Marcelo Cazarotto grows 600 hectares of potatoes on his IMC Farm in São Paulo state.
potatoes for chips for PepsiCo on 600 hectares. He is an early adopter, so his property has a modern packing house. “I like innovation and I thought Hummingbird would be a good choice. We are still in our first cycle with them, I definitely see some techniques that can really improve our production. We will get the first results in August. If these are good, we will adopt the techniques on our whole company.” He is currently testing on 50 hectares and has already started on a further 77 hectares. The results could be a turning point for Brazil- ian potato production. The Association repre- sents 150 growers and 13,000 hectares. There are about 5,000 potatoes growers in the coun- try, who farm on135,000 hectares, mainly in the Southeast region (Minas Gerais accounts for 30%).
Harvest prediction Another relevant topic for Cazarotto is an earli- er reliable forecast for the coming harvest. He would like to harvest at the 70th
day after
planting, instead of the current estimate of 100 days. This extra month would allow for better logistics and contracts. “Hummingbird’s accuracy is up to 99%, even at this 30 day
earlier estimate. This could reduce costs for freight contracts, because you avoid hiring un- necessary trucks, and it brings other benefits during the logistical processes”, he emphasises. Finally, he expects an increase of 50% in Cazarotto’s crops per hectare, based on
Counting for accurate harvest prediction
The Hummingbird potato yield model for Brazilian growers is the same as the British growers’ model from NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany), which is called NIAB Sample Dig Protocol. In short: they count the number of potatoes in a sample dig regard- ing main and secondary stems and sort those potatoes into the different sizes and weight categories. Within each zone, the sampler needs to find a dig area representa- tive of that zone. It is not the best, nor the worst area, but an average canopy coverage for that zone. “That is important for preview- ing the harvest and the quality of your pota- toes. When talking about ware potatoes, this
Hummingbird’s evaluation. It means an in- crease from 30 to 45 tonnes, with the same costs per hectare. “In other words, it means a return on investment of 1 to 12. It is certain we can improve ware potato production using these solutions as well”, adds.
Professionals counting potatoes and stems.
is pivotal, because consumers appreciate a specific feature for the product”, says Marcello Ramos. For Brazilian clients, for example, the ‘ideal’ ware potato is perfectly rounded and not bigger than 6 cm. In other words, it de- pends on the cultural preferences in each country.
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 27 August 2019 43
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