services started to be developed in Brazilian factories such as Stara.
Main innovations and trends in agricultural technologies
The technology innovations developed for agribusiness are in constant improvement, every time more connected with the needs of the farmers. Below, we highlighted the main trends that are guiding the advances and future of the segment:
-
Images of the satellite and agricultural GPS
Using satellite images allow the farmers to monitor the growth of plants, identity weeds and pests, and analyse the health of crops in real time. This technology is essential for precision agriculture and to make assertive decision making.
The agricultural GPS enables the farmers to perform the precise map of the cultivated areas, optimized planting rows and harvest and apply inputs with precision.
-
Precision Agriculture
Precision Agriculture is one of the most promising areas of the sector. It involves the application of technology to optimize the management of crops, adjusting the application of inputs as the specific needs of each crop area. It results in a more efficient and sustainable production.
-
Weather condition sensors
The sensors installed on the agricultural machines and in the crop field itself can collect data about the soil moisture, temperature, nutrients, and much more. This data helps you to adjust the management of crops with agility, avoiding production losses.
On the other hand, the weather condition sensors provide precise information about the weather conditions, helping the farmers to plan their activities due to the adverse weather conditions.
The Stara sprayers feature weather condition sensors that measure the speed and wind direction, as the temperature during the application. This is an example of technology for agricultural chemical application, as the weather factors avoid the evaporation of the drops and the product waste caused by drift.
-
Mobile devices
Applications and mobile platforms allow the farmers to monitor and manage their operations from anywhere. These tools are crucial for fast decision making and based on evidences, especially in large farms.
Additionally, they ease the process that usually impact the routine of the agricultural machine operators. One of the technologies developed by Stara is the Eva planter calibration by a smartphone. You just need a mobile phone to prepare the machine, in only a few minutes.
-
Management software
Specialized software helps the farmers to manage all the agricultural production stages, from the planning to trading. They ease the stock control, monitoring of the finances and task management.
They can be integrated to the agricultural controller, depending on the manufacturer, especially if it is national.
-
Big Data and Data Science
The Big Data refers to the capacity of analyse big amounts of information, transforming data into strategies. In agriculture, it means it can foresee trends, optimize the production and respond quickly to weather conditions.
The data science applied to agriculture involves collecting and analysis of big volume of data such as weather condition information.
The main agricultural technologies that help with data collecting include an agricultural GPS, sensors, drones, robots, and management software, all focused in boosting the usage of the resources available.
-
Artificial intelligence in agriculture
By automating tasks and analyse data in real time, the AI in agriculture impacts the development of new inputs, foresees adverse weather conditions, and boosts the food chain.
Computing vision systems also analyse the crop field in real time, ensuring precision in applications. An example of an AI application on agricultural machines is the Stara Imperador 4000 Eco Spray sprayers.
The agricultural sprayer is equipped with an agricultural system of cameras and Artificial Intelligence to enable the spot spraying of weeds, applying herbicides only where there are weeds, and not to the entire field instead.
It is possible thanks to the ONE SMART SPRAY technology created by joint venture of Bosch and BASF and installed by Stara on Imperador Eco Spray. The model was launched in partnership between the companies aiming to promote innovation and sustainability in Agribusiness.
-
Self-propelled machine: autonomy in the grain crop
Self-propelled machines such as the ones developed by Stara are crucial to boost productivity and reduce labor in agricultural operations.
In addition to integrate functions and ensure precision, they were created to increase comfort and safety for the operator during the working day.
Technology in agriculture: constant innovation in Stara
Stara is an example of how constant evolution can boost the agricultural sector. Since the development of its own agricultural controller to the creation of multifunctional self-propelled machines, the company is committed to provide solutions that meet the farmer needs since it was founded.
The agronomist engineer Thomas Liska, Stara Product Marketing Coordinator highlights:
"Stara has always had an innovative DNA, always seeking to provide different solutions coming from the needs of the farmers. Once, a customer suggested: “Why not coupling a Hércules spreader onto an Imperador sprayer?” We slept on it and we started to develop it, and so we gathered both resources. This is how Imperador 3.0 was born, a demand coming from the field."
Thomas Liska also states that when Stara decided to gather on the same machine, the resources of Hércules agricultural spreader and the Imperador self-propelled sprayer, the technicians realized that it was possible to use the hopper to enable the pneumatic seeding. Thus, a third resource was included.
Therefore, the agricultural machine created thanks to the demands of the field and customer experience resulted in a Stara innovation. And the international pride: Imperador 3.0 is considered the only 3 in 1 self-propelled sprayer in the world.
Imperador 3.0: the only 3 in 1 self-propelled sprayer in the world
It’s equipped with the most updated agricultural technologies in the market for grain crop, Imperador 3.0 is a comprehensive agricultural machine: it spreads fertilizer and inputs, sows and also sprays agricultural chemicals.
It may have a lower capacity with 2,400 litres of spraying and 3 m³ more for solid is ideal for medium size farms. Because it is 3 in 1, it solved a very common issue among farmers: the space in the barn to store pieces of equipment.
According to Liska, what allowed creating a machine with three resources was the fact that all agricultural technology applied by Stara is patented and manufactured in Brazil. “We were only able to gather all of this through the own Stara technology,” says the agronomist engineer. “If it wasn’t for this technology, we wouldn’t be able to create it.”
Topper 5500: agricultural controller manufactured in Brazil
The Stara agricultural controller, Topper 5500, is also one of the greatest highlights of the company when it comes to innovation. Because it is a 100% agricultural technology created here, it evolves fast and constantly.
One of the advantages is that the equipment is factory-installed on the machine, with all the technical assistance - Conecta available and at no cost for the farmer.
So, by means of Telemetry, it’s possible to send variable rate maps remotely to the agricultural controller. In this way, it’s no longer necessary to use a flash drive to insert the instructions. The operator should accept the map on the screen and it downloads automatically to the controller.
Because it is an agricultural controller developed in the own Stara factory, the equipment can meet all the machine needs, unlike the third-party pieces of equipment, it is possible to activate the synchronization between the agricultural machines of the same function in the farm.
Syncro: synchronization of Stara machines via radio
Syncro is an agricultural technology that allows to synchronize up to four Stara machines of the same kind, at the same time, in grain crop field.
One of the greatest differential features of the brand is the synchronization via radio only, without Internet connection, unlike other brands in the market. The system is an exclusive Stara system.
To make sure the machines share information in the field via radio is especially important in fields where there isn’t connectivity or places where there is poor Internet connection.
The engineer Thomas Liska explains the importance of field synchronization:
"There are plenty of farms that are hiring private signal - 3G and 4G. Today, there is a more affordable price, but the Internet doesn’t have a high quality signal in the field. The signal may fail. For this reason, Stara developed Syncro that works very well. It is important for the farmer to have the machines connected in the field because they can work together in the same field."
In practice, Syncro was created to prevent the machines from passing more than once in the same field, that is, that a machine overlaps the operation of the other one.
Would you like an example? If the Stara planters were synchronized via radio, Topper of planter 1 and Topper of planter 2 share information in real time about the planted area, avoiding that the process is carried out again in the same place. It creates agility, prevents wastes with inputs and preserves possible waste in the soil.
For these reasons, this is the type of innovation that Stara likes to develop: useful, able to evolve and connected to the demand of the crop field.
Five advantages of using agricultural machines with precise technologies
The technology advantages in agriculture are numerous and include:
1. Productivity increase
Using advanced agricultural machines and on-board pieces of equipment enables the farmers to make more with less effort and short time.
2. Reduction of costs
Optimizing the usage of inputs such as fertilizers and agricultural chemicals impacts the production costs.
3. Precision improvement
The precision agriculture using technologies such as agricultural GPS and sensors allows the precise application of inputs and aims for positive results.
4. Environmental protection
The technology also helps to reduce the waste and reduce the environmental impact by means of the efficient usage of water, fertilizers, and agricultural chemicals.
5. Better management and grain quality
Technologies such as sensors and management software allow a detailed following of the crop land, with efficient math and more exact, resulting in grains of better quality and assurance of food production to everyone.
Summary
The agricultural technology is crucial for the sustainable development of the crops and the segment in a whole, especially agribusiness. With support of pieces of equipment such as the agricultural GPS, added to the precision agriculture techniques, sensors and data analysis, the farmers can increase productivity in the crop field, reduce costs and invest in sustainability. Companies such as Stara are leading this transformation, providing technology solutions that meet the demands in the field by means of innovation, inspiring and opening doors to act in a new generation of farmers specialized in agricultural technology.
Did you like the suggestions and want to learn more about agricultural machines?
Go to a Stara dealer and find out the technologies and agricultural implements that meet your crop field needs.
