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E-commerce, Finance, Nature

SHAKE funds and trains entrepreneurs and start-ups with innovative solutions to tackle climate change linked to the agri-food sector 

The £3.5 m SHAKE Climate Change Programme has announced its first three ventures to invest in.

Energy from manure, tools for smarter pest management and a yield boosting nanotech are the ideas behind three early stage companies selected by the unique fund. 

SHAKE funds and trains entrepreneurs and start-ups who have innovative solutions to tackle climate change linked to the agri-food sector, which contributes more than a quarter of global emissions. 

SHAKE was set up by a consortium of leading scientific research and academic institutions last year in the wake of the climate emergency, with financial backing from the UK-based charitable arm of a major European bank. 

Professor Angela Karp, interim Director and CEO of the world’s oldest agricultural research institute, Rothamsted Research, co-developed the programme with partners at Cranfield University, UCL (University College London), and the University of Hertfordshire. 

She said, “I’m delighted to be able to announce these successful ventures, and we look forward to working with them, and those that will follow over the coming months and years. They were up against tough competition, but all three of them have displayed great ingenuity in their initial ideas to help reduce the climate impact of food and farming, and they have taken really well to the training and mentorship we have provided so far.”

The successful companies, who each receive £140k plus two years of dedicated mentoring and support, are:

EcoNomad Solutions (London) help small farms to improve resource management sustainability and agricultural waste recycling. Their proprietary technology includes biogas and nutrient recovery systems suitable for even the smallest of smallholders.

 

Glaia Ltd (Bristol) develop nanotechnology-based solutions for sustainable agriculture. Their first family of products, the sugar-dots, increase crop yields, reducing carbon inputs, and allowing crops to be farmed outside their traditional growing regions.

 

PheroSyn Ltd (Herts) whose mission is to scale up the production of and make available pest insect pheromones that can be deployed to protect crops and reduce the use of pesticides. This will also reduce fossil fuel consumption linked to pesticide production and subsequent on-farm applications. Their first products are designed to lure midges that attack wheat, peas and pears away from these crops.

 

SHAKE funds and trains entrepreneurs and start-ups

Agro chems – Fertilizers, E-commerce

 In the month of June, 2020, the company sold 5.30 LMT of fertilizers,compared to 4.59 LMT sold in the same month previous year. 

National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) has achieved highest-ever fertilizer sale of 12.85 Lakh MT in first quarter (April-June) of this financial year. This is about 21.5% higher than the sales of 10.57 LMT made by company in the first quarter of 2019-20.

Other than significant growth in Urea sale, P&K fertilizers also recorded a growth of 13% during the quarter. In the month of June, 2020, the company sold 5.30 LMT of fertilizers, up by 15.5% than the 4.59 LMT sold in the same month previous year. 

Shares of National Fertilizers Ltd. was last trading in BSE at Rs.30.8 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 31.6. The total number of shares traded during the day was 48493 in over 395 trades.

The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 32.1 and intraday low of 30.6. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 1504342. 

About National Fertilizers Limited (NFL):

NFL is engaged in producing and marketing urea, neem coated urea, bio-fertilizers (solid and liquid) and other allied industrial products. As of 31 March 2020, the Government of India holds 74.71 per cent stake in the company.

 In the month of June, 2020, the

Logistics, Warehousing

Gateway Distriparks Limited and Adani Logistics Limited agree on a settlement. 

 

 

Gateway Distriparks (“GDL”) and Adani logistics Limited (“ALL”) have resolved their disputes mutually in context to Snowman Logistics share purchase by Adani Logistic Limited. Gateway Distriparks Limited (“GDL”) had initiated arbitration proceeding against Adani Logistics Limited (“ALL”) in relation to the proposed sale of entire shareholding held by GDL in Snowman Logistics Limited (“Snowman”) to ALL in terms of the share purchase agreement dated 27 December 2019, as amended (“SPA”).

The arbitration invoked by GDL against ALL is withdrawn, and the parties have signed a Settlement Agreement on 5th June 2020. The parties have agreed to the following key points:

  1. ALL has no right to purchase and GDL has no obligation to sell its shareholding in Snowman to ALL pursuant to the SPA or otherwise.
  2. GDL will continue to remain the sole promoter of Snowman and shall be solely responsible for the management and business operations of Snowman.
  3. ALL shall not be involved in the day to day management or business operations of Snowman and shall not have a right to nominate or appoint any director on the Board (or committee(s)) of Snowman.
  4. There are no further claims or counterclaims by either party in relation to the SPA. 

Expansion in Siliguri

Further, Snowman Logistics Ltd. has announced further capacity expansion and is currently adding to their pallet capacity across the country. Snowman Logistics has commenced construction at the Siliguri facility and is further adding pallet capacity to Taloja and Krishnapattanam facilities taking the total pallet capacity to 1, 13,208 with a presence in 16 cities catering to the key markets of Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata.

Construction in Siliguri prioritized basis customer demand wherein existing set of customers wanted “global standard facilities” in line with other Snowman facilities across the country to reach out to the markets. Snowman will add 4200 pallets at Siliguri and will expand Taloja (Mumbai) and Krishnapattanam facilities by a total of 3000 pallets.  All these facilities are scheduled to be up and running before this financial year-end.

Snowman caters to its comprehensive network of reputed clients, which source and consume temperature-sensitive products in bulk amounts. It caters to various services like dairy products including butter and cheese, canned food Items, Poultry and Meat, Seafood, Healthcare, and pharmaceutical products.

 

 

Gateway Distriparks Limited and Adani Logistics Limited

Acts & Schemes – Centre, Schemes - Govt, Schemes - NABARD

To benefit small, marginal and landless farmers

To strengthen the rural economy consisting of 86 percent small and marginal farmers, Union Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar has announced the creation of 1000 new Farmers’ Producer Organizations (FPOs). At the onset it is planned to have the minimum number of members in the FPOs to be 300 from the plains and 100 from the North-East and hilly areas.

Through the FPOs farmers will get access to technological inputs, finances, and better markets and prices for their crops in order to fulfill the target of doubling farmers’ incomes by the year 2022. The FPOs will also help to reduce the cost of production and marketing, improve production in the agricultural and horticultural sectors, boost organic and natural farming and increase employment opportunities. FPOs will be formed on priority basis in scheduled tribal areas.

According to Tomar, a proposal to adopt cluster approach for horticultural produce through “One district – One Product” scheme to give impetus to value addition, marketing and exports will be presented in Budget 2020-21. The total budget of this central scheme will be Rs. 6,865 crores and will be implemented through agencies like NABARD, SFAC and NCDC.

 

To benefit small, marginal and landless farmersTo

Acts & Schemes – Centre, Agro chems – Pesticides

Operations completed in 6 states between April and July

 To repel locusts from damaging crops, a Bell Helicopter took its first sortie on the 4th of July in 65 RD Banda area of Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan and completed its mission of chemical spraying in targeted areas, thereby strengthening locust control activities.

Control operations have been done in 1,35,207 hectares in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana by Locust Circle Offices (LCOs) from 11th April till 3rd July.

In addition to this, state governments have also done control activities in 1,13,215.5 hectares in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhatisgarh, Haryana and Bihar till 3rd July.

In the intervening night of 3rd and 4th July LCOs carried out control operations at 25 places in the districts of Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Nagaur, and Dausa of Rajasthan State and 2 places in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh. Besides this, State Agriculture Departments also carried out control operations at 4 places in Jhansi and Mahoba districts of Uttar Pradesh and at 2 places in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.

No significant crop losses have been reported from any of the states due to locust attack other than minor losses in a few districts of Rajasthan.

Operations completed in 6 states between April

E-commerce, Machinery – Post-harvesting

Company records overall growth of 5 per cent in Q1 which is highest for the industry.

Sonalika Tractors has reported new record of ever highest domestic sales of 13,691, registering 55 per cent growth against the industry growth of 23 per cent and overall sales of 15,200 tractors & 15.4 per cent market share in June’20

The jump in sales is being attributed to good summer crops and the measures announced by the Central government. Experts also believe that life was less affected in rural areas due to COVID-19 and, thus agricultural activities did not stop and, thus farmers were able to get good crops and revenue for their produce which has also helped in the sales. The IMD’s prediction of a good monsoon has also instilled confidence in the farmer and the tractor market. 

Speaking on the performance, Raman Mittal, Executive Director, Sonalika Group, said, “Beginning of Q1 this year when the first ever lockdown was announced we as a company had decided to put all our energies with positive effort to try not to de-grow in Q1. Today, the entire team is feeling proud that we have not just achieved our goal but also have registered an overall growth of 5 per cent in Q1 which is highest for the industry. It is a matter of great pride for us that not only in tractor industry but also in automotive, two-wheeler and CV industry, Sonalika is the only company to register maximum growth in these tough times. We are extremely delighted with the overall robust performance in June’20 with 15200 tractors which is our highest ever.” 

Mittal also said that the company focused its efforts on key areas that helped the company immensely. “We had already reached 80 percent utilization in the fourth week of May itself and in June we continued to operate at the optimum level,” he said.

 

Company records overall growth of 5 per

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