Where’s the beef? For São Paulo’s agricultural secretariat, it’s on Cloud SQL for SQL Server

When most people think of São Paulo, business and culture usually come to mind, not beef and chicken. But the state of São Paulo isn’t only home to the largest city in the hemisphere — it’s also the second largest producer of meat in a country that’s the second largest agricultural exporter in the world. Given the importance of agribusiness to Brazil’s economy, the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo (SAA-SP) plays a fundamental role in the development of agribusiness across the region and, by extension, the country.

With the mission of promoting the sustainable production of food, fibers and bioenergy, SAA-SP offers support to rural producers in several areas, such as technical assistance, research, agricultural defense, and access to markets. The Secretariat is also responsible for ensuring food security for the population, monitoring the quality of agricultural products and promoting nutritional education actions.

As the world’s food systems have evolved and grown more complex, organizations have looked to technology to help meet the goals for food security and sustainability. In the case of SAA-SP, the secretariat needs to securely manage increasing amounts of confidential data and ensure its critical systems are available 24/7. These systems include the Rural Environmental Registry (a mandatory electronic registry for all rural properties), and GEDAVE (a management system for animal and plant monitoring).

To give a sense of just how complex the system is, in one example, GEDAVE would handle controls for the management of poultry production, whereby each chick, after birth, needs to be transferred to a new location within 24 hours — and the entire process must be rigorously documented to ensure food safety.

If it wanted to meet the needs not only of its aging IT infrastructure but also the needs of a growing global population in need of safe, reliable food sources, the SAA-SP knew it was time to modernize some of our most important systems.

The growing pains:

Our team in the Department of Systems Management sits within the Information Technology Coordination organization of the SAA-SP. We’re in charge of operating GEDAVE, which is a crucial system for SAA-SP that’s responsible for controlling and monitoring animal and plant health throughout the state of São Paulo. 

GEDAVE records and manages data on animal movement, plant production, use of pesticides, vaccination, pest and disease control, among other information relevant to São Paulo's agriculture. GEDAVE assists in issuing documents such as the Animal Transit Guide (GTA) and the Phytosanitary Certificate of Origin (CFO), which are essential for the trade of agricultural products.

GEDAVE's back-end was developed in Java and connected to a SQL Server database. It contains sensitive information about rural producers, such as production data, management strategies, and financial information. Previously, this database was hosted on-premises, which caused a series of issues, including:

• Difficulty in keeping the database up to date: Applying patches and security updates in the on-premises environment required time and planning, resulting in periods of system unavailability, directly impacting producers who depend on SAA-SP services.

• Complexity in performing regular backups: Ensuring data security with regular and reliable backups was a complex and laborious process in the on-premises environment.

• Challenging high availability: Maintaining high availability of the on-premises database required investments in redundant and complex infrastructure, increasing management costs and complexity.

In addition, SAA-SP needed to ensure the 24/7 availability of these systems to help producers meet market demands, including such complex issues as quality control for export and monitoring internal production.

Data security was also crucial, as information on types of herds, vaccination strategies, pest control, among others, is highly sensitive and requires rigorous protection.

Sowing the seeds of innovation:

SAA-SP decided to modernize its data infrastructure to address these challenges, choosing Google Cloud. They felt the Google Cloud platform's high performance could ensure application availability and efficiency, while its ease of management would simplify database administration and allows the IT team to focus on other priorities.

As a first step in this modernization, SAA-SP migrated its SQL Server database to Cloud SQL for SQL Server on Google Cloud. A crucial factor in the choice was the ease of enabling high availability (HA) in Cloud SQL for SQL Server. With just a few clicks, SAA-SP configured automatic database replication and failover, ensuring service continuity in the event of failures and compliance with SLAs, without the need for complex configurations. In addition, the migration to Cloud SQL for SQL Server was carried out quickly and easily, minimizing the impact on SAA-SP's operations.

This strategic change brought a series of benefits, allowing Java applications to connect to a more modern, scalable and secure database environment.

Harvesting success:

• Simplified updates: Cloud SQL for SQL Server makes it easier to apply patches and updates, minimizing downtime and ensuring that systems are always protected with the latest versions of the software.

• Automated backups: The service offers automated and managed backups, ensuring data security and recovery in the event of failures.

• Simplified high availability: The simplified configuration of high availability in Cloud SQL for SQL Server reduced the effort of the IT team and ensured compliance with service SLAs.

• Enhanced security: With data encryption at rest and in transit, Cloud SQL for SQL Server protects SAA-SP’s confidential information from unauthorized access.

• On-demand scalability: SAA-SP can adjust Cloud SQL for SQL Server resources according to demand, ensuring optimal performance of Java applications, even during peak periods.

• Focus on innovation: SAA-SP’s IT team can now focus on strategic projects, such as developing new features for Java applications, instead of worrying about managing the data infrastructure.

• Reduced IT costs: The migration to Cloud SQL for SQL Server eliminated the need to invest in hardware and software to maintain the on-premises database, reducing operational costs.

Cultivating a future of innovation in agriculture with Cloud SQL for SQL Server:

The migration to Cloud SQL for SQL Server was a strategic decision that allowed SAA-SP to overcome the challenges of on-premises data management and ensure the availability, security, and scalability of its critical systems. The ease of enabling high availability and the simplicity of the migration were determining factors for the success of the project.

But more than that, Cloud SQL enabled innovation at SAA-SP, opening doors to integration with generative AI for more assertive and efficient analysis and decision-making. For example, SAA-SP is leveraging the power of Gemini with Looker to provide C-level executives with real-time data insights hosted on Cloud SQL, facilitating data-driven decisions. 

Furthermore, SAA-SP is empowering its customers with Gemini Database, allowing them to harness AI to enhance database performance and maintenance. 

SAA-SP plans to continue modernizing its infrastructure and services, undertaking:

• Migration to microservices: Launch an updated version of the microservices-based application to increase the flexibility, scalability and capacity of the system.

• Data analysis with generative AI: Enable the use of generative AI to perform predictive analysis and obtain real-time insights from Cloud SQL for SQL Server data, assisting in strategic decision-making for the agricultural sector.

• Data management with Gemini: Use Gemini to facilitate data management and analysis, extracting relevant information and simplifying access to complex data.

SAA-SP’s move towards intelligent management of operations, coupled with the advancements in analysis, has consolidated SAA-SP's position as a reference in technology and innovation in the agricultural sector, driving the development of agribusiness across São Paulo and serving as a beacon for those around the world.

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