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

ADAMA will provide best-in-class herbicides to deliver effective weed control. 

 

S&W Seed Company (NASDAQ: SANW) and ADAMA announced their intent to collaborate on the development of a new sorghum herbicide-tolerant system. This collaboration is expected to bring innovation to sorghum growers and improve weed control and yields. 

S&W will provide new herbicide tolerance traits developed using its advanced research and technology platform, and also provide high-performance seed. ADAMA will provide best-in-class herbicides to deliver effective weed control. The scope of the agreement includes ACCase tolerance traits and ACCase inhibitor herbicides. 

The new Double Team™ ACCase tolerance trait was developed by S&W in collaboration with the United Sorghum Checkoff program using traditional breeding non-GMO tissue culture. 

“Historically, sorghum has lagged behind other major crops like corn, soybeans, and cotton in the application of novel technologies,” said Dr Don Panter, Executive V.P., S&W. “However, we look at sorghum as one of our key product lines and have prioritized our R&D efforts to bring this traditional breeding, non-GMO technology to U.S. sorghum growers in what we believe is record time. We plan to bring a broad spectrum of Double Team™ sorghum hybrids to the marketplace through our Sorghum Partners® brand, and by offering top-tier seed companies licenses to the Double Team™ system. We are very pleased to have an experienced global partner, ADAMA, to develop weed control systems and to support stewardship and grower education with us.” 

Dr. Steve Calhoun, V.P., R&D, S&W, speaking about the development and future of hybrids, echoed these sentiments. “We believe this new herbicide tolerance technology will not only benefit current sorghum producers in weed control, but also bring sorghum back to water-limited acres where it is much more profitable than other crops like corn,” Calhoun said. “Our R&D team is committed to genetic improvement of sorghum, and in particular, to delivering this powerful innovation to sorghum producers.” 

Jake Brodsgaard, CEO of ADAMA USA, views this collaboration as perfectly aligned with the mission of ADAMA. “At ADAMA, we are driven by listening and providing growers simple, straightforward solutions,” Brodsgaard said. “This collaboration between ADAMA and S&W will provide the first full-spectrum grass control option for sorghum growers. This new cropping solution is expected to simplify crop management by providing sorghum growers with an effective and convenient weed management system to get the most from every production acre.” 

Extensive field trials are planned for 2020 to verify further hybrid performance and crop selectivity, and also to fine-tune the use of the Double Team™ sorghum cropping solution herbicides in an overall weed control system. Regulatory trials are also underway to obtain global approval for the trait and herbicide to facilitate grain export.

 Both companies intend to provide a complete weed stewardship management system fully supported by a team of sales and technical service representatives to make a positive impact on today’s farmers and provide long-term sustainability.

 While the Double Team™ sorghum cropping solution herbicide tolerance system is currently pending regulatory approval by the EPA, it is expected to be commercially available in limited quantities in the spring of 2021.

ADAMA will provide best-in-class herbicides to deliver

Country, E-commerce, North America, R&D

It replaces manual spreadsheets by combining in near real-time, a farm’s multiple sources of operational data with estimated revenue and cost data, helping farmers reach decisions easier and faster. 

 

 

Granular, the world’s leading farm management software platform, announces Granular Insights, an easy to use, free digital tool that delivers a clearer view of field-level profitability with close to zero effort.

Up until now, farmers have had to stitch together disparate data sources by laboriously creating – then updating – spreadsheets to figure out field-by-field profitability. With Granular Insights, farmers have a new tool in their toolbox that delivers a more accurate look at their bottom line with the press of a few buttons.

For example, farmers now can analyze the ROI of seed decisions, better visualize field performance and harvest moisture levels through map layers, as well as see side-by-side comparisons of field financials. Plus, farmers can easily invite team members and trusted advisors to view and collaborate on their operational decisions.

“We couldn’t have asked for a simpler process,” said Adam Edwards of Edwards Farms in Virden, Illinois. “We link John Deere Operations Center and Granular Insights, and can easily see our real-time profit estimates by acre, seed, hybrid, or percent harvested. This tool has really helped us make decisions on hybrids for 2020 planting. And the detailed reports make our annual crop insurance reporting much easier. Granular Insights helps us manage our data more efficiently.”

The average corn and soybean farm in the United States generates more than 2,500 data records during a typical 10-month growing season. Most farmers don’t track actual field-level productivity in season, finding it too time-consuming to stitch together invoices, scale data, contracts, land boundaries, tasks and field operations, costing them profits.

 

By seamlessly combining in near real-time, data from John Deere Operations Center and uploads from more than 10 other manufacturers in a few clicks, Granular Insights digital tool puts siloed machine data to work, saving farmers up to three week  worth of man hours of data entry per year.

It replaces manual spreadsheets by combining in

Acts & Schemes – Centre, E-commerce, R&D

The portal would disseminate all relevant information related to TOP crops such as prices and arrivals, area, yield and production, imports and exports, crop calendars and crop agronomy, in an easy-to-use visual format.

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal  recently  launched a portal that will forecast wholesale prices of three key vegetables – tomato, onion and potato (TOP) – for three months and enable the government to monitor the supply situation for timely market interventions in case of a price crash during a glut.

The Minister said that the Market Intelligence and Early Warning System (MIEWS) is designed to provide advisories to farmers to avoid cyclical production as well as an early warning in a glut situation. She said the portal will enable the government come up with a rapid response in times of glut and move products to deficit regions. It will also help provide inputs for export and import decisions.

Alerts from the portal will help the government make timely market intervention under the Central scheme ‘Operation Greens’ by providing subsidy to farmers for storage and transportation of the produce from surplus markets to consuming market, she added. 

The portal would disseminate all relevant information related to TOP crops such as prices and arrivals, area, yield and production, imports and exports, crop calendars and crop agronomy, in an easy-to-use visual format.

The alerts will be triggered when prices of these three perishable commodities fall to a three-year low at the time of harvest or when the price fall is more than 50 per cent compared with the year ago period or when the rate falls lower than the benchmark fixed by Centre/State government for a specified period, an official statement added.

The portal would disseminate all relevant information

E-commerce, R&D, Trade

Cotton Corporation of India is providing cotton with better quality parameters in terms of less moisture, less trash & better grade than cotton available in the market.

 

The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) launched its own cotton brand ‘Hira’ in Mumbai. CCI felt the need for a brand to assure the consumers of a good & reliable quality input for spinning & further value addition. 

CCI, being the single largest cotton trading company in the country (under the ministry of textiles), has taken numerous initiatives to improve the quality of Indian cotton. As a result of these initiatives, Cotton Corporation of India is providing cotton with better quality parameters in terms of less moisture, less trash & better grade than cotton available in the market. 

Hira would assure its valuable consumers the best quality cotton with the benefits of minimal trash (below 1.7 percent); low moisture (below 8 percent); best grade (Rd 78 plus); optimal mic (3.8-4.2) & strength (29 g/tex plus), resulting in better realization of value. This will also help Indian cotton in obtaining international recognition by establishing a premium brand, CMD of CCI, Dr P Alli Rani said.

 Hira with absolute reliability. Hira is an acronym for ‘High in Reliable Attributes’, said Dr Rani adding that she worked very hard to change the Indian quality parameters under procurement by Cotton Corporation of India and at present, it is the best quality at par with the international standards.

 Suresh Kotak, Industry veteran said that the CCI was established to support farmers of India and to give quality & quantity to the textile industries.

President of CAI, Atul Ganatra said that government agencies such as CCI and Maharashtra Federation could procure 100 lakh plus bales under MSP operations this season & there is no doubt that the quality of CCI is very good. Now the trade & textile industry is waiting for a reasonable price of CCI’s sale that is yet to start.

Cotton Corporation of India is providing cotton

E-commerce, R&D, Seeds

To help farmers minimize risk and maximize potential return on investment despite these curveballs, Syngenta is releasing 11 new NK corn hybrids and 21 new NK soybean varieties for the 2021 growing season. 

Backed by the extensive research and development capabilities of Syngenta, NK breeders tapped into data, analytics and agronomic expertise to bring these products to market.

“Because of the ongoing challenges faced by farmers, it’s necessary that we constantly look ahead for ways to accommodate their needs and mitigate risk,” says Quinn Showalter, NK head of sales. “By combining the latest in seed technology with top-of-the-line genetics, NK is able to continue to add products to our lineup that we know will withstand some of the toughest conditions.”

 Elite corn genetics to help meet agronomic needs

The reinvigorated NK corn portfolio offers high-yielding performance protected by industry-leading traits, helping farmers maximize their whole-farm ROI potential. Bred from one of the industry’s largest and most diverse germplasm pools and equipped with industry-leading Agrisure traits, NK hybrids fit the unique challenges of farms across the U.S.

“Bred to meet farmers’ local needs, the new NK hybrids are more competitive than ever, with strong agronomic packages driving winning yields,” says Joe Bollman, NK corn product manager. “Ongoing innovation is allowing us to develop hybrids that can match any environment and combat any conditions – which, as last year reminded everyone, could be both expected and unexpected.”

The new hybrids build on another strong season for NK corn. Despite the record-breaking environmental challenges of 2019, NK hybrids outperformed key competitors in the Corn Belt and beyond. 

Expansive soybean trait portfolio offers more choice

The new varieties join a lineup of consistently high-yielding varieties equipped with today’s most in-demand herbicide technology choices. The NK soybean portfolio offers the industry’s broadest choice of herbicide traits to manage tough-to-control weeds, including Enlist E3 soybeans, Roundup Ready 2 Xtend and LibertyLink GT27.

This is made possible by a state-of-the-art trait conversion capability that enables Syngenta to bring the latest, most desirable trait packages to market with the newest genetics. Combine these trait offerings with more than 50 years of breeding experience, and NK is able to offer farmers products that protect soybean yield potential in even the toughest of environments.

“We’re investing directly into our breeding program so that we can deliver products that keep up with and answer farmers’ needs,” says Eric Miller, NK soybean product manager. “By setting the standard for soybean trait choice, the new NK varieties will help farmers minimize risk and maximize yield potential no matter their location.” 

Value beyond seed

NK is accelerating innovation to address the increasing challenges for farmers and the environment by delivering unique opportunities that add value beyond seed.

One such offering is Enogen corn, available through NK retailers in select locations. These unique hybrids add benefits for farmers marketing grain to ethanol plants or producing grain or silage for livestock feed.

Another is the NK Seed Analyzer, a tool that taps into decades of data to provide unbiased, field-specific recommendations. The adaptability of the platform allows retailers and farmers to proactively plan for weather volatility, soil variability and planting specifications by seeing actual results from numerous sources.

 

                                                                                                                    (Inputs-seedworld.com)

To help farmers minimize risk and maximize

Acts & Schemes – Centre, Nature, Water

U P Singh was speaking at the national summit on ‘Investing in Future through Sustainable Water Use Management in Agriculture’, organized by FICCI.

 NEW DELHI: U P Singh, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, RD & GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India today said that water security in agriculture is a local problem and requires de-centralized solutions. 

Speaking at the national summit on ‘Investing in Future Through Sustainable Water Use Management in Agriculture’, organized by FICCI, Singh said that currently we use 90 percent of fresh water in agriculture and irrigation. “Without improving the water use efficiency in agriculture, all efforts of water use elsewhere will not be meaningful,” he added.

 Singh said that we need to change our mindset and give emphasis on water productivity rather than just land productivity. He added that we must focus on water footprints, like carbon footprints, and urged the industry to play more active role in the overall development of the sector. 

Emphasizing on the need of water conservation in agriculture, Singh said that we need to adopt water recycle, and re-use policy in agriculture sector which has provisions for mandates and incentivisation. “The more water we consume, more wastewater is generated. Many states have already started adopting this policy. You need to either mandate people or incentivize people. This kind of policy will have both mandating certain use and providing incentives,” he added. 

Singh while highlighting the environment concerns said that we must also consider revisiting the current government procurement policy which mainly focuses on wheat and rice. It is important that states and farmers must be incentivized for other crops as well. “Today, we don’t grow crops based on water endowment & topography of that particular area. 

 Alka Bhargava, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt of India said that improved productivity is key to sustainability. “We have started adopting AI and other technologies to check soil moisture and cropping patterns. We are also looking at the use of grey water in agriculture to reduce dependence on ground water,” she added. 

 T R Kesavan, Chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee and Group President, TAFE Ltd said the government should draft a policy on creating an Agriculture Council so that Centre, state and various ministries work for the betterment of the sector.

 Dr Ajai Kumar, Head-South Asia, Govt and Industry Affairs, Corteva Agriscience said all stakeholders including agriculture industry, policy-makers and regulators need to align while keeping farmers at its center in making agriculture ‘Climate Positive.’ 

Dr A K Padhee, Director, Country Relations and Business Affairs, New Delhi, ICRISAT said that conservation and sustainable management of natural resources, including water, demands priority action in the policy agenda.

 FICCI-PwC report on ‘Plugging India’s agri-water gap: Sustainable and innovative approaches’ was released during the event. 

Highlights of the report: 

  • Creating a sustainable ecosystem for hydro-economic models 
  • Managing water as an economic good to ensure water efficiency and sustainability
  • Need to have a long-term and futuristic approach, adapting smart and climate-resilient agricultural practices for water-deficient and water-abundant regions
  • Government to consider promoting irrigation industry to capitalize on water use efficiency by bringing it under the infrastructure category
  • Accelerating innovation in water conservation to sustain current and future water demand
  • Need for robust policy framework and institutional structure
  •  .   Promote water productivity and water security in the country
  • Current situation demands innovation in financing irrigation infrastructure for prudent economics and judicious water usage. 
  • Water scarcity in agriculture calls for National Integrated Agriculture Water Policy

U P Singh was speaking at the

Agrotech, Dairy, Start ups, Trade

Over 50 plus Milk brands across India have partnered with Mr. Milkman 

 

 

   Mr. Milkman, the fastest growing dairy tech start-up forays into the Bangalore market through its partnership with prominent dairy players and milk brands namely; Akshayakalpa, HappyMilk, Mathruka, Farm Fresh Organic and Olemoo.

 This association enables the partners to manage their orders and smoothly manage their delivery services. Today, over 50+ Milk brands/Dairies across India track, sales prediction, reverse logistics of crates, accounting, and last mile delivery through the platform.

The partnership will operate on a revenue-sharing model where Mr. Milkman will provide their SaaS platform to the partners who will head the logistics of their dairy business, such as production and delivery in Bengaluru.

Mr. Milkman’s well-integrated technology will empower its partners with automated processes, enabling them to track subscriptions, revenue, sales growth, payments and customer consumption patterns. Additionally, the real-time data-driven analytical dashboard will capacitate partners to create distribution channel hubs, managing their transportation and end-customer delivery.

Furthermore, the delivery application offers features such as order tracking & delivery, inventory management, and reverse logistics for glass bottles. This allows the delivery person to know how much milk to carry and how much to deliver. 

The other prominent dairies that have partnered include, MilkMantra, Healthways, Gyan Dairy, Whyte Farms, Binsar Farms Creamery, Mr.Dairy, Mr.Milk, PureMilk, Diya Farms, Go4Life, Happymoo, etc. for hassle-free operations and smooth delivery.

 

Samarth Setia, CEO and Co-Founder, Mr. Milkman, commented, “We are delighted to enter Bengaluru and associate with some of the finest quality dairy brands. Our objective is to improve operational and delivery efficiency for all our partners and enable consumers to subscribe to premium quality unadulterated milk. Understanding their business, we aim to ensure execution of operations in a smoother and more organized manner to help them manage their growth goals”.

 

 

 Shashi Kumar, Founder, Akshayakalpa, said, “The dairy sector in India is vast, for every business to grow; there has to be a rapid escalation in production. In order to focus on our growth, we require a partner to help us improve logistics and make our operations more efficient, and this association certainly ensures that. Our partnership will guarantee smoother logistics while we accumulate our efforts in providing the best services to our customers”.

Anuradha Pranesh, Founder, Mathruka said, “Consumers should be able to order and get delivery of Mathruka’s farm fresh organic and healthy milk smoothly with least challenges, and also be able to track their payments and order other products. The partnership with Mr. Milkman will help our consumers get easy access and help Mathruka to provide better service to consumers”

 

About Mr. Milkman

Mr. Milkman is a Dairy Tech Start-up working towards enabling the dairy industry. Founded in 2017 by Samarth Setia, Mr. Milkman works with leading dairies to manage their customer base.

Mr. Milkman not only provides dairies with a way to manage their customer subscriptions and deliveries but also helps them manage their entire business – right from the farm to their customers’ glass through its platform.

The platform enables its customers to track sales and customer consumption patterns by providing real-time data-driven analytics. This data helps dairies manage demand, sales forecasting and distribution. The platform also helps to create offline distribution channel hubs and manage transportation and end-customer delivery.

With data security, transparency in approach and analytical inputs, dairies can now focus on production and growth while Mr. Milkman takes care of the entire supply chain management through a cloud-based platform.

 

Some of the organizations Mr. Milkman has associated are, MilkMantra, Healthways, Gyan Dairy, Whyte Farms, Binsar Farms Creamery, Mr.Dairy, Mr.Milk, PureMilkDiya Farms, Go4Life, Happymoo, etc. to name a few.

 

 

 

 

Today, the company is working with farmers in and around Tiptur, Karnataka and grooming them to be entrepreneurs by transforming their farming operations from livelihood focused to wealth creation opportunity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over 50 plus Milk brands across India

Agrotech, R&D

The conference will focus on the importance and need for traceability solutions in the agriculture and food supply chain

SourceTrace, a global Agritech company will host India’s first conference on traceability in agriculture in collaboration with Thinkag. The event will be held at The Le Meridien Hotel, New Delhi on 5th March 2020.  The event is going to welcome around 60 industry leaders from the food and agriculture sector across the country.         

 In order to achieve better crop yielding and to increase profitability, employing technology has become an important factor in agriculture. At the same time, ensuring food safety and sustainability is also a grave concern in today’s time. Technologies like traceability could help in keeping a check on the safety and security of the products and building a niche for products originating from India. With Tracecon, discussions over traceability and its impact in promoting trade and sustainability along with food security and safety will be at the center stage.  

 Venkat Maroju, CEO, SourceTrace says,  “From food safety to farmer income to promotion of exports, traceability can play a significant role across the agricultural and food spectrum in India. Budget 2020 also focused on using technology to develop agriculture, and the commitment to double farmer income by 2022 can only be achieved through the use of technology.  SourceTrace in collaboration with Thinkag has taken this initiative to discuss the importance and need for traceability solutions in the agriculture and food supply chain. We look forward to its wider adoption by the industry in the near future.”

The conference will focus on the importance

Acquaculture, Agro Universities

The various farmer-friendly publications by ICAR-CIBA in the vernacular languages were released during the occasion.

The ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, Chennai in collaboration with the Society of Coastal Aquaculture and Fisheries (SCAFi) and Navsari Agricultural University (NAU), Gujarat organized the “Brackishwater Aquaculture Farmers’ Conclave – 2020 (BAFAC-2020)” at Surat, Gujarat from 19th to 20th February, 2020. 

The Chief Guest,  Anup Kumar, I.A.S., Secretary, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Agricultural Marketing, Government of Maharashtra lauded the ICAR-CIBA’s efforts to organize the Farmer’s Conclave in the West Coast.

 In his address, N.F. Patel, Department of Fisheries, Government of Gujarat recalled the decision of the Gujarat Fisheries Minister for allocating 7.5 ha of farm land at Matwad, Navsari to the NGRC of ICAR-CIBA to conduct the research and trials for the development of technologies suitable for the West Coast.

 Dr Joykrushna Jena, Deputy Director General (Fisheries Science), ICAR highlighted the brackishwater aquaculture’s potential in the country and benefits the farmers can reap in on a sustainable mode. He outlined the sector’s remarkable growth, where the farmers’ income in brackishwater sector has been multiplied over 3 times since 2010. Dr Jena also stressed on the need of a sustainable approach to keep the growth trajectory. 

Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr K.K. Vijayan, Director, ICAR-CIBA and President, SCAFi & Convener, BAFAC-2020 articulated the significance of BAFAC-2020 and its main purpose. He also outlined the development of brackishwater aquaculture sector with special reference to the shrimp farming and the way forward for its sustainability. Dr Vijayan also assured the stakeholders about the extending of the technological and capacity building support on “partnership mode” by the Institute to the programmes initiated on the west coast by the respective state governments for developing the brackishwater aquaculture.

 The various farmer-friendly publications by ICAR-CIBA in the vernacular languages were released during the occasion. Around 70 farmers of the region were distributed the Soil and Water Health Cards based on respective farm samples. Dr Jena also handed-over a cheque for Rs. 5,00,000; an income generated by the Om Sai Women Self Help Group, Matwad, Navsari, Gujarat by taking up the Nursery rearing of finfishes with the facilitation of Navsari Gujarat Research Center of ICAR-CIBA. 

About 900 brackishwater farmers representing all the coastal states covering both East and West coasts of India from West Bengal to Gujarat and Inland states like Haryana Punjab and Rajasthan attended the programme.

The various farmer-friendly publications by ICAR-CIBA

Agrotech, Seeds, World

An Arctic “doomsday vault” was set to receive 60,000 samples of seeds from around the world as the biggest global crop reserve stocks up for a global catastrophe. 

 

 

The seeds are to be deposited in the vault inside a mountain near Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen Island in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, about 1,000 km (600 miles) from the North Pole.

Extinction risk

“As the pace of climate change and biodiversity loss increases, there is new urgency surrounding efforts to save food crops at risk of extinction,” said Stefan Schmitz, who manages the reserve as head of the Crop Trust.

“The large scope of today’s seed deposit reflects worldwide concern about the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss on food production,” Schmitz added.

“But more importantly, it demonstrates a growing global commitment – from the institutions and countries that have made deposits today and indeed the world – to the conservation and use of the crop diversity that is crucial for farmers in their efforts to adapt to changing growing conditions,” he said. Common as well as wilder varieties of grains are being sent by institutions in countries as diverse as Brazil, the US, Germany, Morocco, Mali, Israel and Mongolia. 

Safeguarding biodiversity

The latest shipment will bring to around 1.05 million the number of seed varieties placed in three underground alcoves which form the vault, known also as Noah’s Ark. Aimed at safeguarding biodiversity in the face of climate change, wars and other natural and man-made disasters, the seed bank has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches, or twice the number of crop varieties believed to exist in the world today.

It was launched in 2008 with financing from Norway. Its usefulness was spotlighted during Syria’s civil war when researchers were able in 2015 to retrieve from the vault duplicates of grains lost in the destruction of Aleppo. The countries and institutions that deposit seeds in the vault retain ownership over them and can retrieve them when necessary.

Hit by climate change

Paradoxically, the vault was itself hit by climate change. In 2016, water seeped into the vault’s tunnel entrance due to permafrost melting as Arctic temperatures climbed unusually high. Norway has since financed work to insulate the vault from further effects of a warming and wetter climate, which scientists say is happening two times faster in the Arctic than elsewhere.

An Arctic “doomsday vault” was set to

E-commerce, Start ups, Trade

Acquisition enhances ICL’s digital services offering and accelerates its development roadmap 

ICL (NYSE: ICL) (TASE: ICL), a leading global specialty minerals and specialty chemicals company,  recently announced  that it has acquired Growers Holdings, Inc. (’Growers’), an innovator in the field of process and data-driven farming, as ICL further enhances its digital service offering and accelerates its global development roadmap.

 Growers’ agronomic services platform enhances decision-making capabilities for farmers, agronomists and other agro-professionals by creating easily adaptable and executable data-driven recommendations. 

The Growers platform collects and structures manual and machine-generated farm data, instantly creating agile and return-focused plans for planting, fertilization and purchasing decisions that are streamed to farm machinery for effortless on-field application. Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Growers employs a team of data scientists, engineers, developers and agronomists, serving a rapidly growing customer base across the U.S. 

“The acquisition of Growers expands and strengthens our offering of agro-digital services and our capability to develop innovative solutions to generate higher agricultural yields and more efficient and sustainable agricultural practices. By combining Growers’ one-of-a-kind platform with ICL’s extensive agronomic know-how, we are accelerating our market reach and development roadmap to create an unparalleled digital service offering focused on providing agro-professionals with unique access to currently untapped and unstructured data in a simple, fast and actionable way,” said Raviv Zoller, ICL President & CEO. 

“Agriculture is an industry that impacts every person on the planet. Our belief is that there is significant opportunity to drive a more sustainable, profitable future through the better utilization of agriculture data,” said Steven Valencsin, Growers Founder and CEO. “We are very excited to be united in this mission with ICL and share a common approach to delivering value to our customers. For our customers, its business as usual, although we expect that ICL’s unique know-how and access to the Israeli technological ecosystem and its broad capabilities will allow us to deliver increasing value over time.” 

 Valencsin will remain CEO, and the company will continue to service their customers while leveraging ICL’s vast resources to continue building technological solutions that deliver value to farmers and their trusted advisors around the world. 

In addition, ICL announced today that Yoram Sadan has been appointed as the Head of ICL’s Digital Services Business, effective March 2020. Mr. Sadan is a global executive who brings significant experience in the technology and agriculture sectors, most recently with Netafim Ltd. and Siemens AG.  Sadan will report to Raviv Zoller, ICL President & CEO, and will be a member of ICL’s senior management team.

  Valencsin and Sadan will discuss thematic trends in the agricultural market, including challenges in agriculture productivity, at ICL’s upcoming investor event and will introduce the Growers platform and describe how it fits within ICL’s ongoing initiatives.

 

Acquisition enhances ICL’s digital services offering and

Agrotech, Dairy, R&D

Test is designed to allow producers to test individual batches on-site, optimize their production process, and potentially speed time to market for a fresher product available to consumers. 

AOAC INTERNATIONAL food safety experts have adopted a new analytical method for measuring low levels of lactose in milk as a First Action Official Method of Analysis℠. 

Measuring trace levels of lactose accurately is technically challenging and can increase costs for dairy producers because time-consuming testing processes effectively shorten shelf life. As European and North American regulations have revised downward the levels of trace lactose that can be labelled “lactose free,” the technical challenges have increased. The new method, which employs the proprietary LactoSens® test kit, was developed as an alternative to the standard reference method using high-performance anion exchange chromatography, a technically complex technique which is mainly performed at external accredited laboratories. 

“The biggest advantage of the new method is it is easy and fast; and now with AOAC validation, it is demonstrated to be accurate,” said Christoph Sygmund of DirectSens, authors of the method. The 6-year-old Austrian technology company worked closely with European dairy producers to develop the method and meet the need for a more streamlined method of testing trace lactose. 

“The new method can be performed in under five minutes and does not require advanced technical training,” added Sygmund. “It was designed to allow producers to test individual batches on-site, optimize their production process, and potentially speed time to market for a fresher product available to consumers.” 

The LactoSens® biosensor assay kit uses an optimized enzyme, which is immobilized on a test strip. The enzyme oxidizes the lactose in the sample and generates electrons that are detected and measured directly by a potentiostatic reader, after which software converts the measured current into a quantitative result of lactose concentration. Each test strip is labelled with a QR code for sample tracking and lot-specific information and a ready-to-use positive control is provided for quality assurance and calibration check.

 The new method, entitled “Determination of Lactose in Low-Lactose and Lactose-Free Milk, Milk Products, and Products Containing Dairy Ingredients – LactoSens® Amperometry Method,” was adopted for Official Methods of Analysis First Action status during a meeting of the AOAC INTERNATIONAL Expert Review Panel for Low-Lactose Methods on January 15, 2020. 

“We got very good feedback from AOAC,” said Elisabeth Halbmayr-Jech of DirectSens. “It was a long but very collaborative process. The Expert Review Panel was very scientific – they examined all the reviewers’ comments, even the minor ones, very thoroughly.” 

The method was evaluated against AOAC INTERNATIONAL’s Standard Method Performance Requirement (SMPR®) 2018.009, which details the requirements for testing mono- and di-saccharides in milk, milk products, and products containing dairy ingredients that are low-lactose or lactose-free.

 Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC INTERNATIONAL are microbiological and chemical analysis procedures that have undergone rigorous formal validation by AOAC INTERNATIONAL. After a two-year tracking period, “First Action” methods are reviewed for approval as “Final Action” methods, which are published in the Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC INTERNATIONAL, a globally recognized standards resource for analytical scientists. 

 

Test is designed to allow producers to

Acts & Schemes – Centre, Agrotech, Dairy, Live Stock

The event will start from 27th February to 2nd March 2020.  It will be focusing on ways and means to achieve more productivity and profitability to boost the contribution of the agriculture industry in higher GDP growth. 

 The expo is being organized by the Government of Punjab in collaboration with PHD Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The 11th edition of the expo is going to be a mega platform for farmers, livestock owners, veterinarians, and other stakeholders from the agriculture industry.

 The Minister for Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development, Tript Rajinder Singh Bawa disclosed the event details and released a booklet of the event. The five-day event will take place at PUDA Ground, Batala, District Gurdaspur, Punjab. The event will be focusing on ways and means to achieve more productivity and profitability to boost the contribution of the agriculture industry in higher GDP growth.

Milking and Breed competitions

The main attractions of the event will be competitions like milking competitions of cows, buffaloes and goats, breed competitions of horses, cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs, dogs, and poultry. 

These competitions will not be there just for fun but will also have big rewards for the participants.  The owners of the winning animals in milking and breeding competitions would be rewarded with cash prizes worth Rs 2 crores. Along with the prize money, the winners would be given certificates. 

These competitions will also encourage farmers to learn the scientific and technicalities involved in the care and management of animals to enhance the milk yield and breed quality.

The event will start from 27th February

Agrotech, Country, Europe, R&D

The first batch of Arbikie pea gin pot-ale is currently being used to feed cows on a farm neighboring the distillery, which is based near Montrose. 

 UK scientists  from Abertay University and the James Hutton Institute in Scotland have claimed that they have created the world’s first “climate-positive” gin using the humble garden pea. Five years of research at Abertay University and the James Hutton Institute in Scotland, in collaboration with Arbikie Distillery, has culminated in latest release of new gin Nàdar. 

Created by Arbikie’s Master Distiller, PhD student Kirsty Black, each 700ml bottle of Nàdar has a carbon footprint of -1.54 kg CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), meaning it avoids more carbon dioxide emissions than it creates. This environmental performance — significantly better than traditional wheat gins — is mainly achieved by utilizing all useful components of the peas from the dehulling (de-skinning) and distilling process, to create home-grown animal feed. 

It also takes advantage of the peas’ natural ability to source essential nitrogen for growth from the atmosphere through a process known as “biological nitrogen fixation,” negating the need for environmentally-damaging synthetic fertilizers. In addition, during harvesting, some nitrogen is left behind in-field in crop residues, improving soil fertility and function for the next crop in the rotation, thereby further reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. 

During distilling, a by-product known as “pot ale syrup” is created from the leftover pea protein and spent yeast, and this can be used as a highly nutritious animal feed. The aim is to offset the high environmental costs of importation of animal feeds, which are most often derived from soybean and commonly sourced from cleared rainforest and cerrado regions. 

The first batch of Arbikie pea gin pot-ale is currently being used to feed cows on a farm neighboring the distillery, which is based near Montrose. 

Black’s PhD at Abertay University and the James Hutton Institute is focused on exploring the potential of pulses such as peas and beans as an environmentally sustainable feedstock to the brewing and distilling industries. The research team is also working to investigate whether pot-ale protein can be isolated and used as a source of food for humans. 

Black says the finished gin product is flavored using natural botanicals, plus lemongrass and citrus leaf, contributing to a “fresh and fruity” aroma. 

She adds: “At Arbikie, everything we do is dictated by the seasons and our geographical location. Year on year we see the weather, harvest timings and crop quality change; all highlighting the need to address the climate crisis now. By producing the world’s first climate positive gin, we are taking initial steps towards improving our environmental impact, while demonstrating what can be achieved when like-minded researchers and businesses come together.”

 Professor of Zymology at Abertay University, Graeme Walker, who supervises Kirsty’s PhD project, says: This is an excellent example of what can be achieved with the right blend of academic expertise and industry know-how. Creating real-world impact through our scientific research is part of Abertay University’s core mission and I’m delighted to see that coming together in this genuinely innovative project.” 

Pietro (Pete) Iannetta, an agroecologist at the James Hutton Institute, adds: “The climate change crisis demands far greater respect for natural resources that has previously been afforded. We must be more efficient, and the best place to start is locally. Towards that end, this is not simply a story of a new gin but is in fact another great example of Scottish teamwork and ingenuity. 

“Nàdar is fully provenanced as a sustainable Scottish product, and when purchased consumers can be assured they are also encouraging more-practical crop rotations, helping to reduce artificial fertilizer use, improve soil qualities, and most importantly, to directly reconnect the values of local consumers and farmers to help realize the most respectful and sustainable of agricultural operations at home.”

 

The first batch of Arbikie pea gin