Evolution of Agricultural Aviation in Brazil

IPCadmin | March 4, 2015

Embraer aircraft spraying soybeans

Brazil has experienced an enormous investment and expansion in agriculture over the last 5 years with the opening up of large farms in various regions of the country. As an example, according to DERAL (2013), the total production of soybeans in Brazil increased by 27.5% from 2009 to 2013, while the average growth in total production for this crop worldwide was only 8.9%. Just from 2012-13, soybean crops increased by 5.1%, compared with a global increase of 2.7%. This process has led to a demand for timely delivery of crop protection products against key pests and diseases, for which there has been a remarkable tendency of farmers to choose aerial application as a tool to treat their crops.

Market Growth

To meet the demand in agriculture, the Brazilian agricultural aviation industry has grown steadily. There are now 231 companies offering aerial application according to data published by on the “Agronautas” web page. This number increased 2.7% in the first half of 2014, when six new companies were launched into the market. On average, this sector has been growing by 6% per year. At the end of 2013, 1925 aircraft were registered (Table 1), of which 61.7% were Brazilian-made aircraft manufactured by Embraer, the main model being the Ipanema EMB-202A. The other 738 aircraft manufactured mainly by Air Tractor (USA). Over the last five years on average, 95 new aircraft have been added each year.