Embrapa technologies show how soybean production has increased while saving agricultural land.

To demonstrate the impact of science on soybean production over the decades, Embrapa will present a didactic demonstration of the "Save-Land" effect – a set of technologies capable of increasing production without the need to expand the cultivated area – at the Show Rural Coopavel, to be held in Cascavel (PR), from February 9 to 13.

According to the National Supply Company (Conab), in the 1970s, for example, the average soybean productivity was 1,487 kilograms per hectare. In 1975, the average soybean productivity required 1 hectare to produce 2,000 kilograms. In the 1980s, thanks to technological advances, the same quantity could be produced in approximately 0.86 hectares. In the 1990s, the necessary area fell to 0.68 hectares. By the 2000s, less than half a hectare was needed, and in the 2020s, only 0.44 hectares.

“If we consider the current soybean production in Brazil to be around 170 million tons, and if the average productivity of the 1970s were maintained, a production area of around 115 million hectares would be necessary. In the last harvest, the national soybean area was 47.6 million hectares. In other words, about 67 million hectares were saved to obtain the same production,” highlights analyst Rogério Borges, from Embrapa Soja.

In addition to demonstrating the reduction in area needed to produce the same volumes, Embrapa will also present the evolution of productivity over time. "To achieve today the average productivity of the 1970s, less than half the area used in that period is needed," emphasizes Borges. "The purpose of the demonstration is to reinforce the importance of technology in the sustainable growth of Brazilian agriculture," he concludes.