For many people, giving up a profitable family business for the career in agricultural research seems to be an unwise decision. In Brazil, there is a female agricultural expert who breaks the glass ceiling and leads the innovation of using XAG drone to fight cotton boll weevil. Instead of inheriting her family farm, Regina Hakvoort from Brazil aims to be the first women entrepreneur to connect farmers from different regions and cultural background.
Born and raised in her family farm at the State of São Paulo, Regina Hakvoort has natural enthusiasm in agriculture and now serves her rural community as an experienced agronomist. With the education background in the University of São Paulo, Regina was well known in her community for actively supporting farmers in pest control and crop protection.
Her spirit of devotion and professionalism has also earned her recognition from the São Paulo Association of Cotton Producers. In 2012, Regina was invited to join a research group for field projects to study boll weevil, a destructive pest that feeds on cotton buds and flowers.
The lack of applied technology to control weevil is the biggest problem facing her research project. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply of Brazil has established a national ban on the use of Endosulfan, a highly controversial insecticide with acute toxicity.
Without any safe and effective chemical solution, Regina was motivated to investigate the untapped potential of agricultural aviation on combating agricultural pests. And the agricultural drone from XAG grabbed her attention, in terms of precisely covering the target area with very low volume of pesticides.
