ABSTRACT Brazil is the world’s largest sugarcane producer destined for mills producing alcohol, sugar, and electricity cogeneration. Sugarcane transport to the mills is carried out by trucks with trailers and tractors with semi-trailers, which transport the raw material harvested in the field to the mill. The modal road system of sugarcane transport uses this equipment to meet the continuous demand of the harveste draw material, with punctuality in the transport execution and generating a minimum cost. This study aimed to analyze the influence of availability efficiency on the operational and economic performance of different sugarcane transport equipment. A computational model called TransporteCana was developed in a spreadsheet due to the difficulty in meeting the objective under field conditions. The model was checked for possible routine errors, validated, and used in the analysis of variables and generation of results. The results showed that increasing availability efficiency reduces the operational cost of producing the equipment. Large managerial investments for the means of execution are required for high availability efficiencies.

ABSTRACT Brazil is the largest sugarcane producer worldwide. In mills, sugarcane crops are sprayed with agrochemicals using self-propelled, tractor-driven, and aerial hydraulic sprayers. As sugarcane spraying is regularly performed over extensive areas, the machinery to be used should be planned and dimensioned to ensure timely operations without overloading and at lower costs. Therefore, the current study aimed to analyze the operational and economic performances of different hydraulic sprayers to perform sugarcane crop control. As long as meeting our goal in field conditions would be difficult, we opted to develop a computational model, named as “TratoCana”, using a spreadsheet and programming language. The model was used to assess economic and operational factors by generating scenarios and analyzing probable routine errors. In short, the results evidenced that initial value and operation speed are factors with the strongest impact on the costs of self-propelled sprayers and tractor-sprayer sets. Yet, the aerial application was mostly affected by fuel costs and crop row lengths. Moreover, the larger the spray tank volume, the lower the costs.

ABSTRACT Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugarcane destined for mills. Spraying in sugarcane plantations is carried out in extensive cultivation areas and with self-propelled, tractor-driven, and aerial hydraulic equipment. For this, a good positioning of the replenishment pump of agricultural defensives close to the field where the spraying is carried out is necessary. However, it is desirable that the replenishment be carried out at short distances between the field and replenishment pump. This study aimed to assess the impact of the distance between the field and replenishment pump on the operational cost of hydraulic sprayers for sugarcane farming practices. Due to the difficulty in accomplishing the work and meeting the objective under field conditions, we decided to develop a computational model called “TratoCana” in a spreadsheet and programming language. The model was verified for possible routine errors, validated, and used in the analysis of factors and in the generation of scenarios. The results showed that the increased average distance between the field and replenishment pump has a negative impact on the operational and economic performance of the machine.

A cultura da cana-de-açúcar tem significativa participação na economia do agronegócio brasileiro. A colheita de cana é considerada como uma das operações mais importantes, pois deve atender à demanda de matéria-prima requerida pela Usina com qualidade e custo competitivo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar, de modo sistêmico, a influência das variáveis no desempenho operacional e econômico do processo de colheita mecanizada da cana-de-açúcar para o dimensionamento das máquinas. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido um modelo, denominado de "ColheCana", em planilha eletrônica e em linguagem de programação. Os resultados evidenciaram que a eficiência de campo e o valor inicial das colhedoras são variáveis de grande impacto no custo e que existe uma área máxima a que um equipamento pode atender para a qual o custo é mínimo.

Sugarcane has a significant role on Brazilian agribusiness economy. The harvesting cane is considered as one of the most important operations of the process for it has to attend the raw material demanded by the sugar mill in quality and a competitive cost. The objective of this work it is it of analyzing, of systemic way, the variables influence on economical and operational performance in sugarcane mechanized harvesting process for sizing of machines. For this purpose a model called "ColheCana", was developed in a spreadsheet and in a programming language. The results showed that the field efficiency and harvester´s initial value are variables of great impact in the cost and that there is a maximum area that one equipment can attend and for this area the cost is minimum.