Sindag and Ibravag bet on the dialogue established with leaders, businessmen, and authorities at the CAAA Conference & Trade Show to further qualify the sector’s initiatives in Brazil.
A closer perspective on the Canadian ag aviation industry (including its legislation, considered an international reference), as well as the technologies and institutional relations of the sector in the North American country. This was the focus of Sindag’s president, Thiago Magalhães Silva, and executive director Gabriel Colle (Sindag and Ibravag) at the CAAA 2023 AGM, Conference, & Trade Show – ended last Saturday, in Regina, SK. There were three days of programming in the capital of the province of the Canadian Midwest, on the border with the US states of Montana and North Dakota.
Thiago Silva (left) and Gabriel Colle marked the Sindag’s presence in an important world agricultural aviation event.
The event also made it possible to exchange experiences with Canadian leaders, operators, and technicians, in addition to contacts with representatives of government agencies. With a view to also enriching the debate on policies for the sector in Brazil. The efforts of the Brazilian mission in Canada included invitations to the 2023 Agricultural Aviation Congress of Brazil (AgAv Congress), scheduled for July 18-20, in Sertãozinho, São Paulo state – as well as the announcement made in December at the NAAA Ag Aviation Expo, in the USA.
TECHNOLOGY AND RULES
Although the ag aviation technology in Canada is like Brazilian one (including with products of Brazil at the trade show), conversations at the CAAA fair showed that, for example, aspects in which the Canadian ag aviation rules are less restrictive than in Brazil. In addition, according to President, Thiago Silva, the mission returns “with new ideas for the use of biological products, news on aircraft maintenance and other topics.”
About regulation, director Colle mentions, for example, the fact that in Canadian the buffer zones are not fixed, as in Brazil. However, North American ag aviation operators already have an internet tool to calculate the appropriate buffer zones for each operation. “Resulting in narrower and more precise areas, often smaller than the 250 or 500 meters required by the Brazilian ag aviation rules”, he added.
Now, SINDAG and IBRAVAG intend to share with Brazilian authorities the information and channels established during the mission in Canada. What can be boosted by a coincidence: the contacts at the CAAA Conference & Trade Show included the conversation with the Brazilian Igor de Albuquerque, who works for Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Graduated in 2014 from the Federal University of Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul (South of Brazil), Ph.D. in Agronomy and son of a researcher at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), Albuquerque spoke on the second day of the CAAA’s event – precisely about investigations on cases of drift. “And he offered to help us”, says Colle.
INSTITUTIONAL
The CAAA event also marked the change of leadership in the entity and the Brazilian directors were both with the president who ended his two years in office, Chad Vanderbyl, and with the president for the next biennium, Aaron Trudell. Representatives from Sindag and Ibravag also spoke with the executive director of the host entity, Shara Tardif.
Thiago Silva and Gabriel Colle also met with exhibitors who already have their passports stamped for the AgAv Congress in Sertãozinho/SP. Case of Ann and Mark Grahek, from Turbine Conversions – a company that since 2017 participates in Sindag events and represents in North America the Brazilian Zanoni Equipamento’s technologies. In addition to Thrush Aircraft, from which the directors of Sindag and Ibravag met with the vice president of sales, Kevin Pierce.
ROAD MAP
At FlightSafe, Magalhães (left) and Colle were welcomed by the Maintenance and Training director, Michael da Silva, in addition to the main office’s team.
Before landing on the 16th at the CAAA Conference & Trade Show, at the Delta Hotel by Marriott Regina, the Brazilian representatives visited two important suppliers to Brazilian ag aviation. One of them, on the 14th, FlightSafety International, in Toronto. Specialized in simulators and other immersive technologies for personnel training, the company is represented in Brazil by Aeroglobo, “but we invite its directors to personally check out our event in Sertãozinho”, highlighted Thiago Silva.
On the 15th, the visit was to the head office of Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC), the partner of the AgAv Congress located in Longueuil (next to Montreal), province of Quebec. There, the objective was to reinforce the gratitude for PWC being again (for the seventh consecutive year) among the sponsors of the Brazilian meeting, scheduled for July. “And to talk about the growth of the ag aviation industry in Brazil. Encouraging the company to invest even more in the Brazilian market”, adds director Gabriel Colle.
PWC: at the engine manufacturer, the Brazilian directors talked to the senior Marketing manager, Natanael Vaz.
See below the videos with the speeches of Thiago Magalhães and Gabriel Colle about the event in Canada, in addition to more photos about the participation of Sindag and Ibravag in the AgAv meeting.
