The use of technology is growing in agribusiness, but connection, access to credit and complex systems remain limiting factors.
The scene has changed in the Brazilian countryside. If 20 years ago the arrival of a technology raised eyebrows and distrust, today the producer wants to know “what technology do I have? Because I need to innovate!”, explained José Carlos Bueno, commercial director of PTx, in the “Agrotech” panel, at Estadão Summit Agro. The central question is often no longer “why” but becomes “how to access it”.
For Anselmo Arce, co-founder of Solinftec, this recovery is consolidated. “The stage of convincing producers that technology increases productivity and efficiency is over.”
Solinftec currently monitors around 13 million hectares worldwide, including 9 million in Brazil alone, and sees a producer capable of distinguishing what makes sense or not in relation to its reality. From climate monitoring to logistics, from traceability to robotics, the technological menu has expanded and producers have learned to choose them with maturity.
The challenge now is access. Arce points out that the financial system is beginning to understand that financing technology means financing agribusiness, and that the ecosystem itself, from credit to rural insurance, only works better when there is data from the field. A clear example is that of agricultural insurance. “It is difficult to define risk without information. When there are sensors measuring climate, productivity, pests or diseases, it becomes much easier to calculate risk and design new products for the insurer,” he said.
The general director of Tmdigital, Carolina Vergeti, recognizes that technology is no longer a trend but a survival strategy. Agriculture has grown in size and complexity and now requires decisions based on data, not intuition. But transforming raw information into concrete actions remains an obstacle. “No information is good if it cannot be consumed. The most important piece remains the one behind the mouse,” he summarized.
For the executive, the challenge, in this context, is to create a technological ecosystem that robustly supports the producer’s decision-making. It’s a whole process: mapping, measuring risks, standardizing, ensuring that the credit policy communicates with the financier and that all financial management takes place in a single digital environment, without losses along the way.
Connectivity
If management advances, the field also transforms. José Carlos Bueno describes the daily life of the producer as “an open-air factory”: unpredictable weather, constant risk and zero control over most variables. Technology has therefore become a necessity and not a luxury.
He recalled that in the 1990s, the green-screen computer seemed inscrutable; Today, farmers are using drones, demanding connectivity, and demanding innovation. Connectivity is the new basic infrastructure. Without it, robots, algorithms and variable flow applications will not move.
Interest also increases because the investment must be precise. In a high interest rate scenario, the producer evaluates each purchase: first seeds, fertilizers and pesticides; then, only what pays off quickly. Technology intervenes precisely there, as an element that shortens the path between spending and earning.
However, the future does not arrive uniformly. Pedro Dusso, co-founder of Aegro, echoes William Gibson’s words: “The future is already here, but it’s just not fairly distributed. » He reports that there are farms that operate with robots in the field, transshipments guided by algorithms and spraying with artificial intelligence and variable rates without prior maps – a scene worthy of 2050. But the average reality is much more modest. “We have 5 million rural settlements in Brazil. I doubt there are 50,000 fully digitalized,” Dusso said.
For him, the big turning point will only come when digital systems no longer force producers to click, register and navigate complex screens. The next wave is conversational, more intuitive, like using a messaging app: speak, enter data and receive responses without technical barriers. “This could involve many more people in the digital process,” he said.
According to experts, the Brazilian producer already understands that technology is not an accessory, but a structural element of the company. Between climate risks, price volatility and credit bottlenecks, it has become the link that supports everything from decision-making to final delivery of the harvest. It seems that the future will go in the same direction. “It’s not the same thing as Elon Musk’s rocket,” José Carlos Bueno joked. “Digital agriculture has no reverse. It only advances.”
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