New Infoagro: Epagri innovates in disseminating information about crops and agricultural prices

Platform has more content about crops, input and land prices, and agricultural products in Santa Catarina

A platform for disseminating information to support agriculture in Santa Catarina via the internet. This is the Infoagro, which has a new look and with even more content about the harvests of main agricultural products and the prices of inputs, land and agricultural products in Santa Catarina. The new Infoagro was launched in an online event this Monday, 25th, by the Santa Catarina Agricultural Research and Rural Extension Company (Epagri) and the State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock (SAR).

Among the new features of the platform, which has been online since 2018 and has now been remodeled and has new content integrated into its portfolio, is the Agricultural Calendar, a new tool for disseminating harvest monitoring of the main products grown in Santa Catarina. From the calendar it is possible to know the stage at which the plantations are and the general conditions of the crops. There is information on harvests of rice, garlic, onions, tobacco, tomatoes, oats, barley, beans, corn, soybeans, wheat, bananas and apples.

The other changes mainly involve innovations related to the ease of access and distribution of information, especially via cell phones. Currently, the information available on the website covers 295 municipalities in Santa Catarina. There are around 280 agricultural products and 770 inputs monitored.

Infoagro is under the technical and scientific responsibility of the Center for Socioeconomics and Agricultural Planning (Epagri/Cepa) and can be accessed via email www.infoagro.sc.gov.br. The project had the participation of the Santa Catarina State Information Technology and Automation Center (Ciasc) and the support of the Research and Innovation Support Foundation (Fapesc).

Santa Catarina difference

For the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock, Valdir Colatto, who participated in the launch, “this data from the Infoagro platform is fundamental for decision-making, based on real information from the field and the market”. According to him, “the challenge is to make this innovative tool reach rural producers”, which is why it is so important that it has been designed and developed specifically to meet the needs of this audience.

The president of Epagri, Dirceu Leite, highlighted in his statement the commitment that Epagri has with providing correct, timely and reliable information, in order to provide opportunities for farmers to make decisions with greater assertiveness, which, ultimately, In this instance, it will be reflected in the quality of life of those who live in the countryside and in the development of agribusiness in Santa Catarina. “Nowadays information is generated and consumed very quickly. To assist in decision-making in the field, they need to be correct. We are proud to have a research center in the Company that has been operating seriously for over 40 years and has people committed to disseminating reliable data for the agricultural sector”, he points out.

Exclusive and updated information

The Socioeconomics and Rural Development analyst at Epagri/Cepa, Jurandi Gugel, highlights that the information available on Infoagro is the result of field work by a network of collaborators. These market agents, Epagri employees present in all regions of Santa Catarina, rely on key informants (such as suppliers, farmers, cooperative technicians, traders) with whom they collect numbers that subsequently go through a process of criticism and approval by Epagri/Cepa analysts. The research center also works on new technologies that are added to the methodology already used, such as the use of satellite images to map the planted area.

It is through these procedures that Infoagro is able to make available the prices paid to producers and wholesalers of agricultural products, updated daily, weekly or monthly (depending on the category). Input prices are also collected three times a year, which are the basis for calculating the production cost available on the website. The price of agricultural land is updated annually.

According to Epagri/Cepa manager, Edilene Steinwandter, the center plays an important role for rural and agribusiness development in Santa Catarina, as it produces and analyzes a series of data and information that allows the identification of scenarios and trends in the sector. “Infoagro is one of the ways to give visibility to this work, which creates conditions so that farmers, sector leaders, public managers and other interested parties can make decisions based on data, on knowledge”, explains Edilene.

*By Marcionize Bavaresco, scholarship journalist at Epagri/Cepa.

More information and interviews: Jurandi Gugel, Socioeconomics and Rural Development analyst at Epagri/Cepa, (48) 9695-5139

Press information
Isabela Schwengber, communications advisor at Epagri
(48) 3665-5407/99167-3902