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Acquaculture, AgroPolicy

Cards will be available to the farmers through the fisheries department 

 

 

 The Karnataka Government has announced that QR Code based biometric cards are now mandatory for the fishermen in the state. The information was given by Minister for ports and Karnataka, Kota Srinivas Poojary. He was speaking at a meeting on coastal fisheries in Mangaluru. He also said that the cards made available to the farmers through the fisheries department or the Seva Sindhu portal of the Karnataka government. 

Several stakeholders attending the meeting also pointed out that QR based cards were insufficient until they provided several facilities as the Kisan Credit Card does for the farmers. “Fishermen are not getting as much facilities as that of farmers. Kisan credit cards should be issued to even the fishermen,” they said. 

The ministers said that it was a legitimate concern and assured them that he would take up the matter with the Chief Minister, director of the fisheries department, and senior officials from banks to get a solution to it. 

The minister also said that a proposal was under consideration in which 20% of jobs in the coastal security forces would be reserved for skilled fishermen. 

The Member of Parliament from the Dakshina Kannada constituency Nalin Kumar Kateel also was present at the occasion talked about that the fisheries sector would benefit if there was coordination between the farmers and the experts so that any innovation could be adopted in an efficient way to improve the sector.

 

Cards will be available to the farmers

Agro Universities

Farmers are advised to be highly vigilant as the crop is currently at the most preferable stage for the pest. 

 

 

 

The scientists at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, have issued advisory for managing fall armyworm in maize. Tracing the history of the insect, P K Chhuneja, head of entomology department said the fall armyworm insect is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas and a noxious pest of the maize.

“It was first seen in Africa in 2016 as accidental introduction into the continent and soon spread to 40 African countries within a year. In India, the pest was reported in May 2018 in Karnataka, and within a year, it had infested almost all the states of the country. In Punjab, it was first noticed in the farmers’ fields in August 2019, and by end September, the insect was found infesting late sown fodder maize in various districts. In the current kharif season, its infestation has been reported in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Ropar, Pathankot, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts,” he said.

Chhuneja said the fall armyworm prefers to feed on 10-40 days old crop, therefore, at this time, farmers are advised to be highly vigilant for its attack in their fields, as the crop is currently at the most preferable stage for the pest. He further added that timely control at this critical stage will reduce the population build up that will minimise the possibility of subsequent damage at the flowering stage.

“Correct identification, vigilant monitoring and immediate control measures are keys to curtail its damage,” cautioned the scientist, while clarifying that the larva can be identified from four spots in square pattern at tail end and white coloured inverted Y-shaped mark on the head. “The larvae vary among greenish brown, light brown or light grey in colours. The female lays eggs in groups of 100-150 eggs on lower or upper surface of the leaves. Young larvae feed by scraping the leaf surface making papery windows. Later on, the larvae prefer to damage the central whorl leaves feeding voraciously causing round to oblong holes with large amount of faecal matter. The damage starting in patches spreads rapidly in the entire field if not monitored carefully and managed timely,” he added.

Farmers are advised to be highly vigilant

R&D, Supply Chain, Sustainable Energy

Bio-derived fuels find favor with Indian scientists

Bio-derived fuels which is increasingly being considered globally as the alternative for fossil fuels to reduce carbon emission has caught the attention of Indian scientific community as well.

Dr Kishalay Mitra and Kapil Gumte, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad are using computational methods to understand more about incorporating biofuels into the fuel sector in India.

A unique aspect of their research is that they are considering revenue generation not only as an outcome of sales of the biofuel but also in terms of carbon credits via greenhouse gas emission savings throughout the project lifecycle.

Dr Mitra believes biofuels generated from non-food sources including agricultural waste products such as straw, hay and wood is the best source of carbon-neutral renewable energy in India. The research team is using machine learning techniques to understand the supply chain network according to Gumte. Dr Mitra added that the use of machine learning techniques have helped them capture the uncertainty in forecasting demands and other supply chain parameters. Their research paper has been published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

 

Bio-derived fuels find favor with Indian

Dairy

GEA’s remote team provides outstanding support by running KMF’s plant remotely

The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) was able to shore up its operations with the timely help from GEA and save thousands of litres of fresh milk. The milk became surplus as local movement of goods became suspended in the month of April due to countrywide lockdown.

The solution to save the milk by converting it to milk powder was brought to life by the excellent cooperation between KMF and GEA. Though KMF’s new Nandini Hi-Tech Mega Powder Plant in Ramanagara, Karnataka, could have processed the skimmed milk further it was in the middle of commissioning and not fully operational when the lockdown came into force.

Since GEA had already completed trials earlier in March because of which the plant had become partially operational, KMF asked for GEA’s support in running the plant for converting the milk to milk powder.  Six GEA engineers provided support from their location while another GEA team consisting of process and automation engineers in Vadodara charted a plan to run the plant remotely from their home computers.

The combined team of KMF and GEA thereby converted 90,000 liters of skimmed milk into milk powder initially followed by 200,000 liters of milk over the next few days.

GEA’s remote team provides outstanding support by

E-commerce, Machinery - Pre-harvesting, Machinery – Post-harvesting

Domestic sales in June 2020 were at 35,844 units, as against 31,879 units during June 2019.

Domestic sales of tractors of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. have grown by 12 percent from last year according to Hemant Sikka, President of its Farm Equipment Sector (FES).

Domestic sales in June 2020 were at 35,844 units, as against 31,879 units during June 2019. Total tractor sales (Domestic + Exports) during June 2020 were at 36,544 units, as against 33,094 units for the same period last year.

Sikka has stated that this is the sector’s second highest June sales ever. The business has been bolstered by the positive outlook of the farmers due to the timely arrival of the south west monsoon, record Rabi crop, Government support for agricultural initiatives and excellent progress in the sowing of the Kharif crop.

These factors combined with better cash flows in rural markets have helped increase tractor demand during June. Sikka said he foresees the increased demand to persist in the coming months.

Domestic sales in June 2020 were at

E-commerce, R&D

Taranis will analyse sugarcane fields using its proprietary AI2 imaging technology 

Taranis has announced its agreement with UPL Ltd., a multinational agrochemical company and one of the five largest agricultural solutions companies worldwide, for exclusive monitoring of UPL’s sugarcane acreage across Brazil. Through its unique FLY UP program, Taranis will scout and analyse sugarcane fields for UPL customers, using its proprietary AI2 imaging technology. The collaboration between Taranis and UPL will later expand to include monitoring of UPL’s pasture crops. 

Brazil is the largest sugarcane market in the world and UPL is one of the main players of agricultural solutions for this market. Unlike many other seasonal commodity crops, sugarcane is a year-round crop, requiring ongoing monitoring throughout the year. Taranis’s AI2 technology, which captures 0.3mm/pixel resolution images of fields at the leaf level from planes and drones and scouts over 7,000 hectares per day at 200 km/hour, will be applied to monitor UPL customers’ sugarcane acreage. With unprecedented monitoring and analysis of crop health throughout the seasons — the combination of Taranis technology with UPL access within the sugarcane market creates a unique project called FLY UP. Taranis’s end-to-end platform can also be applied to other large-scale crops such as soy, corn, and cotton. 

“UPL has one of the most robust portfolios in the industry. The combination of AI and aerial images of Taranis has high accuracy and assessment capacity in large areas, which allows for the delivery of strategic information for decision making and rationalization of the use of pesticides with sustainability,” said Fabio Torretta, CEO of UPL in Brazil. “After several tests with the Taranis solution, we are absolutely sure that FLY UP, presents unparalleled results and we are excited about this partnership and we intend to expand this project to other cultures in the future”.

Through the FLY UP project, UPL customers will receive crop intelligence and insights based on AI2 0.3mm/pixel leaf-level imagery, identifying the earliest signs of crop threats, including weeds, diseases, and nutrient deficiency. By cross-referencing images with the Taranis knowledgebase of over 1 million crop health issues, sourced from a team of more than 100 expert agronomists, FLY UP will help reduce the scouting burden by offering human-level precision using fewer resources. Sugarcane mills and customers attended by the project will receive real-time reports on field conditions, indicating the type of threat, its species and severity along with tools for effectively prioritizing treatment decisions.

 

 

 

 

Taranis will analyse sugarcane fields using its

Agrotech

International Cooperative Entrepreneurship Think Tank is a globally acclaimed body with a mission to encourage out of the box business solutions. 

IFFCO has  again made a mark on the global cooperative scene with its Joint General Manager (Cooperative Relations) Tarun Bhargava getting unanimously elected as the first Chairperson of International Cooperative Entrepreneurship Think Tank (ICETT). It is a globally acclaimed body with a mission to encourage out of the box business solutions. 

ICETT is an initiative of the body representing co-ops worldwide namely International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). It was formed in the first meeting organized in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in conjunction with the ICA General Assembly and the V Co-operative Summit of the Americas in 2018.

The objective of the ICETT is to serve as a strategic hub for the co-op movement in order to strengthen the entrepreneurial performance of co-operatives. 

This ICETT group consists of Rabobank-Netherlands, Mondragon-Spain, SMART-Belgium, SOK-Finland, Mondragon – Spain, The Midcounties Cooperative – UK, Kibbutz Movement–Israel, Sancour Seguros-Argentina and other big cooperatives of the Globe including Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO).

International Cooperative Entrepreneurship Think Tank is a

E-commerce, R&D

 It will advance the oat varieties with improved sustainability, taste and nutrition. 

 

 

PepsiCo and Corteva Agriscience had announced the first-ever sequencing of the full oat genome for use in open-source applications. This work was completed in just four months thanks to a collaborative effort between academia, government and the private sector, and will advance the resiliency of at-risk food systems while leading to heartier oat varieties with improved sustainability, taste and nutrition. It’s part of PepsiCo’s broader effort to use our scale and reach to help build a more sustainable food system – one that can provide nutrition and enjoyment, and drive economic growth and social development, while protecting and restoring the planet. You can read more about that work in our recently released 2019 Sustainability Report.

PepsiCo and Corteva are publicly releasing the genome to continue to advance oat research. In addition, the release of the oat genome is aimed at spurring agronomic innovations globally that can improve the resiliency of the food system in the following ways: 

Sustainability – Breeding for better yield could produce more resilient varieties with improved disease resistance and guard against loss in the field; create longer root systems and healthier soils that sequester carbon and reduce water run-off; and reduce the amount of land and other resources needed to grow oats. 

Nutrition – Oat grains are already rich in fiber and essential nutrients. Understanding a full oat genome improves the ability to target these qualities, ultimately benefiting consumers looking for elevated nutrition profiles from their oats.

Taste – The nutritional value of oats is well-documented and encouraging its consumption by potentially creating more flavorful varieties helps expand its appeal.

“Through our collaboration with Corteva and a number of key partners, we were able to unlock answers to the difficult problem of sequencing the entire oat genome in just a few months’ time, a project that will benefit our own Quaker Oats brand and the broader oat community,” says René Lammers, PepsiCo Chief Science Officer. “With this open-source approach, we hope to advance the science of oat breeding and ultimately improve food and nutrition security and farmer livelihoods worldwide.” 

“Corteva’s best-in-class agricultural genomics and data science capabilities came together to tackle this significant challenge, leveraging leading-edge science to crack this complex genome,” says Neal Gutterson, Chief Technology Officer at Corteva Agriscience. “This collaboration and the release of the reference genome represents Corteva’s commitment to working together to solve agricultural challenges.”

 

Primary project contributors include Corteva, applying its advanced sequencing technology and analytic capabilities; the University of North Carolina Charlotte, providing crucial sequence data and learnings; and the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan, providing the oatvariety. The data is being hosted on the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s GrainGenes website at https://wheat.pw.usda.gov/jb/?data=/ggds/oat-ot3098-pepsico.

 

 It will advance the oat varieties with

Agrotech, Sustainable Energy

Growth potential of Indian Wind Energy sector largely untapped

Suzlon Group, India’s largest renewable energy solutions provider has announced the completion of its debt restructuring with the unanimous approval of its secured lenders.

According to the terms of restructuring, term debt has been reduced substantially with interest of 9 percent per annum repayable over 10 years starting 1st July, 2020. Balance Debt of secured consortium lenders has been replaced by 0.01 percent Optionally Convertible Debenture (OCD) of the Company and 0.0001 percent Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) of its subsidiary redeemable or convertible in 20 years.

Tulsi Tanti, Founder and CMD of the Suzlon Group expressed his gratitude to the consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India and the company for working together to protect the interests of all the stakeholders involved. J P Chalasani, Group CEO said capital infusion of Rs 392 crores by promoters, key shareholders and various stakeholders demonstrates their commitment and confidence in Suzlon.

He added that debt restructuring has resulted in a stronger balance sheet enabling the company to focus on capturing the tremendous growth potential in the Indian Wind Energy sector. Swapnil Jain, CFO, said the company has reduced its fixed cost steeply and has brought down the interest costs by more than 70 percent.

Growth potential of Indian Wind Energy sector

Acts & Schemes – Centre, Agro chems – Fertilizers

The project is expected to save on foreign exchange and also create jobs

The global lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to fore India’s over reliance on exports from other countries and especially from China after border tensions have heightened in the recent weeks. The government’s Make in India initiative has received a major boost with PM Modi’s call to make the country self reliant (Atma Nirbhar Bharat).

This agenda was central to the meeting Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Sadananda Gowda had with Nirlep Singh Rai, the CEO of Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemicals limited (RFCL) to review the progress of construction works of the project.

The Minister was apprised of the near completion status of the project and he expressed hope that it will be ready for commercial production by October this year. RFCL will be a gas based urea producing unit of 12.7 Lakh MT per annum capacity at Ramagundam, Telangana. After commissioning, Ramagundam project along with other revival projects at Gorakhpur, Barauni, Sindri and Talcher will reduce the need for urea import by 63.5 LMT per annum. The RFCL project is thus expected to save on foreign exchange and also create jobs.

The Government of India had announced New Investment Policy (NIP), 2012 to facilitate fresh investment in the urea sector and to make India self-sufficient in the urea sector.

Five as yet shut down fertilizer plants, including Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL), Talcher Fertilizers Limited (TFL), Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (Gorakhpur, Barauni and Sindri), will be revived further bolstering the industry and helping
the farmers in these areas.

The project is expected to save on

Acquaculture, Acts & Schemes – Centre

It will inform and educate fish farmers about the latest developments in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. 

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Giriraj Singh launched the first edition of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Newsletter “MATSYA SAMPADA” published by the Department of Fisheries, Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India. Operational Guidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) were also released by the minister.

 Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Dr Rajeev Ranjan, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Government of India and senior officers of the Department of Fisheries were present on this occasion.

The Newsletter “MATSYA SAMPADA” is an outcome of the endeavours of the Department of Fisheries to reach out to the stakeholders especially fishers and fish farmers through various means of communication, and to inform and educate them about the latest developments in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. It would be published on a quarterly basis starting from the first quarter of the year 2020-21.

Speaking on the occasion, Giriraj Singh, said, “The launch of this newsletter is timely and much needed to communicate the governmental initiatives in fisheries sector including the good works being done both by government as well as the private sector. The newsletter would serve as an important medium for disseminating information among the stakeholders especially fishers, fish farmers, youth and entrepreneurs across the country, assist them and facilitate in ease of doing business. He expressed confidence that the newsletter will prove to be a wonderful platform for communication.

He expressed optimism that the PMMSY with diverse interventions along the fisheries value chain would revolutionize the fisheries and aquaculture sector and steer it to the next level.  While appreciating the efforts of the Department of Fisheries in fast tacking and rolling out the Operational Guidelines of PMMSY in a short span of time, the Union Minister expressed hope that the Operational Guidelines would help the States/UTs in speedy implementation of the scheme.

About PMMSY

The Government of India in May, 2020 launched a new Flagship Scheme i.e. the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for sustainable and responsible development of fisheries sector at an investment of Rs. 20050 crore. The PMMSY with an array of 100 diverse activities is by far the largest ever investment in fisheries sector. Achieving the ambitious targets under PMMSY of an additional 70 lakh tons fish production, rupees one lakh crores fisheries exports, generation of 55 lakh employment over next five years, etc. require multipronged strategies along with collaborative and concerted efforts between the government and the stakeholders. The Newsletter “MATSYA SAMPADA” is likely to serve as an effective tool and platform in disseminating the intent and initiatives of PMMSY for crystalizing public opinion in the collective effort towards reaching the envisaged goals. It would also enable to showcase the best practices in fisheries and aquaculture undertaken by the fishers, fish farmers and entrepreneurs including the latest developments and success stories.

It will inform and educate fish farmers

Agro chems – Pesticides, E-commerce, R&D

It will help AgBiome for harnessing the power of the plant microbiome to create new, efficacious products.  

 

 

 AgBiome announced a recent patent directed toward the Connate product line granted in the United States, further strengthening AgBiome’s IP Protection around novel product offerings. Connate products, currently in development, have the same biological component such as Howler fungicide with the addition of a synthetic chemistry. Connate products aim to meet the grower demands for effective products while reducing the amount of chemical residues on the plant. 

“Microbiomes hold the solutions to many problems facing agriculture and food production. AgBiome has addressed these issues by assembling an extensive, continuously growing microbial collection, data science infrastructure, and screening platform, GENESIS, from which we discover and develop our innovative crop protection biological products,” Eric Ward, co-founder of AgBiome says. “This most recent patent toward the Connate product line reinforces AgBiome’s focus on harnessing the power of the plant microbiome to create new, efficacious products.”

 AgBiome’s patent estate provides protection throughout the depth of the AgBiome crop protection R&D pipeline. As the pipeline identifies novel bacterial strains that possess fungicidal, insecticidal, and/or nematicidal activity, AgBiome continues to file patent applications to protect these valuable assets. To date, AgBiome has 264 pending U.S. and international patent applications, with 28 issued or granted US or foreign patents. 

Howler fungicide is an effective, EPA-approved biological fungicide and is the first commercial product to come out of the robust AgBiome crop protection pipeline.  AgBiome is enjoying significant success pursuing patent protection on its commercial offerings, with 12 granted U.S. patents and six international patents protecting Howler fungicide and/or the Connate product line and additional patent applications pending. 

GENESIS unlocks the potential of microbes in a systematic and targeted manner to identify the best candidates for advancement in our biological crop protection product pipelines. Key components of this platform include our robust laboratory screens, cutting-edge data science capabilities, and ever-expanding database of genomic sequences. Real-time integration of data throughout the platform provides immediate insight, allowing us to make data-driven decisions informed by genomic information and performance. With GENESIS, we are able to uncover novel biological activity and subsequently prioritize screening of related microbes within our collection, quickly pointing us to more potent product candidates. One U.S. patent has been issued that covers aspects of the GENESIS platform.

 

 

It will help AgBiome for harnessing the

Agro chems – Pesticides, North America, R&D

The herbicide controls invasive weed species on rangeland, CRP land and natural areas 

 

 

The Vegetation Management business within Bayer CropScience LP, announces that Rejuvra™ herbicide was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The herbicide is federally registered for controlling invasive weed species on rangeland, CRP land and natural areas, including grazed areas on these sites. 

Rejuvra is a pre-emergent herbicide and restoration tool that is showing consistent multi-year control of invasive annual grasses like cheatgrass-downy brome, medusahead and ventenata. With just one application, Rejuvra stops the need for yearly applications that only combat the symptom, not the problem of controlling the weed seed bank.

By controlling invasive annual grasses, remnant desirable perennial grasses and forbs can recolonize. Forage quantity and quality is improved and wildfire risk is reduced. Trial work across the western United States showed that areas treated with Rejuvra demonstrated a two-to-three-fold increase in perennial grass biomass, compared to untreated areas. A single pre-emergent application of Rejuvra provides consistent multi-year control of invasive annual grasses, reducing costs associated with time and labor. 

“We are excited that Rejuvra herbicide has received approval from the EPA,” said Bayer Head of Vegetation Management Marketing, North America, Tiffany Fremder. “We are thrilled to provide ranchers and rangeland managers with an economical solution for multi-year invasive annual grass control that results in weed seed bank depletion and increased perennial grass and forb forage production.”

 

 

The herbicide controls invasive weed species

E-commerce, Machinery – Post-harvesting

The latest in a series of shipments consists of agricultural machinery from Case IH and New Holland to support Uzbekistan’s agricultural sector 

 

 

CNH Industrial’s global agriculture and construction equipment brands Case IH, CASE Construction Equipment and New Holland Agriculture are in the process of executing an important delivery during these exceptional times. 

From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, CNH Industrial and its brands have found innovative solutions to overcome unprecedented challenges in order to deliver mission critical equipment the world over. The latest in a series of shipments consists of agricultural machinery from Case IH and New Holland and construction equipment from CASE Construction Equipment to support Uzbekistan’s agricultural sector, specifically cotton, the country’s principal cash crop, with delivery to one of its largest producers. The Company has been working with the nation’s key cotton harvesting players since 2018. 

Together, CNH Industrial’s brands offer global leadership in cotton harvesting with a full-line mechanized product portfolio to serve this sector in every stage from ploughing to planting, cultivating to harvesting and residue management. The order includes the following units: 120 Case IH Puma tractors made in Saint Valentin, Austria; 23 Case IH Axial-Flow 4088 combine harvesters with header attachments and 40 New Holland BC5070 balers, all produced in Harbin, China; 46 Case IH Cotton Express cotton pickers manufactured in Benson, USA; 120 plows from New Holland produced in Överum, Sweden; 10 backhoe loaders from the CASE brand, manufactured in Lecce, Italy; and CASE-branded pneumatic hammers. Financing for this order is provided by CNH Industrial Capital, the Company’s global financial services business supporting customers and dealers. 

Given the international scope of the order and the context of the delivery in the midst of a global pandemic, the Company is working with a number of partners to realize transportation based on co-modality, incorporating a mix of transport modes for the most optimal and sustainable approach to getting the equipment to its final destination. All of this ensures timely delivery to the end customer to enable them to make full use of the equipment for the cotton harvesting season, and in some cases for the successive grain harvest. 

Throughout the pandemic, CNH Industrial has continued to support its global dealer network and to maintain aftermarket services. Today, the majority of CNH Industrial’s 67 global plants have reopened.

The latest in a series of shipments