Associate dean presents research at international congress

Associate dean professor Carlos Cândido da Silva Cyrne presented the preliminary results of his thesis at International Dairy Congress, last Wednesday, 29. The congress ends tomorrow, 30, at Firegs Convention Centre, in Porto Alegre.

The purpose of his paper was to draw a comparison between farmers and farms of Galicia, Spain and of Lajeado, in Vale do Taquari. The findings reveal the farmers’ profiles in both places are similar: most are married men, at age 45 in average, who have been working solely in agribusiness for about 20 years. Whereas in Galicia, farms are specialised in producing milk, in Vale do Taquari they work on poultry farming, pig farming and agriculture. Milk is rarely the main activity in Vale do Taquari.

This paper was supervised by Professor Claudete Rempel, PhD and Professor Claus Haetinger, PhD.

The yield in Galicia accounts for 40% of the total yield in Spain, which is an indication of the importance of this activity to the local community. Moreover, the average annual yield in Spain stands at 12.000 litres per cow, whereas in Vale do Taquari, the average annual yield is 3.000 litres per cow. It is also one of the main sources of income in agribusiness in Vale do Taquari, where the second largest dairy region in Rio Grande do Sul is located. This demonstrates the importance of dairy farming to the local economy.

The research

The economic environment is constantly changing, which consequently changes business. Significant changes have occurred in dairy farming in Brazil since the 1990s, when companies became free to set their own prices.

This has brought the necessity of restructuring the supply chain, creating a new profile for the sector. A more intense and detailed control of the activities became necessary, as well as new rules relating to the quality of products and processes. It was also important to adopt new technology and management procedures. 

The general aim was to propose a dashboard to provide a view of management indicators in dairy farms in Vale do Taquari from a comparative study of dairy farms in the region of Galicia, in Spain. The findings revealed a poor and minimal use of management indicators on dairy farms in both regions. 

“The results show that farm management still needs improvements. Production in both regions revealed to be unplanned. We need to understand and seek changes in management to optimise our production and improve the quality of our milk. We should qualify our staff. We have noticed the staff do not have good educational qualification and we should change it.”

Authour: Elise Bozzetto and Tuane Eggers

July 29th, 2015.