The Semear Digital programme was established in Brazil but made its way to Portugal to support small and medium-sized farmers, equipping them with tools to improve profitability. INESC TEC, Embrapa, Associação Mobilizar com Valores (MCV) and Casa Escola Agrícola Campo Verde (CEACV) are the four institutions that participated in the seminar “Semear Digital no Contexto do Agro Luso-Brasileiro”, which took place in September (Póvoa de Varzim).
The opportunities and challenges of adopting advanced technologies in small and medium-sized farms, e.g., AI, robotics or the Internet of Things (IoT), were the central themes of the seminar, which also sought to promote the development of joint activities between Portugal and Brazil.
Although different, the two countries share certain similarities in terms of terrain characteristics and specific social contexts, translated into the decreasing number of young people pursuing agriculture-related careers. Hence, and despite the physical distance, Portugal and Brazil can and should work collaboratively for the digital transformation of the sector.
“INESC TEC is committed to transform – thanks to our AI, robotics and IoT expertise – small and medium scale agriculture, and increase productivity”, explained André Sá, Business Developer. In this sense, INESC TEC and Embrapa (the entity that coordinates the Semear Digital initiative) established a partnership, through a Memorandum of Understanding. This strategic partnership aims to favour the exchange of knowledge and accelerate the implementation of technological solutions in the agricultural sector of both countries.
At the seminar, INESC TEC researchers Filipe Neves dos Santos and Adriana Arrais highlighted the relevance of emerging technologies in the agricultural sector.
Robotics and IoT are solutions that increase the levels of intelligence, profitability, precision and automation in agricultural contexts. Filipe Neves dos Santos mentioned that “in recent years, INESC TEC has developed several prototypes of robotic solutions that will improve the sustainability and profitability of agriculture practices and support producers. Said solutions can perform precision spraying, monitoring, plant maintenance, and soil fertilisation, as well as selective pruning/harvesting and logistics”.
Adriana Arrais talked about the monitoring of agricultural workers through wearables, a new line of research that INESC TEC has been developing to monitor the activity and health condition of workers. This innovative system, already patented, allows not only to monitor the occupational health of the workers, but also to estimate metrics of agricultural activity. It’s possible to “digitalise” the workers – and soon, to improve agricultural management and the prediction and reduction of health-related issues, e.g., musculoskeletal injuries.
The Semear Digital project was created with the objective of promoting the sustainability of Brazilian agriculture – economically, environmentally and socially; it also aims to ensure that small and medium-sized rural producers actively participate in the digital transformation of the sector.
The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC.
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