Agribusiness Logistics: Discover the 5 biggest difficulties!

As in other productive sectors of Brazilian society, logistics in agribusiness must be well organized. For the flow of inputs produced in this segment to arrive quickly and efficiently in the market and also in national ports, which export these items, investors in this sector need to follow certain paths to ensure the quality of transport.

As you can see better in the link,, logistical flow is fundamental for the production of Brazilian agribusiness, since a large part of the products worked in the sector are taken to ports and exported to the main economic partners in Brazil, shaping an important portion of the GDP national.

In this way, companies working in agribusiness depend heavily on the quality of transport modes so that the flow of products is qualified. This qualification will only be fully fulfilled when a way is found to mitigate some problems in relation to the flow logistics, which is the fundamental point of our article.

Therefore, to better understand the challenges that the agribusiness sector has to face, especially in relation to logistics in agribusiness, we list the 5 biggest difficulties that further hinder the expansion of the segment.

Main difficulties in agribusiness logistics

To list the 5 main difficulties of logistics in agribusiness, we need to address different factors, which together make the task of companies in this sector even more complicated, requiring the elaboration of efficient strategies and qualified planning to mitigate these difficulties. Check it out!

1 - Scale in transport modes

To begin with, we have one of the main difficulties of logistics in agribusiness: the imbalance in transport modes. As agribusiness is highly dependent on the quality of the transport modes, so that the cargoes are transported in an expedited manner, arriving at the destinations at the stipulated times, without the loss of goods, it would be essential that there was a more equal distribution of the use of the transport modes.

Well, the problem is that there is no such scale. As recent data from the National Association of railroad Transport (ANTF) point out, highways predominate in the transportation sector, with more than 60% of all cargo transported, including agribusiness products. Meanwhile, railroads account for just under 20%, and the rest is transported by water and air modes, around 20%.

There are different factors that make this imbalance an important difficulty: quality of roads and highways, truck maintenance costs, fuel, toll payment, speed of delivery, etc.

More scale, especially in relation to the railroads, could be a practical and important solution to improve logistics in agribusiness, as it would provide a greater range of options for the sector's producers, reducing the dependence on the highways and improving the flow conditions. logistics of cargo.

2 - Infrastructure problems

A quality infrastructure is essential for any productive sector. When we talk about agribusiness, considering the size and importance of this sector for the country's economy, this becomes even more essential.

In this sense, the infrastructure, especially for transporting agricultural commodities to ports, such as soybeans and corn, which are fundamental inputs for exports, still has problems.

As highways are the most widely used modes of transport and, for trucks to reach the ports, it takes a considerable time to travel, with the long congestion in the ports that also receive other inputs, this ends up hindering a fast flow.

In addition, storage deficiency is also an infrastructure problem that must be considered. In a simple account, the storage capacity stipulated so that there is enough space, should be, at least, 20% greater than the amount of inputs produced.

Unfortunately, Brazil still suffers from a major problem in relation to this. According to the National Supply Company, the country has a storage capacity 27% less than the production capacity. Thus, there is not enough space to arm the products, generating losses and losses for several producers.

3-Precarious procedures

As we said throughout the article, many of the agricultural commodities are used for export, and the opposite is also recurrent, since Brazil also ends up importing many agricultural products from its economic partners.

Although the agribusiness sector is one of the productive segments that most expanded investments in new technologies, many productive farms still lack this modernity. Therefore, there is a great difficulty in qualifying all producers, there is a lack of investment in new technologies and with that production ends up being hampered.

4-Bureaucratic excess

As we said throughout the article, many of the agricultural commodities are used for export, and the opposite is also recurrent, since Brazil also ends up importing many agricultural products from its economic partners.

According to data from Cogo - Intelligence in Agribusiness, agribusiness recently exported, in July 2020, more than US$ 10 billion, representing more than 50% of the total value exported by the country, considering all other products and services.

This number could be even greater if, obviously, all the other items explored here were more qualified, but also if the bureaucracy, especially in ports, was reduced.

There is still a great deal of bureaucratic difficulty during the procedures for exporting agribusiness products. Of course, this bureaucracy is often aimed at protecting the population, eliminating the risk of inputs being contaminated or with other structural problems.

However, despite this, minor bureaucratic problems often occur, hindering the agility of export and import processes.

5-High costs

Finally, this is perhaps the main difficulty of agribusiness logistics. As in any productive sector, agribusiness aims to generate profit for producers, and the more it is saved, the better it will be for the finances of these companies.

The problem is where to find that space for savings. Because of its importance, agribusiness has become an activity that moves billions of dollars, and market competition is increasing.

In this way, the producers, who want to remain strong in this market, need to invest a lot in the improvement of the production space, in the improvement of technologies and in the qualification of the professionals, and this has a very high cost.

In addition, this increase in costs also involves other aspects that we have already mentioned in the other difficulties of logistics in agribusiness, such as storage infrastructure, transport quality, among others.

Bonus difficulty with agribusiness logistics

To conclude, it is also essential to mention an important issue in relation to transport modes that we have not yet discussed. As we said, the scale between transport modes is essential, and for that, the work on the railroads has to be done well.

Obviously, this scale can improve the logistical flow of agribusiness, but the railroads also have problems. Many of them, for example, suffer from problems in the processes of weighing goods, as they do not yet have equipment that performs these procedures effectively.

Dessa forma, a Massa Pesagem e Automação Industrial proporciona Balanças Ferroviárias Dinâmicas, que tornam as pesagens mais eficientes, pois, possibilitam que elas sejam feitas com o trem em movimento, eliminando alguns problemas recorrentes por conta das pesagens das Balanças Estáticas. Você pode conferir esses problemas e as soluções que a MASSA tem.

Conclusão sobre dificuldades na logística no agronegócio

We can conclude with the article that there are still different problems that hinder the logistical growth of agribusiness. But, on the other hand, when these problems are solved they can be easier to solve. Therefore, it is important that producers and other sectors that participate in this type of work, are always alert to new strategies that need to be used to improve the quality of this fundamental segment for the national economy.

Searchs:
https://sancagalpoes.com.br/principais-desafios-da-logistica-no-agronegocio

https://www.royalmaquinas.com.br/blog/problemas-do-agronegocio-e-como-enfrenta-los/
https://www.totvs.com/blog/gestao-agricola/logistica-agronegocio/#:~:text=Um%20dos%20desafios%20da%20log%C3%ADstica,infraestrutura%20de%20estradas%20e%20portos.&text=J%C3%A1%20nos%20portos%20existe%20muito,de%20modo%20geral%20a%20economia.