Project title: Smarter soybean production through Dutch and Brazilian technology and know how integration
Project number: SMP-2015
Requesting country: Brasil
Year: 2020
Budget: € 40,000
Project leader: Corné Kempenaar
Knowledge institute: Wageningen University & Research
Project partners: Bioscope, Dutch Embassy in Brazil, Embrapa, Fundacao ABC, GDM seeds, Hiber, Rometron, Stara, Syngenta, UFSM

Summary
The core purpose of this seed money project is to build a consortium in which technologies and applications are developed that allow for high precision, cost-effective, circular and robust data-driven management of arable crops. The seed money project partners want to develop an R&D consortium in which essential components of the applications can be developed, integrated, validated and demonstrated. Our focus will be on the soybean crop, a global top 5 crop contributing significantly to human and animal husbandry protein consumption. It is a top 3 crop in Brazil, the target country of this seed money project and a crop in which the partners see good opportunity to make significant advances in sustainable soybean production with less agro-chemical use and less adverse environmental side-effects. Soy is of strategic value to the Dutch economy, and nearly 50% of the supply comes from Brazil.

The technology and knowledge components to be developed and integrated, are:

1. Sensors for timely detection of soybean rust disease and weeds in crops;
2. Decision support for soybean disease control and other crop interventions (e.g. nitrogen use, weed control);
3. Software and data management for control of implements;
4. Wireless transmission of data between sensors, data management systems and machines.

In 2019, WUR participated in the in the fifth South American Precision Agriculture Conference (APSUL) in Brazil. Aforementioned topics were identified during the conference by partners present as topics where a joint R&D effort can make a difference to become smarter and to maintain the leading position in supplying the world with vegetable proteins.

Presentation