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Agro chems – Pesticides, North America, R&D

Fire blight pathogen in Pears to be tackled with DNA markers

The United States’ pear production is mainly susceptible to storm damage, climate change, and disease, particularly fire blight. These conditions caused pear producers in Washington State to lose nearly 70,000 tons of their crop last year alone. According to Nahla Bassil, plant geneticist, and Joseph Postman, pear curator, at the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) in Corvallis, Oregon, developing superior new rootstocks is the number one research priority of the US pear industry.

Their research team includes Jason Zurn, a postdoctoral researcher and Barbara Gilmore, crop manager. Bassil’s research focuses on developing DNA markers that enable diagnosing host-plant resistance to the fire blight pathogen in breeding material, resulting in new cultivars that are resistant to the most devastating disease of pears worldwide.

“The USDA world pear collection in Corvallis contains many species and varieties that are potentially better rootstocks or have unique genetic characteristics that are not found in commonly grown varieties,” Bassil said. “Genetic solutions for production problems are economical and efficient in the long run, but there are challenges to identifying new genetic materials with the needed traits.”



Fire blight pathogen in Pears to be

Agrotech, E-commerce

ClearBlade deployed its Smart Agriculture Solution across the farm for rich telemetrics

ClearBlade, the industry-leading IoT Edge application software company based out in Texas, and Trilogy Networks a groundbreaking rural Edge networking company has announced the delivery of Phase 1 of the Farm of the Future deployment with the Rural Cloud Initiative. Together the companies have partnered to provide an out of the box Smart Agriculture Monitoring solution that is rapidly deployable into farms for immediate remote visibility.

On October 1, 2020, under Trilogy’s leadership, seven partner companies officially delivered phase 1 the farm of the future including a fully deployed private LTE network, edge as a service, and real-time IoT asset monitoring. This success represents great news for rural industries needing to leverage powerful advanced technologies to optimize their business. As part of this delivery, ClearBlade deployed its Smart Agriculture Solution across the farm for rich telemetrics.

This powerful solution is available as a rapidly deployed and easily customized ClearBlade bundle offering that includes sensors, edge gateway, and packaged software. Farms are able to immediately see the conditions impacting their farm and are able to buy these capabilities in an affordable low-cost monthly subscription. The data is displayed via a clear web-based display and customizable via a simple no-code interface designed for the operational farmer.

While it is still early in the deployment the expectation on the results is high. With remote visibility of conditions and automated control of equipment, this automation and visibility across the state of the farm are expected to produce a 10% improvement in yields.

ClearBlade deployed its Smart Agriculture Solution across

Agro Universities, Foodgrains, Poultry

Biofortified maize supplies higher levels of Tryptophan and Lysine

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR) has recommended the use of Ladhowal biofortified varieties of maize to serve as an excellent source of balanced feed to poultry and piggery industry. It, also,  helps in attaining higher body weight gain and less feed requirement for the livestock.

Biofortified varieties of maize have considerably higher amounts of Lysine (3.03%) and Tryptophan (0.73%), in comparison with popular hybrids already cultivated which have 1.5-2.0%  Lysine and 0.3%-0.4% Tryptophan content.

 

Biofortified maize supplies higher levels of Tryptophan

AgroPolicy, Trade

India exports tomato, onion and okra to Bhutan

Recently, a significant achievement has been registered in bilateral trade relations between India & Bhutan according a press release. Close coordination between the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, the Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA), Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Royal Government of Bhutan and Embassy of India in Bhutan has resulted in notification, opening market access for Apple, Potato, Mandarin, Ginger and Arecanut from Bhutan to India and Tomato, Onion and Okra from India to Bhutan.

India exports tomato, onion and okra to

Acquaculture, North America, R&D

To reduce the need for traditionally used fishmeals

Scientists of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USA and their collaborators have discovered that fish such as Yellow perch love the fish pellets made with a protein concentrate derived from alfalfa’s protein-rich leaves. They’re experimenting with alfalfa as part of a broader effort to find suitable alternatives to using fishmeal, a protein-rich ingredient in aquaculture feeds given to ‘farm-raised’ finfish and shellfish.

 Aquaculture is the fastest-growing sector of the food industry worldwide, generating $1.37 billion in sales, in the United States alone. However, there’s concern that increasing consumer demand for aquaculture products will outpace what the ocean’s wild-caught stock of sardine, anchovy, menhaden and other small forage fish can supply as a fishmeal resource for aquafeeds.

According to Deborah Samac, who leads the ARS Plant Science Research Unit in St Paul, Minnesota, “Formulating aquafeeds with plant-based proteins could help lessen the need for fishmeal in aquafeeds, reducing aquaculture’s impact on aquatic natural resources. Using nutritious, affordable alternatives to fishmeal could also ease the burden on pelagic fish populations, which are important members of the marine ecosystem and its inhabitants, particularly larger predatory species”.

To reduce the need for traditionally used

E-commerce, Logistics

The first ever block train product to Georgia caters for local import needs and offers significant transit time benefits compared to ocean shipping. 

Maersk’s intercontinental rail product portfolio expands, with the recent introduction of a block train solution connecting China and Georgia, the first such product developed specifically for the needs of Georgian imports. On 4th October 2020, the first train from Xi’an (Shaanxi province), China arrived in Tbilisi, inaugurating the new rail connection, which compliments Maersk’s current coverage of the Caucasian republics (Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia), based on Ocean shipping products.

 

“We are extremely happy to manage the first ever block train shipment under a product based entirely on intercontinental rail. We arranged this special service specifically for Georgian customers, and we plan to develop block train solutions for the whole Caucasus Region”, comments Irakli Danelia, Georgia Commercial Representative at A.P. Moller – Maersk.

In addition to providing yet another connection between Asia and Europe, further expansion of the product will also strengthen Georgia’s role in the New Silk Road development. Xi’an has traditionally been the starting point of the Silk Road, the land routes connecting East and West for over thousand years.

 

“We look forward to seeing the first block train shipment under Maersk’s intercontinental rail (ICR) product help Georgia and this corridor in becoming a connecting bridge between Europe and Asia”, adds Irakli Danelia. 

“Block train is a very important part in Maersk’s intercontinental rail service portfolio. We have made huge progress during the past years and the service has been extended to 18 corridors in 9 countries. We are seeing increasing demand for this cost-efficient, environmentally friendly mode of transportation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, with which we help our customers optimise their supply chains with resilient logistics solutions”, shares Nora Lin, Head of Logistics Products, Greater China at Maersk. 

The first China-Georgia block train left Xi’an on September 10th, 2020 and arrived in Tbilisi on October 4th with 41 containers on board.

The first ever block train product to

Agrotech

World Food Prize recognizes Rattan Lal for his innovative soil-saving techniques 

Rattan Lal was awarded the 2020 World Food Prize in a virtual award ceremony. The annual Laureate Award Ceremony rivals that of the Nobel Prize, often drawing over 800 people from more than 50 countries and is traditionally held in the Iowa State Capitol building. This year, due to the global pandemic, this event and the rest of the annual World Food Prize Week is being conducted virtually. 

The 2020 World Food Prize was formally awarded to Rattan Lal of India and the United States during a ceremony which took place during the 2020 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium. This year, the theme is, “Breaking New Ground: Building Resilience Today for Improved Global Food Systems Tomorrow.”

 

“The 2020 World Food Prize award to me is recognition of the importance of protecting and restoring health of the finite and fragile soil resources through sequestration of soil organic carbon by adoption of conservation-effective measures,” says Lal. 

Over his career spanning more than five decades and four continents, Lal has promoted innovative soil-saving techniques benefiting the livelihoods of more than 500 million smallholder farmers, improving the food and nutritional security of more than two billion people and saving hundreds of millions of hectares of natural tropical ecosystems.

 

Lal was announced as the recipient of the Prize on June 11, 2020. He was awarded the Prize for developing and mainstreaming a soil-centric approach to increasing food production that conserves natural resources and mitigates climate change.

World Food Prize recognizes Rattan Lal for

AgroPolicy, Webinar

Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture in his special address appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture for organising the ‘4th Indian Agricultural Outlook Forum 2020’ at this crucial time

Two-day ‘4th India Agricultural Outlook Forum 2020’ webinar has started in Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi. Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture in his special address appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture for organising the ‘4th Indian Agricultural Outlook Forum 2020’ at this crucial time. He mentioned how the agriculture sector has emerged as the star performer in India’s pandemic-hit economy. He also congratulated every farmer, every stakeholder and the central and state Governments for their appreciable commitment to the agriculture sector which recorded a 3.4 per cent growth during the first quarter of 2020-21. He expressed confidence that the Forum’s deliberations would bring out more clarity on global developmental issues and the objective of transforming agriculture into farmers’ welfare and prosperity while maintaining quality of natural resources.

Lauding the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare during these challenging times, Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary (DAC&FW) briefed about the key agricultural reforms initiated during the last few months. He talked about the seriousness of the government for transforming farmers into entrepreneurs. Discussing the outlook for 2020, he maintained a great outlook for agriculture sector for the current agricultural year with record sowing level and focus on pulses and oilseeds. 

The main topics for discussion during the forum are: current national and international agricultural economic situation dictated by the pandemic and the way in which India and the world struggled to keep their economies going by minimising the adverse impacts; game-changer farm sector initiatives; converging Indian agriculture with global commitments on sustainable and inclusive farm growth; decoding agri-tech potential; exploring new channels for rationalising cost structure of Govt procurement agencies; and capacity building for employment opportunities.

The forum is being virtually attended by the officials from centre and state governments, national and international agriculture research institutes; Chief Economist USDA;  delegation from foreign embassies; International organisations like FAO, EU and OECD; scientists from ICAR, representatives from agro-industries, business and farmers associations.

Source: PIB

Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for

Agrotech, Finance, World

Lack of laborers, increased need for improved yield, and disruption in farm operations have increased the demand for smart agriculture.

As per the report by Allied Market Research (AMR), the global smart agriculture industry was pegged at $16.74 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $29.23 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.7% from 2021 to 2027.

 

Sustainably increase in agricultural productivity, climate change, and ease of crop monitoring and harvesting have boosted the growth of the global market. However, lack of skilled workforce to operate smart agriculture technologies and high investment costs to deploy expensive systems hamper the market. On the contrary, surge in adoption of vertical farming and rise in public-private partnerships are expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market players in the coming years.

 

Increase in the demand due to Covid 19

Lack of laborers, increased need for improved yield, and disruption in farm operations due to regulations regarding social distancing have increased the demand for smart agriculture.

 The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged digitization of farms and integrating internet of things (IoT) in farm activities to maintain the health of crops and monitor livestock without involving labors. 

By type, the precision farming segment held the largest share in 2019, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global smart agriculture market, due to increasing revolution of technology in the field of precision farming and benefits of precision farming from service and product perspective. However, the greenhouse segment is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 12.4% during the forecast period, owing to benefits of smart greenhouse such as maintaining a micro-climate environment for cops, minimizing manual intervention, and optimizing the yielding process. 

By component, the service segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 11.1% during the forecast period, as it helps farmers in decision-making about the next steps to take with their farm operation and use data gathered by sensors for better crop production with low cost. However, the solution segment held the largest share in 2019, contributing to nearly three-fifths of the global smart agriculture market, as it helps in enhancing the yield production by doing monitoring of water quality, nutrient & mineral quality. 

By region, the market across North America is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 12.1% during the forecast period, due to surge in population, improved lifestyle across the region, and technological advancements in crop production. However, the global smart agriculture market across Asia-Pacific held the largest share in 2019, accounting for more than one-third of the market, owing to surge in adoption of smart agriculture and rise in disposable income to invest in farming in the region.

 

Lack of laborers, increased need for improved

Dairy, Europe, R&D, Start ups

Lely Horizon replaces the current Lely T4C management system

Maassluis, Netherlands based Lely introduces a new application for dairy automation which connects data from all relevant equipment and suppliers on the farm in one management system. Called Lely Horizon, the new farm management application is a real decision-support platform, which analyses data, offers insights and gives proactive advice to make the farmer’s life easier, the herd healthier and the farm more profitable.

Freddie Ruijs, Senior Product Manager Management Systems & Data at Lely, explains, “In an ever-changing world where ‘data’ and ‘digitalization’ are key, the dairy farm cannot be left behind. At Lely we feel that it is time to use all available relevant data in an intelligent way. It connects equipment and suppliers on the farm, using smart algorithms and the power of the cloud”.

He added that the data is processed into actionable information that is always accessible on any device in a user-friendly way. The application provides farmers with the tools to work more efficiently and offers them more control, to help them achieve their goals.

The application elevates data to forecast performances and offers the farmer clear choices. For instance, it clearly indicates ketosis-suspected cows at an early stage and early treatment directly prevents losses. Horizon also provides fact-based decision support on whether to inseminate or not.

Lely Horizon replaces the current Lely T4C

Agro Universities, Webinar

Pushes for research collaborations in Indian agri ecosystem

The recently held  Vaishwik Bharatiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) Summit recommended development of a strong research collaborative network within India and international labs for developing microbial technologies for Indian agriculture, as per a press release issued by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI).

The Summit is a collaborative initiative by Science and Technology and Academic Organizations of India to enable deliberations on thought process, practices and R & D culture with a problem-solving approach and forge collaborations. In this pursuit, the session on ‘Microbial Resources for Sustainable Agriculture’, was conducted on October 10, 2020.

It explored the scientific and technological gaps for harnessing the microbial resources for sustainable agriculture, with regard to livestock and fisheries sector to achieve national food and nutrition security and employment. The technological options, opportunities and collaborative needs were also discussed.

The major recommendations of the session were to initiate research collaborations to develop Centers of Excellence in Microbial Resource Technologies, Microbiome initiative in Indian agri ecosystem, inclusion of microbiological indices in soil health card in tiered fashion and Skill development and capacity building for enhancing the research quotient in serving the farming community.




 

 

Pushes for research collaborations in Indian agri

Agrotech, E-commerce

Every fruit to have a QR code tracing the farmer, source and journey of the fruit 

INI Farms, India’s leading farm to home ag-tech fruit brand announced its entry into e-commerce through the launch of its website, ‘Kimaye.com’. The company will now deliver its range of fresh fruit products directly from the farm to the consumer’s doorsteps across pin codes in Mumbai. Kimaye is also offering free shipping and same-day delivery services for its products. 

The company offers a product range that includes fresh fruits such as Pomegranates, Bananas, Blueberries, Kiwis, Grapes, Apples, Pears, as well as ready-to-eat fresh cuts range and fruit combos. All Kimaye products go through multiple quality checks that adhere to global standards, integrated into a contamination-free supply chain that ensures minimum handling and maximum hygiene. Each Kimaye fruit also carries a dynamic QR code sticker that consumers can scan with their smartphones, allowing them to track the product from farm to home, enabling 100 per cent  transparency for the products.

Speaking on the launch of Kimaye’s online platform, Pankaj Khandelwal, Chairman and Managing Director, INI Farms said “We are delighted to foray into e-commerce with Kimaye’s dedicated online platform. Given the situation we are in today, people are increasingly becoming conscious of their health and the safety of the food they consume.  At INI Farms, our aim is to provide fruits that meet international safety standards to the customers in India, now from the comfort of their homes. We believe in being transparent about our best practices at every stage of growing, sourcing, packaging, and delivery, to ensure that we continue to build our customer’s trust in Kimaye fruits.”

INI Farms will continue to grow its footprint in India through expansion of its e-commerce operations in more cities and pin codes in the coming months, as well as increase its product portfolio. 

Recently, INI Farms rolled out a QR code based origin traceability feature for all its fruits in the international and domestic market under the technology program called “FruitRoute”.

The company follows the most stringent global environmental and health norms such as Global G.A.P, by controlling use of pesticides and chemicals, making it among the most reliable and consistent suppliers of good quality bananas and pomegranates from India.

 

 

Every fruit to have a QR code

Agro Universities, Organic, R&D

It has been developed with the funding support from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Govt of India

A pilot ‘Aquaponics facility’ developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Mohali at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary University (GADVASU), Ludhiana was inaugurated by Sanjay Dhotre, Union Minister of State for Education, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Government of Indiavirtually from C-DAC, Mohali. Dhotre suggested that many more such projects should be taken up to rapidly percolate such technologies in the masses.

The state-of-the-art facility, that is the first of its kind in region, is equipped with advanced sensors for monitoring and automated controls. It has been developed with the funding support from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Govt of India. Speaking on the occasion, Dr P K Khosla, Executive Director, C-DAC, Mohali informed the facility is nearly 100 per cent organic, need much less land for a give yield of crop, consumes 90 per cent less water, the fish and plants so grown are more nutritious.

Dr Hemant Darbari, Director General, C-DAC informed about various activities of C-DAC in the area of agriculture and appreciated the efforts by C-DAC, Mohali. Jyoti Arora, Special Secretary, Finance Adviser, Ministry of Electronics and IT, Govt of India, talked about the importance of agriculture in Indian economy and the need for the technology to further work for up-lifting the agriculture. Arora who was Guest of Honour stated that the aspirational rural youth will be drawn in main stream with help of this technology and agri-economy will get a boost.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Inderjeet Singh, Vice Chancellor, GADVASU University mentioned that demand for fishes and such crops is increasing rapidly in urban areas and this type of systems should be very helpful in increasing the farmer’s income, especially in non-coastal areas.

It has been developed with the funding

Acts & Schemes – Centre, Australia, India, Water

To help achieve water security for agricultural activities

The Union Cabinet on October 14, 2020, approved a MoU between India and Australia for collaboration in capacity building, research and development and making impact for sustainable groundwater management.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister,  Narendra Modi was apprised of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga rejuvenation, India and Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater use through village-level intervention (MARVI) PARTNERS, Australia in  October, 2019, according to a press release.

The MoU has been signed to promote cooperation in surface and groundwater training, education and research to achieve water security for agricultural, urban, industrial and environmental purposes.

 

To help achieve water security for agricultural