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E-commerce, Environment, Water

ITC has partnered with various states programmes such as MGNREGS and NABARD for watershed development in 5.6 lakh acres area

 ITC Limited, one of India’s leading multi-business conglomerates and an exemplar in environment sustainability said that it was rapidly scaling up its highly acclaimed Integrated Watershed Development and Environmental Resources Replenishment initiatives through partnerships with various state governments. These partnerships will be largely focussed on water stewardship and biodiversity conservation. 

Water Stewardship Initiatives

ITC’s watershed programme today covers more than 1,000,000 acres across India. Under this programme, the company has adopted a comprehensive approach focussed on supply augmentation and demand side management. Supply augmentation covers area treatment, water harvesting, groundwater recharge and biodiversity conservation and demand side management aims at improving water use efficiency in principal agricultural crops of area. 

The success of ITC’s integrated water management approach has not only benefitted farmers by enhancing crop yields and expanding cultivation area but has also led to large savings through efficiency in water usage.               

ITC’s Water Stewardship programme is also a community based participatory approach. It employs low cost technologies to arrest soil erosion, enhance moisture, conserve rainwater and recharge groundwater. The benefits of ITC’s water stewardship programme are multiple and multidimensional. 

With water scarcity increasingly becoming an area of concern, ITC continues to focus on an integrated water management approach within the fence that includes investing in water conservation measures and rainwater harvesting initiatives at its units. For larger coverage and scale, ITC has also partnered with various state government departments and programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) programme and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for watershed development in 5.6 lakh acres area. 

Similarly, as part of demand management, ITC has entered a partnership with Water Resources Department of Maharashtra to improve water productivity in 2.42 lakh acres of command area which is under four irrigation schemes spread in four districts of the state. This partnership aims at supporting the government’s ‘More Crop per Drop’ credo and reduce crop water demand in the dams.

These large scale interventions will serve as meaningful examples and inspire many more such fruitful programmes in this area to benefit farmers. 

Highlighting ITC’s environment sustainability initiatives, Chitranjan Dar, Corporate Management Committee Member at ITC responsible for overall supervision of Quality Assurance, ITC Life Sciences & Technology Centre, Central Projects Organisation and Environment, Health & Safety said, “Going forward, our focus on sustainability and environment stewardship would gain larger significance in the post-Covid-19 period. The lockdown period has witnessed nature healing itself and going forward, citizens will expect corporates to demonstrate larger steps to replenish and preserve the environment.” 

“We believe that expanding interventions in environment replenishment and addressing climate change will be critical for a sustainable future.  An enterprise of tomorrow is one that pursues competitive growth to create larger value for society even as it enriches the environment and creates opportunities for sustainable livelihoods. Our Integrated Watershed Development programme, large scale afforestation programme, our renewable energy and green buildings footprint are some of the successful pivots in our strategy to pursue ‘Responsible Competitiveness’ – a socio-economic construct that underpins the ITC’s objective to be future ready whilst ensuring that growth is sustainable and inclusive,” Dar added.

ITC has partnered with various states programmes

Agrotech

 It aims to empower Indian farmers to protect their crops against Fall Armyworm, leading to enhanced farmers’ income and farm sustainability.

 Spodoptera frugiperda, aka Fall Armyworm (FAW) – a highly invasive pest with substantial appetite, landed on Indian soils for the first time in May 2018. The pest quickly became a nationwide nuisance. By the end of 2018, FAW spread across the major maize growing regions and emerged as a significant threat to Indian farmers and agriculture. Notably, the FAW fed on many host plants and was found on sweet corn, baby corn, maize, sugarcane, and sorghum, with the potential to feed on many other agriculturally important food and feed crops in India. By early 2019, the FAW pest was reported in the states of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal. 

 As FAW threatened the already ascending production graph of maize and future of maize farmers in India in 2018, the South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC) launched a massive programme “Safeguarding Agriculture & Farmers against Fall Armyworm (SAFFAL),” a multi-year project supported by FMC Corporation in March 2019. 

Holding the collaboration as invaluable, Pramod Thota, President, FMC India, “FMC India, as a responsible research-based leader in crop protection, is committed to supporting sustainable agriculture in India. Project SAFFAL is another of FMC’s initiatives that aim to empower Indian farmers to protect their crops against such dreaded pests, such as Fall Armyworm, leading to enhanced farmers’ income and farm sustainability. We are proud to be partnering SABC in this endeavour with Project SAFFAL.” 

Project SAFFAL, along with the government machinery and extension systems, helped towards effective management and control of voracious FAW. Moreover, thousands of farmers were trained in good agricultural practices throughout different maize growing regions in India. 

“Contrary to the notion of failure of the agri-extension system in the power corridor of Krishi Bhawan, we have witnessed a noticeable revolution in the agri-extension system in the hinterlands to address the problem of pestilence fall armyworm. The concerted efforts from different agencies including ICAR institutions, KVKs, SAUs, and state agriculture departments and NGOs helped avert threat to socio-economic, food and feed security in India”, said Dr C D Mayee, President, South Asia Biotechnology Centre which successfully led a country-wide project on FAW. 

As a result of the project in Kharif and Rabi 2019-20, India achieved a record maize production at 28.98 million tonnes. SABC released the impact report on SAFFAL’s journey across multiple farming communities in India. It is a testament to the resilience of the farming community, a functional nationwide extension system, and a true model of public-private partnership in the agricultural extension system.

 

In cohesion with the different initiatives by Central as well as state government agencies, project SAFFAL successfully addressed the farmers’ informational needs in a targeted manner. The efforts appealed to the different information delivery channels, reaching the farmers through mass media, customised information material, demonstrations, active helplines, social media, and maize expert networks. Active farmer engagement and their demonstrated efficiency in controlling an exotic pest upon the first instance of infestation showed the efficient relay of information. Indian farmers also tended to actively uptake information across different channels accessed by them regularly. Additionally, the regular assessment of conditions through surveys also facilitated the adjustment of recommendations. 

The community based participatory efforts distilled down to educating the farmers in effective integrated pest management (IPM) strategies to help restrain possible damages. To further strengthen the aim and objectives of Project SAFFAL, strong support from government functionaries remains large. SABC successfully addressed the issues of availability of both botanical, biological, and chemical-based solutions, and advocated for affordable solutions. 

SABC also reached out to the Government of India to either subsidise or exempt the IPM inputs such as pheromone traps and lures, safety kits (PPE), botanicals, biologicals, and safer agriculture pesticides from Goods & Services Tax (GST) regime. Currently, such inputs promoting the cause of organic farming are placed under 18 percent GST. Moreover, based on the ground reality, SABC reached out to the Government of India to expedite the registration of the new and safe chemicals to help ensure compulsory seed treatment before making seeds available to farmers. 

Key deliverable of Project SAFFAL in 2019-20 

Outreach & Geographical Reach – Successful completion of 15 educational-cum-awareness programmes on Fall Armyworm spreading over 11 maize growing states. 

Public-Private Partnership – Established collaboration with 40 public sector institutions including SAUs, KVKs, ICAR-Institutions, AICRP Maize, ICAR-ATMA; state departments of agriculture.

 Farmers Training – In-depth training of >7,050 maize farmers; indirectly reaching out to ~ 308,000 farmers, extension officials and other key stakeholders. 

FAW Vernacular Posters – More than 20,000 posters in 8 languages distributed in 11 maize growing states.

 Pheromone Traps/Lures & FAW Soft Toys – Distribution of 2,700 pheromone traps & lures and 2000 soft toys indicating FAW identification marks to progressive farmers, extension officials of KVK and state agriculture departments and entomologist of respective partner institutions and live demonstration of its usages. 

 It aims to empower Indian farmers to

Acquaculture, Agro Universities

The programme aimed at increasing the fishers’ income in post COVID-19 era. 

 

 

The ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata in association with the Fisheries Department, Government of Odisha and Primary Fisheries Cooperative Society, Salia initiated an “Innovative Reservoir Enhancement Programme” in Salia Reservoir under the Schedule Caste Sub Plan Programme. The programme is aimed at improving the production from 30 tonnes to at least 60 tonnes from the reservoir to help more than 200 Schedule Caste households that are dependent on the reservoir for their livelihoods. 

The Institute initiated the nursery raising programme for developing advanced fingerlings as the stocking material in the reservoir for production enhancement prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19. In two acres of nursery area 1 lakh IMC fish fries were stocked in the nursery with a stocking density of 0.50 lakh / Ac in the month of October, 2019. The fishers were advised to take care of the nursery and feed regularly to the stock during the lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic situation. 

The ICAR-CIFRI conducted a successful fish seed stocking programme in the reservoir on 21st and 22nd May, 2020. The stocked advanced fingerlings were approximately 30 gm in size. The objective of growing these fish seed in captive nursery is to develop stunted fingerlings. During this, 25,000 advanced stunted fingerlings of Indian Major Carps were stocked in Salia Reservoir. Approximately, 10 tonnes fish production can be additionally achieved from the reservoir. This is the first phase of seed stocking and the approximately 50,000 fish seeds in the nursery will be released in phased manner in the month of June. 

The programme aimed at increasing the fishers’ income in post COVID-19 era. Its implementation will generate an additional income of Rs. 30 lakh for the Scheduled Caste fishers of the Salia reservoir. Keeping the contingency posed by the COVID-19, the fishermen were distributed the face masks and sanitizers along with maintaining the practice of social distancing.

The programme aimed at increasing the fishers’

Agro chems – Pesticides, E-commerce, Finance

The consolidated annual income rose to RS 3,415.4 crore from Rs 2,900.4 crore in the 2018-19 fiscal. The consolidated annual income rose to RS 3,415.4 crore from Rs 2,900.4 crore in the 2018-19 fiscal. 

Pesticides and agrochemicals maker PI Industries recently reported a 12 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 110.7 crore for the fourth quarter of the 2019-20 fiscal on higher expenses, and said there won’t be any major impact of COVID-19 pandemic on its business. The firm’s net profit stood at Rs 125.7 crore in the same quarter of the 2018-29 fiscal, according to a regulatory filing.

Its net income rose to Rs 862 crore during the quarter ended March 31 of this fiscal from Rs 826.9 crore a year ago.

However, expenses remained higher at Rs 720.9 crore as against Rs 656.8 crore in the year-ago period. For the full 2019-20 fiscal year, the company reported an increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs 456.6 crore from Rs 410.2 crore in the previous year.

The consolidated annual income rose to RS 3,415.4 crore from Rs 2,900.4 crore in the 2018-19 fiscal. According to the filing, the group’s operations were disrupted at research and development (R&D) facilities at Udaipur, manufacturing facilities at Gujarat and sales depots across the country following the nationwide lockdown announced in March to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

This resulted in partial deferment of the group’s domestic and export revenues for March to the next quarter, the company said. However, since April, the group has resumed operations at its various sites in a gradual manner and the management believes that being into an essential commodity, there is no significant impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the current and future business conditions. The management also concluded that no material adjustments were required in the financial statements and it will continue to closely monitor the situation, the filing added.

 

 

 

 

The consolidated annual income rose to RS

E-commerce, Supply Chain

Consumers will now be able to trace the journey of farm produce and view the real-time footprint data of the fresh fruits and vegetables

India’s leading B2B fresh food supply chain company Ninjacart- the leading  has recently launched ‘FoodPrint’, a complete food traceability infrastructure that captures the end-to-end footprint traceability of fruits and vegetables which moves from farm to home. The FoodPrint initiative is launched on the occasion of “World Food Safety Day” declared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization (WHO), which is observed on the 7th of June every year. 

As per reports, this is Ninjacart’s first step towards achieving its motive of providing “safe food for billion people in India”. With FoodPrint, a consumer will now be able to trace the journey and view the real-time footprint data of the fresh fruits and vegetables they ordered through the FoodPrint Viewer feature available on the official website. To avail this feature, one has to order from Ninjacart’s partner grocery store through Swiggy, Zomato, Dunzo, and other online platforms, to view the Foodprint data.

 Talking about ‘Food Print’ initiative Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Co-Founder & CEO, Ninjacart said, “In the year 2018, we took it upon ourselves to provide safe food for India’s billion people. We are happy to have launched this initiative alongside “World Food Safety Day” which stands for “Food Safety, Everyone’s Business”.

 “COVID-19 and its impact on every aspect of human life have made people view every decision of purchasing in light of health and safety. We knew that building this infrastructure was not an easy journey. But we persistently worked towards it for two years.  Today with ‘FoodPrint’, we have taken the first step towards bringing that idea to fruition. We all have understood the pertinence of traceability given the current situation. Accountability plays a very big role in the supply chain of fresh produce”, Nagarajan added.

Ninjacart’s ‘FoodPrint’ traces right from, who is the farmer, when was it harvested, the truck that carried the produce, the warehouse that processed it, the helper who handled the product at the warehouse, a retailer who brought the product, and how it was delivered to the consumer’s doorstep. With the help of cutting edge technology such as RFID tags, a product is mapped right from the time a farmer brings the product to the collection centres and the same foodprint ID is kept intact till it reaches the retailer and then the consumer. All this is possible by entering the order number that one receives on the Realtime Footprint Viewer on the website www.ninjacart.com under the traceability tab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consumers will now be able to trace the journey of farm produce and view the real-time footprint data of the fresh fruits and vegetables they ordered through the FoodPrint Viewer feature available on the official website. One has to order from Ninjacart’s partner grocery stores through Swiggy

Consumers will now be able to trace

E-commerce, IT, Machinery – Post-harvesting

The training includes live interviews to experts, influences, distributors and executives.

 The latest circumstances have accelerated the digital transition and offered the opportunity to develop new forms of work organization, build and strengthen relationships, enhance services and products. 

Considering the ongoing revolution in how we access and consume contents, Kohler says it deliberately designed its new service to give a global audience free access to speeches about current critical issues of our business. The manufacturer has planned a series of web events that will be live streamed on Facebook and Instagram. A public broadcasting service of live interviews to experts, influencers, distributors, executives. 

The ever-changing digital world is the perfect stage to promote original content and reach every single player of the construction, agriculture, lawn & garden and rental sectors, the company says. The program is named Kohler Engines University Web TV and will consist of one episode per week, 20 minutes each.

 More than before, aftersales support is key and Kohler provides the help the end user needs anytime, anywhere. Kohler’s dealer network is wide and strong. To make it even wider and stronger, the company scheduled additional invitation-only events called Kohler Engines University Live. These training sessions will be live streamed for a limited audience and will cover more technical matters, such as gasoline engines basic maintenance, KIRA diagnostic tool, Kohler Partners platform, etc. 

“Kohler Communication is becoming more and more digital: we are now focusing on reaching customers and partners with new tools. We want to support them through the entire lifetime of our products. This idea led us to the creation of a set of training programs, online conferences and initiatives that will increase the brand recognition” said Nino De Giglio, Director – Brand & Communication, Kohler Engines.

The training includes live interviews to experts,

Agrotech, E-commerce, Organic

This new hydroponic plant will be set up in Abu Dhabi. 

Arab Emirates (UAE) has been taking many efforts in boosting agriculture in the country. The country is creating its presence in the global market with its outstanding marketing of fresh local produce. In the efforts to push the country’s agriculture to new heights, a company named ‘Smart Acres’ will be launching a new Hydroponic Vertical Farm, which is anticipated to come in the third quarter of 2020. This new hydroponic plant will be set up in Abu Dhabi and the company aims to expand it all over the country in the following years. 

Smart Acres has designed the system using IoT-based technology, which will help the growers in monitoring and growing produce with the consumption of fewer resources. The hydroponics usually generate high quality of crops, and with IoT based technology, the growers could easily grow their produce. 

Another unique differentiating thing about the farm is that all the plants are going to be stacked vertically. In vertical farms, the crops are stacked into one another, which create room for more saplings. The environment needs to be controlled with no natural sunlight or soil. The nutrients are dissolved in the water-based solvent and reach the plants through roots. Roots are generally kept in the water-based system but can also be kept in other solids, which again will contain the necessary nutrients to help the plants grow.

This new hydroponic plant will be set

IT

FarmERP shares light on the crucial role AgriTech plays in ensuring Safe Produce

Food safety and food security are interlinked. While climate change and environmental impacts on food chain are triggering food security problems, concerns about the safety of currently available agricultural products are growing to be equally grave. This coupled with the changing consumer patterns due to the current pandemic makes food safety & traceability an even bigger concern.

The second World Food Safety Day as declared by the World Health Organization, is set to be celebrated today, i.e. June 7,2020 to draw attention and inspire action to help detect, manage and prevent foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, market access, agriculture, tourism and sustainable development. 

The theme for the year is “Food safety, everyone’s business” which aims to call upon countries and decision makers in the private sectors, civil societies, organizations affiliated with the United Nations and the general public to take action against food wastage and promote global food safety awareness. The WHO suggests the responsibility of Food safety be shared by governments, producers and consumers alike, where every stakeholder plays their role from farm to table to ensure that the produce consumed by us is safe and will not adversely affect our health, so as to reduce the socio-economic burden of foodborne diseases. 

According to a Health report by a European Food Safety Society, Agriculture is one of the key players when it comes to assurance of food safety. Agriculture can extend support through increased production and minimal processing, sharing data on trends in production, processes, food prices and commodity use by supply chains applying a holistic and risk mitigation approach, and ensuring hygienic production, processing and distribution of foods with established monitoring systems at every step of the way. 

Food Traceability is vital to the food supply chain in order to keep a tab on the hygienic production and distribution. Traceability refers to the functions that trace the flow of foods throughout the production, processing, and distribution stages. Traceability helps to locate a product at any stage within the supply chain, because of which it becomes imperative for producers to have integrated systems in order to ensure effective control of the operations to avoid any form of contamination. Having a structured traceability platform, can safeguard agriculture and food processing companies across the globe against any shortcomings regarding safety, allowing for a prompt response owing to the transparency and visibility in the chain, and accounting for diagnosis and mitigation of the incident.

Lack of visibility in sales and production cycles have been one of the major loopholes in the Fresh fruits and vegetable production industry. Mismanaged inventories result in failure to meet the ever-growing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables. This has propelled the sector to make a tectonic shift from manual supervision to digital farm management platforms like FarmERP to manage inventories, reduce losses associated with spoilage and work on sales forecasting, procurement strategies & ensuring food traceability & safety through a digital supply chain.

Agri Tech platforms like FarmERP have worked with companies in the past to source fresh produce directly from the farmers to the consumers an entirely digital supply chain to map all the operations. By providing the farm operators with an end to end digital and easy to use solution that covers the entire gamut of operations right from raw materials, to plantation, to harvesting, crop scheduling, scouting, processing, up until it goes for packaging and sales; ERP platforms are the future of food safety. 

FarmERP enables to provide traceable fresh produce to its clients & their customers through its agriculture management software with transformative technologies such as blockchain, etc. This gives consumers the transparency of backtracking and understanding the route of their food from farm to fork. With traditional agriculture in India making a historic shift to next gen technology like farm automation, Artificial Intelligence, GIS mapping, satellite imagery and big data analytics, the preference for ERP solutions is on a rise owing to the complete visibility of data and product life cycle across the entire supply chain from producer to consumer for agriculture-based businesses. 

The food we consume goes through multiple processes before it reaches the market & the consumer. It is highly important to make sure that the quality is maintained at every single stage. FarmERP offers a comprehensive platform for agribusinesses to identify, evaluate, and control the risky scenarios where food safety may be compromised. These future ready AgriTech platforms can help agribusinesses & growers retain high nutritional value of the produce during production, processing, storage, and preservation while mitigating post-production losses.

FarmERP shares light on the crucial role

E-commerce, Logistics

Strong fundamentals and robust business model contributed increase in revenue said company   

 

During the quarter ended March 31, 2020, Snowman Logistics Ltd recorded a revenue of INR. 60.98 Crores as against INR. 59.80 Crores for the same period in the previous year. EBITDA decreased to INR. 15.39 Crores from INR. 16.67 Crores for the same period in the previous year, PBT decreased to INR. (1.34) Crores from INR. 5.45 Crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and PAT decreased to INR (1.17) Crores from INR 5.42 Crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. 

On an annual basis, revenue during 2019-20 was INR. 240.20 Crores as against to INR. 232.55 Crores during the previous year.  EBITDA increased to INR. 63.38 Crores from INR. 62.24 Crores. EBITDA of FY 20 Includes positive impact of INR.13.58 Crores due to newly adopted Lease Accounting (Ind as 116) and corresponding EBITDA per cent impact is 5.7 per cent. 

PBT decreased to INR. (6.31) Crores from a profit of INR. 10.86 Crores during the previous year. PBT was negatively impacted by INR. 8.49 Crores on account of Ind AS 116 adoption in current year and PAT decreased to INR. (15.01) Crores from a profit of INR. 9.72 Crores during the previous year. The Company has reversed deferred tax assets by INR. 8.95 Crores on account of new income tax rate applicable for companies having turnover below INR. 400 Crores due to which the tax expense was recognized to such extent. The total impact on PAT due to One Time Deferred tax reversal (INR. 8.95 Crores) and Ind AS 116 adoption (INR. 8.49 Crores) is INR. 17.44 Crores.

 Commenting on the results, Prem Kishan Gupta, Chairman, Snowman Logistics Ltd said, “We are satisfied with the results posted by the Company in a year in which it had to face a series of cyclones which impacted the seafood industry. After brief phase of consolidation, the Company is back on its expansion mode and will be starting work on setting up new warehouses during the current year.

 

 

Speaking about the results,  Sunil Nair, CEO, Snowman Logistics said, “The Company has been constantly working on process improvements to ensure the best service levels to customers. This is reflected in the increase in customer base. Entry into the E-Commerce space by tying up with one of the leading players in this business shows that the company is well poised to handle the changing business environment.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strong fundamentals and robust business model contributed

Logistics

This initiative aims to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products to domestic and international markets 

 

 

 The Delhi International Airport Ltd-run IGIA has emerged as a hub for agricultural perishables. In a statement, DIAL said that it has facilitated the export of the season’s first consignment of mangoes from Lucknow to Dubai.

 “The consignment of 3 metric tonnes of mangoes, brought from orchards in Lucknow, was sent to Dubai by Air India Express flight in recent,” DIAL said in the statement.

“Delhi Airport is now fast emerging as a preferred airport for the export of fresh vegetables and fruits facilitating the government’s ambitious ’’Krishi Udan’’ initiative.” 

This initiative aims to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products to domestic and international markets. “It is part of the Government’s 16-point programme to boost agriculture and double the income of farmers,” the statement said. 

“In April 2020, Delhi Airport also handled the first consignment of 3 metric tonnes (MT) of fresh vegetables, which was exported to London from Varanasi. Last week, the airport handled a consignment of fresh mangoes, which was exported to Dubai from Varanasi via Lucknow.” 

At present, Delhi Airport has India’s one of the largest on-Airport temperature controlled facility of over 1.5 lakh MT capacity to process the perishable products in the temperature range of -200 to 250 degrees Celsius.

Apart from having state-of-the-art infrastructure, the airport also has the largest connectivity to around 150 destinations across the globe, which complements and makes the facility as a most favoured one for the ’’Krishi Udan’’ initiative.

The airport has had handled around 20-22 cargo flights per day (including non-scheduled operations), with freighters operating between various destinations like Doha, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Incheon, etc. 

Additionally, the Centre has designated Delhi Airport as major hub for import and distribution of Covid-19 related medical essentials.

This initiative aims to assist farmers in

E-commerce, R&D

The UV light robot, applies treatment on grape vines in a Cornell AgriTech research field at night 

 

 

Researchers at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, New York, have partnered with SAGA Robotics in Norway to develop the first commercial robotic units, and the autonomous vehicle robots will appear on the market this year. Robots fitted with ultraviolet light lamps that roam vineyards at night are proving effective at killing powdery mildew, a devastating pathogen for many crops, including grapes. 

This spring, the researchers are using two such robots to conduct field trials on Chardonnay grapes at two sites – Cornell AgriTech’s research vineyards in Geneva, and at Anthony Road Wine Co. in Penn Yan, New York.

Studies at Cornell on the use of UV light to kill grapevine powdery mildew date back to 1991, while trials in cooperation with the University of Florida successfully controlled powdery mildew in strawberries in field trials over the last four years. The latest grape trials controlled not just powdery mildew, but another destructive disease called downy mildew. Collaborations with other universities have also led to trials with squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, hops, basil and industrial hemp. 

The UV-light technique is a breakthrough against powdery and downy mildew, which can adapt to chemical antifungal sprays in a single season, costing chemical companies hundreds of millions of dollars in development. 

“Everywhere grapes are grown, growers have to worry about powdery mildew,” said Lance Cadle-Davidson, Ph.D., a research plant pathologist at the Grape Genetics Research Unit at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service in Geneva, and partner on the project. 

The UV light robot named Thorvald, applies treatment on grape vines in a Cornell AgriTech research field at night. “A typical grape grower will spray chemical fungicides for powdery mildew management between 10 and 15 times each year,” said Cadle-Davidson, who is also an adjunct assistant professor in Cornell’s Department of Plant Pathology. 

Powdery mildews have co-evolved with the plants they attack over millions of years and often develop resistance to chemical treatments. But their evolution has also given them a weakness: adaptation to natural cycles of light. 

UV light damages DNA though many organisms have developed biochemical defenses against this damage, which is triggered by blue light found in sunlight. 

“What makes it possible for us to use UV to control these plant pathogens is we apply it at night,” Gadoury said. “At night, the pathogens don’t receive blue light and the repair mechanism isn’t working.” 

Cadle-Davidson is also developing imaging technology in partnership with scientists at Carnegie Mellon University that will detect and quantify mildew on grape leaves.

 

“We’re right now on version 1.0 of this UV robot treatment, which applies the same dose of UV light to every vine regardless of whether it’s sick or healthy,” Cadle-Davidson said. “Our long-term vision is we’ll couple these detection and treatment approaches across the vineyard in an automated way.”

The UV light robot, applies treatment on

Europe, Sustainable Energy

Pegasus Development AG: Green light for multiple production sites worldwide

Under the leadership of board member Roberto Spano, the management of Pegasus Development AG has decided to further expand Pegastril-Nuevo production facilities.
 

New production facilities will be set up at several locations across the world and the site in Turkey is being expanded. These investments will also create new jobs.

The takeover and expansion of the following production facilities are planned in all 20 countries of Latin America, as well as France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola, Mauritius, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tome, and Mongolia.

The demand for disinfectants has skyrocketed as a result of the coronavirus. Especially high revenues are expected from products which are based on vegetable surfactants and are alcohol-free, such as Nuevo. This was the decisive factor in the management’s decision to further expand the quantity and range of Nuevo products.

Pegasus Development AG promptly secured the exclusive rights by investing in Nuevo, thereby developing the Pegastril-Nuevo brand. You can find more information about the products at: www.pegastrilnuevo.ch. With new technologies and innovative ideas, Pegastril-Nuevo is working to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus and any future pandemics. Among other things, disinfection booths have been developed that can spray the whole body with disinfectant within a few seconds. These cabins are primarily intended for use at airports, train stations, and public places. A single tank of disinfectant would be enough to disinfect 10,000 people, each taking ten to twenty seconds to treat.

Pegastril-Nuevo already supplies Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Nigeria in addition to the European countries.

In future, virus protection will be the top priority in all business areas. It is becoming obvious that every restaurant and shopping centre will be required to place such a disinfectant cabin at its entrance. This is the precisely where revenue is expected to grow in the future. The cabins will allow brick & mortar shops to remain competitive against e-commerce sites.

 

This will open up an immense market for Pegasus Development AG that promises tremendous growth.

 

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Pegasus Development AG: Green light for multiple

AgroPolicy, Environment

Govt will provide five-crore saplings of fruit-bearing trees to farmers as part of a project 

 

 

Kerala government will provide five-crore saplings to farmers of fruit-bearing trees as part of a project which is jointly implemented by the Agriculture, Forest, Local Self-Governments and Education departments and Kerala Agricultural University (KAU). 

The first phase of the distribution of these saplings will be held on World Environment Day. Saplings of nearly 31 fruit-bearing trees which include jackfruit, mango, pomegranate, avocado and orange will be distributed. 

The second phase will commence in July as part of the Van Mahotsav and Thiruvathira Njattuvela. Both these festivities happen in the first week of July when there is a sufficient amount of rain and sunlight for the plants to grow. 

These saplings will be distributed to the farmers free-of-cost and will be planted in individual plots, school compounds and tourist places. Local bodies, Kudumbashree volunteers and MGNREGS workers will help in planting all the saplings.

Grafted, layered and tissue-cultured saplings will be distributed at 25 per cent of the cost.  Farmers who are interested in cultivating the saplings need to contact the nearest Krishi Bhavan or call the toll-free number 1800-425-1661. They can also register at the Agriculture Information Management System portal – www.aims.kerala.gov.in/subhikshakeralam. 

Whereas, the Harithalayam project by the Kerala University (KU) will help to increase the greenery of the campus. The project will be launched on World Environment Day and inaugurated by the Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan. The project is being implemented with the help of the Social Forestry Department.

 As part of the project, acacia trees which have been causing environmental destruction at some places will be removed. They will be replaced with fruit-bearing and medicinal trees.  Around 45,000 saplings are being prepared for this purpose on the Karyavattom campus which is spread over 365 acres.

 In addition, Kerala University is planning to have paddy cultivation in nearly 20 acres, a coconut farm with 1,000 coconut trees, a vegetable farm in five acres and a garden of rare plants collected from the Andaman Islands.

 

Govt will provide five-crore saplings of fruit-bearing

E-commerce, Machinery – Post-harvesting

The company has registered 25 percent growth with exports of 1537 tractors in May’20. 

 

 

 India’s one of the leading tractor manufacturing company, Sonalika Tractors has  registered 18.6 percent growth with sale of 9177 tractors in domestic as well as overseas market in May 2020 as compared to 7737 tractors in May 2019. The company has strengthened its number one tractor exports position from India by registering 25 percent growth with exports of 1537 tractors in May’20.

Highlighting the performance, Raman Mittal, Executive Director, Sonalika Group, said, “We have registered healthy overall growth of 18.6 percent in May’20, with 9177 tractors sale, despite the challenging situation. We rolled out a host of initiatives to strengthen our bond and trust with our channel partners, customers and community. Among the lot, to mention few – industry’s first online disbursal of incentives for dealer sales team, extension of warranty and renewal period, service and spare parts availability with standby tractor for customers along with many other initiatives. We were the first tractor brand to have got the plant operational.” 

Key Highlights

 Overall growth registered 18.6 percent (9177 tractors sold) in May’20

Plant operations reached 85 percent in week 4 May’20. Expecting 100 percent operational by June’20

Expecting to surpass May’20 growth in June’20

Overall Q1 FY’21 volume expected to surpass last year

Number one brand in the world from India, records 25 percent exports growth in May’20

 “For the farmers, the real currency is their crops. Tractors play a very important role in the farmer’s life to enhance his productivity from the given set of his land. Farmers are majorly oriented towards application based farming like puddling, mulching, baler application, orchards, horticulture etc. Paddy being the major Kharif crop, we are seeing a demand rise for customised tractors which will be able to address these specialised needs. Along with the demand for tractors, the demand for specialised implements is also expected to go up,” Mittal further said. 

“Sikander series now contributes to 75-80 percent in entire Sonalika portfolio, that too within two years of its launch. We are a leading brand in more than 50 HP segment and now are targeting to achieve leadership position in more than 40HP segment as well, with the launch of 4 new next-gen series tractors viz. Tiger (Designed in Europe), Sikander DLX (10 Deluxe features), Mahabali (Puddling special for Telengana) and Chhatrapati (for Maharashtra). These new tractors are the 1st of its kind in India which will offer customisation that will address the local needs of farmers. These new tractors are expected to contribute 20-25 percent of volumes in our overall sales.” Mittal added.

The company has registered 25 percent growth