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Agrotech, E-commerce, North America

The new Colorado facility will generate approximately 60 jobs for the local community

Kalera (KALERA), one of the fastest-growing vertical farming companies in the United States, has recently announced that it will open its newest facility in Colorado in 2021. The Denver-area facility further establishes Kalera as a leading producer of vertically-grown greens across North America. The announcement is the latest step in Kalera’s rapid domestic and international expansion plan to grow fresh, clean and nutritious leafy greens in close proximity to urban centers.

Kalera currently operates two growing facilities in Orlando, and is constructing facilities in Atlanta and Houston which will open in early 2021. The new Colorado facility will generate approximately 60 jobs for the local community.

By the end of 2021, Kalera will have five commercial growing facilities open and operating across the US.

The company’s major milestones include:

  • Its first commercial vertical farm, the HyCube growing center, currently operates on the premises of the Orlando World Center Marriott, bringing fresh, local produce to the hotel’s visitors and customers.
  • In March 2020, Kalera opened its second facility in Orlando, providing produce to the area’s top retailers, leading foodservice distributors, resorts, hospitality groups, and theme parks.
  • The Atlanta facility is the third farm in Kalera’s portfolio and when it opens early next year, will be the largest vertical farm in the Southeast.
  • Its fourth facility is slated to open in Houston spring 2021 and will be the largest of its kind in Texas.

Kalera utilizes cleanroom technology and processes to eliminate the use of chemicals and remove exposure to pathogens. Kalera’s plants grow while consuming 95% less water compared to field farming.

The new Colorado facility will generate approximately

E-commerce, Finance, Machinery – Post-harvesting

Domestic sales grew 51.4 % to 16,000 units in September 2020 

Sonalika Tractors has reported a 46 per cent year-on-year jump in overall tractor sales to 17,704 units, including exports, for September, according to a release.

 

While domestic sales grew 51.4 per cent to 16,000 units in September 2020 as compared with 10,571 units in the year-ago month, exports rose 9.8 per cent to 1,704 units as against 1,552 units a year ago, the company said in the release .

 

The Hoshiarpur-based tractor manufacturer also sold 6,400 units of implements during the month, registering a 135 per cent growth over September 2019, it added. 

The industry sales growth for both tractors and implements during the previous month stood at 28 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. “Sonalika Tractors outperformed the industry in sales during September,” it added 

The cumulative tractor sales in the first half (April-September) of the financial year 2020-21 stood at 63,561 tractors, which was the highest-ever half yearly sales for the company, it said in release. 

Besides, with 26,530 units of implements sold in April-September 2020, it crossed 2019-20 sales in just six months, the company said.

“We at Sonalika have registered 17,704 overall tractor sales in September 2020, breaking all our previous monthly records and marking the highest-ever sales in a month,” said Sonalika Group Executive Director Raman Mittal

He added that the company’s cumulative sales during April-September 2020 stood at 63,561 tractors, which is also the highest-ever half-yearly tractor sales.

Mittal said the recently lauched next-gen products — Tiger, Sikander DLX, Mahabali and Chattrapati — have contributed significantly in Sonalika Tractors’ phenomenal growth during the pre-season time and even during the pandemic

He also added that we are buoyant about the upcoming festive season and expect the farmer’s sentiments to remain positive.

Source- PTI

Domestic sales grew 51.4 % to 16,000

Acquaculture, Agro Universities, R&D

Phage therapy is a safe alternative to tackle the antimicrobial resistance

Central Institute of Agricultural Research-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIBA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with M/s Salem Microbes Private Limited, Salem, Tamil Nadu on  September 18, 2020 for production and marketing of a phage based product developed by the Aquatic Animal Health and Environment Division (AAHED) of CIBA, Chennai.  

 

The phage product is effective for the biocontrol of bacterial diseases in shrimp hatchery settings. ‘Bacteriophages’ also called ‘phages’ in short, are viruses that infect and kill only specific disease causing bacteria, and are an alternative to antibiotics as therapeutic agents in controlling bacterial infections.

 

Bacteriophages and their lytic enzymes have been used for therapy of bacterial infections in humans and animals, as biocontrol agents for food protection, diagnostics and also as tools in molecular biology. Bacteriophage therapy has advantages of being specific to their host bacteria, harmless to other microflora and fauna, and don’t have residual issues as in the case of antibiotics. 

 

Dr K K Vijayan, Director, CIBA, highlighted on the novelty of the phage technology of CIBA , which comprises of a ‘cocktail of phages’ that can neutralize a wide range of specific pathogenic bacteria in the hatchery settings, thus helping prevention and control of bacterial diseases, replacing the use of antibiotics, which pose  the concern of residues and antimicrobial resistance. 

Phage therapy is a safe alternative to

Environment, India, Sustainable Energy

EoIs for 20 GW of module and cell manufacturing issued

NITI Aayog, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), and Invest India organized a symposium on solar Photovoltaics (PV) manufacturing, ’India PV Edge-2020, on October 6, 2020 to inform the global PV industry of opportunities in India.

Agriculture activity requires reliable and contant supply for mechnanised farming and for irrigation. Solar energy could be viable and cost effective option for Indian farmers to adopt, reducing the overall burden on them and on Electricity Distribution Companies.

Addressing the ‘Plenary Session’, R K Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), ministries of Power and New and Renewable Energy, said, “India has the fastest-growing renewable energy capacity addition in the world and the power demand has been witnessing continuous growth. Renewables are supplementing electricity supply to a significant extent. Under the leadership of  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is committed to transition to clean energy.

In addition to the vision of 450 GW installed renewables capacity by 2030, India has a plan not only for grid-connected solar and renewables, but also an ambitious vision for mobility, followed by electricity-based cooking. As a result of the government’s measures to achieve Aatmanirbhar Bharat, already EoIs for 20 GW of module and cell manufacturing have been issued. India will continue to be the fastest and largest-growing market for investment in renewables.”

 

EoIs for 20 GW of module and

Agro Universities, R&D

The device can detect the plant diseases using camera and image analysis 

   The Govt of India has been taking several measures and a significant drive towards this end is the multi-body project “Development of autonomous multipurpose agricultural robotic platform” funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and run by C-DAC Kolkata as the nodal implementing institute along with IIT Kharagpur, BAU Ranchi and KCT Coimbatore. Under this project, IIT Kharagpur has designed a robotic system capable of identifying the plant diseases (say vegetables, maize etc.) through the camera-captured image analysis and spraying the appropriate pesticide, as the situation demands.

The robotic system is a tracked mobile manipulator that aims to achieve the conflicting objectives of increased productivity, improved quality. This robotic system consists of (i) a tracked vehicle suitable for negotiating rough terrain field, (ii) a serial manipulator mounted on the tracked vehicle capable of holding the camera and pesticide spraying nozzle, (iii) a pesticide spraying module, (iv) Camera-based vision module.

Prof. D K Pratihar, from the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering who is leading this innovative project said, “Our device can detect the plant diseases using camera and image analysis thus model the uncertainty associated with the human vision system and consequently remove it. This will help the farmers to detect the disease(s) correctly. Further use of such a device instead of manual operation of spraying pesticide will protect the farmers from related probable health hazards.”

Talking about the potential of such technologies Director, Prof. V K Tewari, who himself is an expert in farm machinery design and precision agriculture said, “The Government of India is giving a major boost to innovative rural livelihood technologies. In May 2020, the Finance Ministry had announced an economic stimulus of ₹1.5 trillion to boost agricultural infrastructure and logistics.”

The device has been fabricated by Sun Fab Industries Pvt. Limited, Mumbai (in collaboration with TECHNIDO). “The serial manipulator will have sufficient dexterous workspace making it capable of spraying the pesticides from the top, bottom and various sides of the plant, which may be difficult to achieve utilizing the widely used drones,” said Prof. Alok Kanti Deb from the Dept of Electrical Engineering.

The developed robotic system is battery-driven one and once it is fully charged, it will be able to perform its duty in the field for about two hours. The robot will be operated remotely using buttons placed on a control panel and thus, a specialist technician may not be required for operating the robot in the field. “We will soon resume the final assembly of the robotic system and field testing as we are recovering from the present COVID-situation. We have further plans in the future to make this robot autonomous and intelligent,” confirmed Prof. Pratihar.

Source- IIT Kharagpur

The device can detect the plant diseases

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

It controls the toughest weeds like water hemp, Palmer amaranth and common ragweed

 Corteva Agriscience announced that it has launched Kyber herbicide for the 2021 season. The new crop protection product is a pre-emergence soybean herbicide with three effective modes of action, including a Group 15 active ingredient. Kyber herbicide is an excellent addition to a program approach for broad-spectrum control of resistant broadleaf and grass weeds.

Kyber herbicide comes in a liquid premix. In addition to a Group 15 mode of action, it also contains active ingredients from Groups 14 and 5. The solution provides strong control of some of the toughest weeds farmers face, including water hemp, Palmer amaranth and common ragweed. Each mode of action in Kyber herbicide controls resistant weeds individually, and combined together, they provide a comprehensive solution. The herbicide also has extensive residual activity, lasting four to six weeks, even going beyond six weeks in the right conditions.

“We’re so excited to announce this product, because there’s clean and then there’s Kyber clean. By beginning a weed control program with Kyber herbicide, growers will be able to start the season clean by controlling weeds from day one,” said Aaron Smith, U.S. Product Manager, Soybean Herbicides, Corteva Agriscience. “The long-lasting residual activity in the solution will protect soybeans during that important, early growth stage until it’s time for a post emergence application. Young soybeans won’t have to compete for sunlight and nutrients with weeds.”

For growers planting Enlist E3 soybeans, Kyber herbicide will fit very well in their weed management plans. Kyber will serve as a strong pre-emergence and can be followed by a planned post-emergence application of Enlist Duo herbicide or a tank mix featuring Enlist One® herbicide. The Enlist technology and Kyber herbicide offer a powerful program approach against troublesome weeds.

Source- Corteva Agriscience

It controls the toughest weeds like water

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agro Universities, Europe

The study revealed that some of these strains are highly aggressive with a cob infestation of 95 to 100 %

Researchers at the University of Göttingen, Germany have recently discovered that one Trichoderma species can cause severe rot in cobs of maize (corn). The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Agronomy.

The massive outbreak of a previously unknown species of Trichoderma on corn cobs in Europe was first detected in Southern Germany in 2018. For this study, the scientists brought maize plants in the greenhouse into contact with Trichoderma by inoculation. They were then able to prove that the dry matter content of the maize cobs is greatly reduced. Annette Pfordt, PhD student at the Department of Crop Sciences of the University of Göttingen analyzed 18 separate Trichoderma strains mainly from maize cobs in Southern Germany and France over two years.  

The study revealed that some of these strains are highly aggressive with a cob infestation of 95 to 100 percent. By means of molecular genetic analyses, these spores could be assigned to the relatively new species Trichoderma afroharzianum. Within this species of fungus, previously unknown plant-pathogenic strains seem to have evolved which are now responsible for this newly discovered disease affecting maize.

In vegetable growing, “Trichoderma agents” can be used, for example, to control diseases such as Botrytis (grey mould) or Fusarium and to reduce rotting pathogens on the crop products. Various organic products containing Trichoderma are available on the market. They are used almost exclusively in organic farming. Trichoderma species belong to the ascomycetes and are found worldwide in the soil, on plant roots, in decaying plant remains and on wood. This is the first time that they have been described as pathogens on plants.

 

The study revealed that some of these

Agro Universities, R&D

Aims to enhance farm productivity

A session entitled ‘Sensors and Sensing for Precision Agriculture’ was organized under ‘Precision Agriculture’ by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) with total of 1019 participant,  including 38 panellists on October 5, 2020, as part of the Vaishwik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) Summit 2020.

This is a Government of India initiative to bring together the thought process, practices, R&D culture of Overseas and Indian scientists/academicians through a series of structured deliberations and constructive dialogue, and develop a road map for translational research/academic culture for tangible output and strengthening the Science & Technology base for providing the impetus to endeavour of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.

A total of 18 verticals have been identified for deliberation of which ‘Agro-economy and Food Security’ deals directly with agriculture with several horizontals. The horizontal on “Precision Agriculture” aims at discussing recent advances in the field of sensors, remote sensing, deep learning, artificial intelligence and IoT for monitoring and quantification of soil, plant and environment to enhance farm productivity with increased input use efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Dr Rabi N Sahoo, ICAR-IARI was Session Coordinator, while Prof M Udayakumar, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru and Dr Alol Sikka, India Water Management Institute, New Delhi were chairs for different themes. Dr Anil Rai, ADG ICT, ICAR was the co-chair of the session.

Aims to enhance farm productivityA session entitled

AgroPolicy, Agrotech

Organised by Indo-Canadian Business Chamber in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry, Ministry of External Affairs of India

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and Food Processing Industries, said that the recently announced initiatives under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi include policy reforms for establishment of One Nation-One Market, contract agriculture with appropriate measures to protect small and marginal farmers, and Rs one lakh crore Agri Infra Fund.

In his inaugural address at the two-day India-Canada Agri-Tech Virtual Seminar organised by the Indo-Canadian Business Chamber (ICBC) in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Ministry of External Affairs of India, Tomar said that India, in particular, during the last six months of the global pandemic crisis has made considerable progressive reforms in the agricultural sector. These include policy reforms for the establishment of One Nation-One market, contract farming along with appropriate measures for the safety and freedom of farmers. India has over 450 start-ups in the agri-tech sector.

Indicating the rapid growth in agri-trade between India and Canada, Tomar said that India is the fifth largest importer of Canadian vegetables and raw agricultural materials and the seventh largest importer of leguminous vegetables, called ‘Vegetarian Protein’.

 Mary-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Government of Canada highlighted the fact that Canada and India have a proud history of strong bilateral trade and collaboration in agriculture, with a vibrant trading relationship in agriculture and agri-food, valued at over $1.5 billion. She went on to point that in India, rapid economic growth is driving new consumer demands and preferences, and Canada can help India meet those demands through scientific and technological expertise in food processing, food safety and transportation infrastructure.

Nadira Hamid, CEO, ICBC said that ICBC will soon be releasing a white paper report mapping the business opportunities between India and Canada in Agriculture and Agri-tech. Nadir Patel, Canadian High Commissioner to India, Ajay Bisaria, Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Dr Alka Bhargava, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, P Harish, Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Salil Singhal, CII National Council Member and other dignitaries were part of the programme.

Source: PIB

Organised by Indo-Canadian Business Chamber in collaboration

Acts & Schemes – Centre

Besides paddy, cotton procurement has also begun from October 1

The Centre on recently stated that 5.73 lakh tonne of paddy worth Rs 1,082.46 crore has been purchased at the minimum support price (MSP) in the last eight days from key growing states like Punjab and Haryana.

Besides paddy, cotton procurement has also begun from October 1. As on September 3, state-run Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has procured a cumulative quantity of 147 bales at Rs 40.80 lakh MSP value benefiting 29 farmers, it said.

“As on September 3, cumulative procurement of paddy in the 2020-21 kharif marketing season is 5,73,339 tonne,” the Food Ministry said in a statement.

Paddy worth Rs 1,082.46 crore has been purchased at MSP from 41,084 farmers so far, it said.

Paddy procurement commenced from September 26 in Punjab and Haryana, while it started on September 28 in other states.

For the current year, the government has fixed the MSP of paddy (common grade) at Rs 1,868 per quintal, while that of A grade variety has been fixed at Rs 1,888 per quintal.

Unlike before, the government is releasing daily procurement data to send a message to farmers protesting against new farm laws that it has no intention of scrapping procurement at MSP.

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana and several other states are protesting against the new farm laws, which they feel will lead to procurement in the hands of corporates and the end of MSP regime.

Besides paddy, cotton procurement has also begun

Agro chems – Fertilizers, R&D

DD Kisan will broadcast 30 minutes programs to educate farmers on new agri practices

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO, world’s largest fertilizer cooperative and Prasar Bharati, India’s largest public broadcasting agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on October 4, 2020, to broadcast and promote new agriculture technology and innovations. The agreement was signed at a program organized in Prthivi Bhavan, New Delhi.

 

Doordarshan (DD) Kisan will broadcast various innovative techniques being adopted in the agriculture field, as per the agreement. A 25 episode series of 30 minutes duration programs, in easy to understand language, are planned for the benefit of farmers. The aim is to make farmers self-reliant or Atmanirbhar in terms of new agriculture techniques and their implementation. The programs will feature IFFCO’s innovations for the farmers’ benefit. 

 

Dr U S Awasthi, Managing Director of IFFCO, said that the cooperative has prepared an alternative of Urea which is nanotechnology based and will help farmers. Such innovations will also help to achieve the target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022.

 

K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India stated that this initiative was a historic step for the betterment of farmers. As IFFCO has innovative technology for farmers and Doordarshan has a wide reach across the country, the partnership is very appropriate and effective.

DD Kisan will broadcast 30 minutes programs

Agro Universities, R&D

With the IGKV’s kit, farmers will be able to test nutritional content of soil on their land.

 The Raipur-based Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV) has developed a portable soil testing kit, which will help farmers determine nutritional content of soil on their land.

The kit received a patent certificate from the Central government last week, following which the university has initiated the process of its commercial production, the official from the university said in release.

 

“The government has been issuing soil health cards to farmers after testing soil from their land, but for this, cultivators have to bring soil samples to the agriculture department’s labs and the entire process takes four to five days,” IGKV’’s public relations officer Sanjay Nayyar said. 

However, with the IGKV’’s kit, farmers will be able to test soil’’s content themselves, he said. 

A team of scientists, led by vice-chancellor Dr S K Patil, had applied for a patent for the kit in 2016 through the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), which the Centre approved last week, he said.

Farmers will be able to check organic nutrients, acidic or alkaline nature of the soil and other nutrients including nitrogen and potash using the kit, the official said.

This will in turn help them fix the quantity of manure and fertiliser needed for different crops. The kit, which will cost Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,500, will comprise chemical solutions, powders, testing equipment and instruction guide, he said.

 

He also added that at least 25 samples can be tested with one kit and in future.Farmers will have to buy only chemical solutions which will cost around Rs 2,000, not the entire kit. We have tied up with a company for its commercial production, which will start soon and kits will be available in the market.

Source- PTI

With the IGKV’s kit, farmers will be

Finance, Start ups

The company will use funding to introduce digital technologies to farmers in India. 

 Noida based agritech startup Unnati announced that it has raised USD 1.7 million (about Rs 12.5 crore) in pre-series A funding from Nabventures Fund to scale up its tech platform and introduce digital technologies to farmers in India. 

The Company will use the funding for setting up more partner stores for selling agri inputs and purchasing produce in Eastern, Central and Western India.  

“Unnati has created a platform to digitalise the major components in the food and agribusiness value chain. The predictive capabilities of the data captured by the platform enhances efficiencies while its transparent processes help in building trust among farmers and FPOs (Farmer’’s Producer Organisations)”, said G R Chintala chairman Nabard and Nabventures in a release.

A subsidiary of Nabard, Nabventures is a venture growth equity fund that invests in agritech, food, agri/rural fintech and rural healthtech/edutech. It has an asset under management of USD 75 billion. Fintech players form association to promote responsible lending practices 

Unnati was founded in 2015, is a tech-enabled platform that provides access to competitively priced inputs to and enables them to access better markets in a fair and transparent manner. It also provides financial services to the farmer besides point-of-purchase farm advisories.

 

 

The company will use funding to introduce

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agro Universities, Europe

The study was published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.

A research team from the University of Göttingen, Germany has recently investigated the relative importance of the use of pesticides, fertilizers and manual pollination in a well-replicated field trial in Indonesian agroforestry systems. The results showed an increase in both cocoa yield and farming income; not by agrochemicals, but by manual pollination. The study was published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.

Cocoa requires cross-pollination by insects to produce fruit. It is unclear how to encourage natural pollination by tiny midges, flies or wasps: The true identity of the main pollinators has yet to be discovered. Under natural conditions, more than 90 percent of flowers are not visited by insects and do not develop fruit. These results clearly show that traditional agricultural intensification with agrochemicals is not always the best way forward.

Working together with colleagues and students of the Indonesian University of Tadulako of Palu, the scientists found that hand pollination increased the yield of cocoa trees by 161 percent. After deducting the costs of manual pollination, this meant a 69 percent increase in income for small-holder farmers. Using more pesticide and fertiliser did not increase yields.

According to author Manuel Toledo-Hernández, PhD student in the Department of Agroecology at the University of Göttingen,”Our results show how agroecological intensification can be successful by promoting biological processes or using innovative techniques such as manual pollination.”

The study was published in the journal