STiR coffee and tea magazine

Volume 4, Number 6

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STiR tea & coffee industry international 33 Soil sample locations projected on a Google Earth image of the O'Coffee Estates "Our goal since the beginning was optimizing the use of inputs. This is a smarter way to manage the crop because in the past we used too much fertilizer and water in areas that weren't actually in need," said Bressani. Tractors equipped with a high preci- sion dispenser are monitored in real time. The amount of fertilizer or pellets dis- pensed is automatically determined by the position of the tractor according to the needs of the plants. The tractor proceeds at the same speed but when it reaches an area with a needy soil, the dispenser ro- tates faster applying more inputs. Tractor drivers need only keep between the rows. O'Coffee has mapped its six coffee farms and a total of 2,965 acres (1,200 hectares) in the city of Pedregulho where they are located in the state of São Paulo. Most farmers in the region produce naturally-tree-dried coffees, but O'Coffee exports 20 different taste profiles plus several microlots every year since its es- tates are devoted not only to natural cof- fee production, but also to pulped natu- ral, demucilaged, fully washed coffees and blends in a passionate pursuit for coffee excellence. Identifying which trees bear the most fruit, which hillsides are too wet or dry and the rate at which specific cultivars are depleting the soil has led to gains in over- all productivity, reaching in a four year cycle an average of 40 bags per hectare, said Bressani. O'Coffee believes in the use of tech- nology including drones (to check for dead trees). Other gadgets can be adopted to monitor the efficient use of tractors and other equip ment along with other elec- tronic tools that keep an eye on the fields. Geoplanta has not yet adapted the technology to address plagues and dis- ease control. "We are working on that too, but our experience shows that farm- ers are not ready for this kind of tool yet," explains Lopes. Coffee plantations require more detailed information than other plantations, ac- cording to Felipe Lopes, a specialist with Geoplanta Precisão. At the O'Coffee estates detailed re- sults from more than a thousand soil sam- ples were obtained from six farms and plotted on a digital topographic map that was created by scanning aerial photo- graphs supplemented by ground surveys. Every hectare of the farm is plotted. The GIS system then calculates the dis- tance between sample locations. Over- laying results of the soils analysis reveals the content of each nutrient in the soil. This enables farmers to determine with great accuracy different doses of fertiliz- ers for each point. In the field "the crop receives different amounts of fertilizers based on local lev- els of chemicals essential to coffee pro- duction," explains Edgard Bressani, c.e.o. How It Works Electromagnetic scanner analyzes soil Usually samples are taken every five hectares for seasonal plants, he explains. Coffee plants, however, require a mini- mum of one sample per hectare. Soil and leaves are analyzed at different stages of the growth cycle. "The stage of plant growth and its pur- pose will recommend better applications," according to Lopes. Soil survey The first step is knowing the soil texture. A scanner that generates an electromagnetic field is towed behind the tractor to measure the electrical conductivity of the soil. One goal is to detect areas high in clay which is highly conductive and easy to spot. After that, samples are collected and submitted by lab analysis in order to map other features such as nutritional and chemical elements. Readings correlate closely with soil properties that affect crop productivity such as texture, drainage, salinity and the

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