Sandy soils will be the focus of debate between May 7 and 10, 2019, when Campo Grande (MS) will host the III Brazilian Symposium on Sandy Soils, which is expected to receive around 700 congress participants. Registration for the event is open, including with a discount, until February 28. Just access the Symposium website here. These areas were considered marginal to agricultural activities. Thanks to the use of new technologies, the scenario is changing, and regions with sandy soils are being successfully incorporated into production systems. “Among the techniques used that allow the use of this type of soil in agriculture are the Direct Planting System (SPD) and integrated production systems, such as Crop-Livestock Integration (ILP) and Crop-Livestock-Forestry (ILPF), which provide greater production of organic matter in the soil, generating greater availability of nutrients and water. Some regions also have great potential for the use of irrigated agriculture,” explains the president of the Congress Guilherme Donagemma, a researcher at Embrapa Solos (Rio de Janeiro, RJ).
It is worth remembering that in many cases sandy soils are located in strategic regions, with relative availability of logistics, transport and marketing infrastructure, in addition to proximity to consumer centers.
In Mato Grosso do Sul, for example, the state that will host the Congress, there are an estimated 8 million hectares of soil with a sandy texture, thus constituting a new agricultural frontier for the entire Central-West region.
This view is shared by Flávia Cristina dos Santos, a researcher at Embrapa Milho e Sorgo (Sete Lagoas, MG). “It is an opportunity for discussion among groups of professionals, companies, and students who work in this more fragile and risky production environment, but which, with proper management, has shown good crop productivity, and is, in fact, one of the last agricultural frontiers in the country.” Flávia is a member of the event’s organizing committee and will also give a lecture entitled “Managing fertility in sandy soils with a view to sustainable agricultural intensification.”
Sandy soils are deep, well-drained, have flat to gently undulating relief, low moisture retention and natural fertility, high aluminum content, and very low organic matter content. They are very susceptible to water erosion and degradation processes. The main classes of soils representing these areas are Latosols and Quartzipsal Neosols.
The 3rd Brazilian Symposium on Sandy Soils, which is expecting the registration of approximately 200 scientific papers, will be held by the Brazilian Society of Soil Science (SBCS) and Embrapa, with the theme “Sustainable agricultural intensification in sandy soils”, in the auditorium of the Campus of the State University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS). The Symposium will have a scientific program consisting of lectures, round tables and paper presentations.
