Economic Impact of Semi-Mechanized Transplanting In Coffee Farming: Comparison of Operational Costs Between Conventional Systems and Systems with Autopilot and Time Updates

Studies related to the mechanization of coffee transplanting combined with precision agriculture techniques demonstrate a need to verify the quality of the operation to optimize future production processes in the field and reduce costs. The objective of this study was to analyze the operational costs arising from a semi-mechanized coffee transplanting process using an autopilot. The study was conducted on a rural property in the municipality of Santo Antônio do Amparo—MG—where 7458 coffee seedlings were transplanted using a planting platform pulled by a tractor equipped with an autopilot and a GNSS antenna, over a period of 4 days. The date and time data of the operation, recorded every second by the autopilot, were collected and recorded in spreadsheets to assist in calculating operational costs. Two semi-mechanized transplanting scenarios were compared: one using autopilot and the other using conventional semi-mechanized transplanting. The results indicated that the hourly cost of operation with autopilot was US$2130.42 h−1, while the conventional system presented US$326.03 h−1. The effective operational cost was US$3975.61 ha−1 for the system with autopilot and US$442.31 ha−1 for the conventional system in 2020. After monetary updating to 2025, the operational costs increased to US$1845.19 ha−1 and US$116.28 ha−1, respectively. The investment analysis indicated an Internal Rate of Return of 89.7%, highlighting the potential return on investment in the study. Therefore, it was emphasized that even with a high investment cost, the application of autopilot is viable for improving tractor steering during operation and ensuring uniformity in the positioning of coffee seedlings.