Brazilian start-up supplies Syngenta with sprayers for new agrochemicals

By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages

The Brazilian start-up, Agricef, is supplying customized sprayers, known as Sider, for the development of new agrochemicals for Syngenta. 

According to Caio Santili, Syngenta's product development researcher who uses Sider in his experiments, the equipment provides a greater number of applications per day, with better spray pattern and uniformity.

“We are able to work at the most appropriate times of the day without human efforts in terms of manual application and with less risk for the applicator,” Santili explained, noting that he has obtained excellent results when spraying soybean, corn, cotton and beans.

Agricef specializes in supplying 'on demand' technologies and equipment for testing and analysis in experimental stations or research centers, with the aim of evaluating the efficacy and safety of inputs in the laboratory and in the field. These tests are required to register pesticides and fertilizers at Brazilian regulatory bodies, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa).

According to Agricef, to obtain better results, experimental stations need equipment customized to their needs, such as compact sprayers and rain simulators. The station segment corresponds to 18% or R$1.5 million (US$268,300) of the company's total revenue, which, in 2020, will total R$8 million (US$1.4 million).

In the experimental stations, activities and projects are carried out that involve various cultures for the purpose of research and development. In the area of pesticides, studies are being carried out on herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and adjuvants to issue official reports, in order to obtain registration for commercialization.

“The place must be equipped with a technological structure that makes it possible to simulate edaphoclimatic and cultivation conditions in various regions of the country, guaranteeing the development of solutions that will help the work of Brazilian farmers and ensure more profitability for the sector,” stated Efraim Albrecht (Director Agricef's Operations).

To structure the technological part of the stations, Agricef has a line of equipment, most notably Sider sprayers, which ensure precision and operational agility, as well as safety in the application of pesticides and fertilizers designed to operate in experimental plots. “The implement was designed to be attached to the side of tractors that are positioned transversely to the crop lines, with the capacity for precise application and the use of several products in the same pass in different parcels,” said Guilherme Gray (Director of Sales and Management at Agricef).

Agricef was founded in 2005 at the Unicamp incubator of the University of Campinas, with the objective of developing technological and innovative solutions for agriculture. Currently, it is located in Paulínia (SP), where it has laboratories, equipment and professionals specialized in the development of products and processes that can improve and optimize agricultural production, while maintaining the pioneering spirit of start-ups and preparing large projects with flexibility and close contact with customers.