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Korea

The exhibition expects to narrow the distance from the Korean export companies to the overseas market

The Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT, President Byung Ho Lee) has established an online exhibition to support South Korean agrifood exporters pioneering overseas markets as offline exhibitions were continuously canceled in countries around the world due to COVID-19.

Accordingly, aT initiated an online exhibition website with Korean companies who initially intended to participate in the canceled offline food exhibitions to support the growth of K-food exports and its marketing. Within the website, one could conveniently and easily check a product’s information and note its excellence in terms of its high quality, ingredient, and taste.

In particular, as the online exhibition is produced to suit both PC and mobile screens, one is able to check optimized information anytime, anywhere. The exhibition is also categorized by exhibition name (country), product type, and features, which allows buyers to easily search for the desired product. Additionally, CEO interviews of select Korean agrifood companies are available to provide a deeper insight into the company.

The online exhibition expects to play a role in narrowing the distance from the Korean export companies to the overseas market

 

The exhibition expects to narrow the distance

Agro Universities, Dairy, Live Stock

Based on cow dung as its main ingredient, the paint is cost-effective and odourless, and has been certified by Bureau of Indian Standards.

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways & MSME Nitin Gadkari has launched an innovative new paint – India’s first cow dung paint – developed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission at his residence. The eco-friendly, non-toxic paint, called “Khadi Prakritik Paint” is a first-of-its-kind product, with anti-fungal, anti-bacterial properties. Based on cow dung as its main ingredient, the paint is cost-effective and odourless, and has been certified by Bureau of Indian Standards.

Speaking at the launch function, the Minister said, “It is an effort to improve the rural economy to such an extent that reverse migration begins from the cities to rural areas. Stressing that the role of the government is only that of a facilitator, he said the paint will be marketed in a professional manner, and taken to all corners of the country.

Khadi Prakritik Paint is available in two forms – distemper paint and plastic emulsion paint. The project was conceptualized by Chairman KVIC in March 2020, and later developed by Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute, Jaipur (a KVIC unit).

The paint is free from heavy metals like lead, mercury, chromium, arsenic, cadmium and others. It will be a boost to local manufacturing and will create sustainable local employment through technology transfer. This technology will increase consumption of cow dung as a raw material for eco-friendly products and will generate additional revenue to farmers and gaushalas. Utilization of cow dung will also clean the environment and prevent clogging of drains.

Khadi Prakritik Distemper & Emulsion Paints have been tested at 3 reputed National Laboratories namely National Test House, Mumbai, Shri Ram Institute for Industrial Research, New Delhi and National Test House, Ghaziabad.

Based on cow dung as its main

Agrotech, Machinery - Pre-harvesting

STEYR Konzept Tractor, the New Holland BigBaler 1290 High Density and the FPT Industrial concept Cursor X engine won awards.  

 CNH Industrial N.V. (NYSE: CNHI / MI: CNHI) agricultural brands, STEYR and New Holland Agriculture, alongside global construction equipment brand CASE and global powertrain brand FPT Industrial, have all been awarded prestigious 2020 Good Design® Awards. Conferred by the Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies, these awards recognize products and concepts from the four brands that were judged to be outstanding examples in their respective fields.

Celebrating the most innovative and cutting-edge industrial, product and graphic designs from around the world, the selection criteria are based on the highest aesthetic in terms of innovative design, new technologies, form, materials, construction, concept, function, utility, and energy efficiency, and sensitivity to the environment. The jury, composed of design professionals, industry leading specialists, design journalists and critics selected the following products from a record number of submissions from 48 countries: the STEYR Konzept Tractor, the New Holland BigBaler 1290 High Density, the CASE ‘Project Zeus’ concept electric backhoe loader and the FPT Industrial concept Cursor X engine.

STEYR’s Good Design® Award was given in recognition of the creative yet practical thinking behind the Konzept, a striking study of the future of tractor development.The award also acknowledges the Konzept’s forward-thinking technology, including an innovative hybrid power system combining a conventional engine, a generator and electric drives. The concept tractor was designed in conjunction with sister CNH Industrial powertrain brand FPT Industrial.

The New Holland BigBaler 1290 High Density was commended for its design vision and enhanced operational efficiency. The product’s flowing lines were inspired by nature, specifically the sight of crops swaying in the breeze as they grow, and its sinuous, sleek form reflects the machine’s functionality.

The FPT Industrial Cursor X engine concept, which is a symbol of how the Brand conceives innovation, is a concept engine designed for ‘Planet Earth’. Multi-application to power a wide variety of machines from agriculture to construction and from commercial vehicles to power generation applications; and Mindful – the engine is self-learning and fully connected.

 

STEYR Konzept Tractor, the New Holland BigBaler

Dairy, R&D

Reveal Q+ for Aflatoxin M1 can detect as little as 150 parts per trillion of the toxins in milk samples in just minutes

US-based Neogen Corporation has recently announced that it has launched a quicker, easier test to detect aflatoxin M1, a known cancer-causing toxin of concern to the global dairy industry.

Neogen’s new Reveal Q+ for Aflatoxin M1 can detect as little as 150 parts per trillion (ppt) of the toxins in milk samples in just minutes. The new test is designed for use with Neogen’s Raptor Integrated Analysis Platform, which controls the timing, temperature, and reading of the test strips — allowing testers to simply add samples and walk away.

Aflatoxin M1 is a carcinogenic metabolite of aflatoxin B1 that is produced in the rumen of dairy cattle. The new test can detect aflatoxin M1 in milk within a range of 150 to 600 ppt. 

Reveal Q+ for Aflatoxin M1 utilizes the same incubation temperature and time as Neogen’s BetaStar antibiotic tests, including tests for beta-lactams (e.g., amoxicillin, ampicillin, and penicillin) and tetracyclines. The Raptor platform automatically incubates and analyzes up to three milk samples independently and simultaneously. The system also protects the integrity and consistency of testing data by processing and analyzing results without additional operator input.

Neogen Corporation develops and markets products dedicated to food and animal safety. The company’s Food Safety Division markets dehydrated culture media and diagnostic test kits to detect foodborne bacteria, natural toxins, food allergens, drug residues, plant diseases, and sanitation concerns.

Reveal Q+ for Aflatoxin M1 can detect

Agrotech

Taoglas is providing critical IoT infrastructure and technologies to enable the LvLogics monitoring solution

US-based Taoglas and LvLogics announced recently that they have been selected as winner of the ’Smart Agriculture Solution of the Year’ award in the 5th annual IoT Breakthrough Awards program conducted by IoT Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global Internet-of-Things (IoT) market today.

Taoglas partnered with LvLogics to provide an industry-first, self-cleaning silo monitoring IoT solution for farmers, wood-pellet, and biomass users. Taoglas is providing critical IoT infrastructure and technologies to enable the LvLogics monitoring solution, which provides accurate and reliable silo levels as-a-service to farmers, distributors and manufacturers of animal feeds, wood-pellets or any solids or semi-solids. The patented solution enables low-cost sensors to be used in dusty environments and solves the issue of work-force safety, constant maintenance, manual workflows and unreliability due to dust in an aggressive environment.

Using the Taoglas EDGE IoT hardware enables a cost-effective short- and long-range wireless platform for IoT. Combined with Taoglas EDGE Insights, this provides a scalable end-to-end solution for easy control, maintenance and secure management of many different connected devices, systems, instruments and appliances.

The mission of the IoT Breakthrough Awards program is to recognize the innovators, leaders, and visionaries from around the globe in a range of IoT categories, including Industrial and Enterprise IoT, Smart City technology, Connected Home and Home Automation, Connected Car, and many more.

 

Taoglas is providing critical IoT infrastructure and

AgroPolicy

The scheme benefits farmers who face crop losses due to various reasons

The Government of India took a historic step 5 years ago, on 13th January 2016, towards strengthening risk coverage of crops for farmers of India and approved the flagship crop insurance scheme – the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The scheme was conceived as a milestone initiative to provide a comprehensive risk solution at the lowest uniform premium across the country for farmers. The Government of India is committed to protecting the interests of the farmers.

Premium cost over and above the farmer share is equally subsidized by States and GoI. However, GoI shares 90% of the premium subsidy for the North Eastern States to promote the uptake in the region.

The average sum insured per hectare has increased from Rs 15,100 during the pre-PMFBY Schemes to Rs 40,700 under PMFBY.

As an end to end risk mitigation mechanism for farmers, the scheme extends coverage for the entire cropping cycle from pre-sowing to post-harvest including coverage for losses arising out of prevented sowing and mid-season adversities. Individual farm-level losses arising out of localized calamities and post-harvest losses are also covered due to perils such as inundation, cloudburst, and natural fire.

The scheme makes it easier for the farmer to report crop loss within 72 hours of the occurrence of any event through the Crop Insurance App, CSC Centre or the nearest agriculture officer. The Scheme covers over 5.5 crore farmer applications year on year. To date, claims worth Rs 90,000 crores have already been paid out under the Scheme.

The scheme benefits farmers who face crop

Agrotech, E-commerce

For the year 2021-22, the company is estimating the sales of over 8000 MT.

ETG Agro India, with its flagship enterprise ETC Agro Processing India Pvt. Ltd, is one of the largest processors and marketers in the global pulse processing industry. It has recently commissioned a state-of-the-art Nuts – Almonds processing plant with over 100 strong women workforce at Kheda, Gujarat. Originally a pulses processor, ETG Agro India’s move to add this new product line and open a new revenue stream comes on the heels of rising demand for nuts in the Indian market.

The processing unit is focused on the deshelling and processing of almonds and is among the biggest almonds processing plants in India. The plant’s processing capacity is over 10,000 MT raw almonds per annum. The sorting line is fully operated by the skilled women workers who are deployed to provide hand-picked, assorted, superior quality almonds. Nuts will be marketed under the brand – ETG AGRO NATURZ – PRO NUTS in both bulk and consumer pack formats.

 Parag Gadre, CEO – ETG Agro India said, “Presently we are observing some interesting trends in consumption of staples and overall snacking at home. Consumers across demographics and age groups are exercising increasing health consciousness – including mental health – while making choices for bites at home. Preference for vegetarian protein is making its way into the Indian kitchen. The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns have brought a lot of people to home cooking, baking, and experimenting with easily accessible staples, processed foods, and even discretionary snacks and munchies such as Nuts. These behavioral trends are manifesting in the rising consumption of Nuts, especially Almonds. However, there is a huge gap in the supply of unadulterated, clean, and hygienic nuts. We have observed that institutional buyers and domestic traders are longing for a reliable global partner who have a reputation established in the Indian market, and this is where ETG comes in. ETG PRO Nuts plant aims to deliver pure and hygienic nuts to the consumer while being a solid partner to India’s nuts traders and institutional buyers.”

 Kapil Yadav – Head Nuts Business said, “ETG Pro Nuts (Almond) plant is a state-of-the-art processing facility with a capacity of over 3.5 MT per hour. Setting up this plant and commissioning the same in November-20 has been exemplary execution, especially during the COVID time. India has a huge potential for nuts market. In developed countries consumption of nuts like almonds is around ten times more.

ETG Agro India will be sourcing Nuts- such as walnuts/ cashews from domestic growers, and almonds from global origins such as USA and Australia. The company has established partnership with key suppliers. For the year 2021-22, the company is estimating the sales of over 8000 MT.

 

 

 

For the year 2021-22, the company is

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agrotech

UPL has won the award in the category of Best Patent Portfolio, Large (Lifesciences/Pharma) for its pioneering Intellectual property (IP) research and innovation. 

UPL Ltd. has won the sixth CII Industrial Intellectual Property Awards aimed at recognizing and celebrating enterprises that have embraced IP generation and protection to fuel their business and economic growth. UPL Ltd. has always put the farmers’ needs first and creates products and services around fulfilling their requirements.

 UPL has won the award in the category of Best Patent Portfolio, Large (Lifesciences/Pharma) for its pioneering Intellectual property (IP) research and innovation. An example of UPL’s major research and innovation includes sustainable products such as Zeba and services such as Adarsh Farm Services which have proven successful at the grassroots level.

Dr Vishal Sodha accepted the award at a virtual ‘CII International Conference on IPR & CII Industrial IP Awards’ on behalf of UPL during the felicitation ceremony. He stated “At UPL, our focus is completely on sustainable development including efficient utilization of the natural resources and adapting and building resilience to climate change. All of which bears testimony to our ability to make products and services available to farmers; that help fuel the new age of farming – Farming 3.0 around the globe.”

UPL’s Chief Technology Officer, Adrian Percy stated “We continuously strive to make our formulations and processes environmentally friendly, using progressive innovation.  ZEBA, for instance, is a granular soil applied starch-based technology, working much like a sponge. Distributed in the rooting zone, each micro granule is able to absorb many times its original weight in water and release it back to plants as and when they need it. This water management and interaction with essential water-soluble nutrients is the key to reducing the amount of nutrients being lost into the environment, thereby reducing any negative impact on environmental and human health.”

UPL has won the award in the

AgroPolicy, Warehousing

Subsidies and benefits under Agri Infrastructure Fund and other government schemes to be extended to setting up of flexible and in-demand storage solutions

 Arya, a leader in post-harvest agritech and agri-fintech also has huge expectations from the government for the Budget.

“With the passage of the three farm bills in FY2020, the focus of the Government has to be on the development of Agriculture Infrastructure which is critical for the successful take-off of these marketing reforms. We hope for the inclusion of lending by Banks to Agri Fintech start-up NBFCs under PSL for all categories of loans otherwise classified as agriculture in PSL. Subsidies and benefits under Agri Infrastructure Fund and other government schemes to be extended to setting up flexible and in-demand storage solutions including Hermetic Storage solutions and Agri-NBFCs to be allowed borrowing through the ECB route”, said Prasanna Rao, Co-Founder & CEO, Arya.

“I think the biggest challenge for the government in the current budget will be raising resources. Imposing an additional tax burden does not augur well for markets, hence this will be a dilemma. While the government will be thinking in terms of how to increase demand for consumption, in the backdrop of the pandemic, it may not be sufficient enough a resource to meet the budgetary gaps. One of the ways that they can do this is to advance 25 per cent of the tax collections for the next two years with a rebate on tax for the next two years. A formula can be built out which is attractive both at the Individual and at Corporate tax levels. This may even be tried for GST too. It being optional, it may not face much resistance as an idea. People may even opt for it given the fact that bank deposits have gone up and rates of deposits are low. This reform will help the government to meet the resources required and in turn, benefit the taxpayer.  Moreover, since only 25% is being targeted with the improvement in the economy, this gap will get abridged in the ensuing years and the strain on the following years may not be very significant”, stated Chattanathan Devarajan, Managing Director- Aryadhan Financial Solutions Private Ltd

Subsidies and benefits under Agri Infrastructure Fund

Finance, Start ups

CropIn’s data-driven farming solutions enable agri-enterprises and growers to ‘maximize per-acre value’

Bangalore based CropIn, a leading global artificial intelligence and data-led agri-tech organization empowering stakeholders to reimagine agriculture with data, has raised US$20 million in a Series C funding round led by ABC World Asia, an Asia-focused private equity fund dedicated to evidence-based impact investing.

Existing investors Chiratae Ventures, Invested Development, and Ankur Capital also participated in this funding round. Other new investors in this round include CDC Group and Kris Gopalakrishnan’s family office Pratithi Investment Trust.

CropIn will use this capital infusion to focus on its global expansion while continuing to innovate on its machine learning-based predictive analytics platform, SmartRisk to further strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities. CropIn is also investing to penetrate deeper into its target markets globally.

CropIn’s data-driven farming solutions enable agri-enterprises and growers to ‘maximize per-acre value’. Its farm data and agronomy management platform, SmartFarm, empowers stakeholders to improve efficiency, productivity, predictability, and sustainability of their crop value-chains. SmartFarm enables agri-enterprises to adhere to food safety standards thereby ensuring farm-to-fork traceability.

Thus far, CropIn has positively impacted 13 million acres and 4 million farmers through the SmartFarm and SmartRisk platforms.

Based in Singapore, ABC World Asia invests in companies that demonstrate a commitment to generating positive and measurable social or environmental impact, alongside the ability to deliver compelling risk-adjusted returns.

 

CropIn’s data-driven farming solutions enable agri-enterprises and

Agrotech

She will be responsible for Human Resources, Strategy and Business Consulting and drive the accelerated transformation of Bayer.  

The Supervisory Board of Bayer AG announced the appointment of Sarena Lin (50) to the company’s Board of Management as of February 1, 2021. Lin will become the company’s Chief Transformation and Talent Officer. She will be responsible for Human Resources, Strategy and Business Consulting and drive the accelerated transformation of Bayer. Additionally, she will serve as Labor Director. Lin will be based at the company’s headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany. She will join Bayer from Elanco Animal Health Incorporated, where she is a member of the Executive Committee, responsible for the areas of Transformation and Technology. She previously worked in senior positions at McKinsey and Cargill, among others.

“We are delighted that Sarena Lin will strengthen the Bayer Board of Management with her global experience, strategic expertise, leadership skills and ability to lead large-scale transformations,” said Norbert Winkeljohann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG. “Bayer must now decisively accelerate the transformation it has initiated. Few companies have the potential to benefit from the ongoing bio revolution as much as Bayer. The company’s leading positions in attractive life science businesses must be translated into accelerated growth and value creation.”

“I have gotten to know Bayer as a highly professional, innovative company with enormous potential and an inspiring vision and purpose. Now is the time to unleash that potential,” said Lin of joining the company. “I am looking forward to shaping the ongoing transformation as part of Team Bayer for the benefit of all of the company’s stakeholders.”

 

She will be responsible for Human Resources,

Agrotech

By Dr Shivendra Bajaj, Executive Director, Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII)

 

Social media has changed the way we think, comprehend and communicate, and it has not just restricted young people in urban pockets anymore but has penetrated deep into rural areas as well. Social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is acting as a powerful tool for farmers to connect with buyers as well as agribusinesses over large geographical distances. It is also helping to share knowledge and information of mutual interest by farmers living in the same region or growing similar crops in the different parts of the country. Social media is facilitating farmers to make judicious decisions.

 The Government of Maharashtra, in November 2020, had taken a decision to promote its policies and schemes related to agriculture through WhatsApp. The use of communication technology would equip farmers with real-time data, monitoring demand and supply of seeds and crop produce as well as updated information about market prices. Himachal Pradesh government also has enrolled total of a few thousand farmers on WhatsApp to help them resolve their farm- related problems and issue advisories. Globally, in New Zealand, the UK, the US, Australia, discussions are facilitated between farmers and agribusinesses under the AgChat model, which is a Twitter online discussion group. All this gives a glimpse into how powerful and effective social media can be to connect with millions of farmers in our country.

 Social media can empower farmers as it brings in transparency, engagement, trust and authenticity in the supply chain. The most important aspect is that it reduces social isolation for farmers and enables them to connect with other farmers, agribusinesses and customers comfortably. They can market their produce well and sell it off wherever they want, seeking best prices. Also, they can interact with experts, people with influence, from whom they can gain a wealth of knowledge, experiences and guidance. Even for regular farm operations such as building irrigation system, buying crop inputs, accessing better markets, such online platforms can do wonders for farmers. Social media can keep them updated of every farm-related development.    

In Vidarbha’s farm-distressed district of Yavatmal, over 13 farmers came together and formed a WhatsApp group to share information about farm operations and government schemes. From time to time they share information about cropping patterns, new irrigation and pest control techniques, use of fertilisers and pesticide, innovations in cultivation methods, crop damage among others. These farmers are benefitted greatly since the group has scientists, experts and consultants working in the agriculture field. There is need to have such groups in every part of India. 

India is a country that has more smartphones than computers, and the users are increasing rapidly in the rural parts- from 9 percent in 2015 to 25 percent in 2018. According to Indian Cellular and Electronics Association, rural India registered a year-on-year growth of 35 percent in 2018 compared to 7 percent in urban areas. This bears good news for the efforts to use social media in agriculture extension. Lack of skills can be a hurdle initially, but sensitisation and training can help enhance the number of farmers using social media. The central government’s Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) that aims to increase digital literacy in the country can facilitate farmers to get benefitted from social media. Effective usage of social media would certainly enhance agriculture extension education efforts and thus productivity.     

By Dr Shivendra Bajaj, Executive Director, Federation

AgroPolicy

Dr Mohapatra emphasized taking-up such surveys in horticulture, dairy and fisheries sectors too

Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR) recently chaired the CSISA-KVK collaborative Project Review on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning through the Large Scale Diagnostic Survey. Dr Mohapatra applauded the observations made through the Large Scale Diagnostic Survey (LDS) of rice and wheat crops. He desired that five major recommendations which are revealed from the survey viz. impact of early sowing of wheat and rice, application of nutrients, irrigation at critical stages, etc., may be brought out from Wheat and Rice Surveys. The Director-General stressed taking-up the recommendations with the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India for the different regions and states.

Dr Mohapatra emphasized taking-up such surveys in horticulture, dairy and fisheries sectors too. He stressed harnessing the KVK’s strength. The Director-General also released the Publication “New Frontiers in Agricultural Extension” – Volume – II based on LDS for rice crop during the occasion.

Dr Ashok Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension), ICAR outlined the adoption Patterns of different varieties in rice. He underlined that the older varieties, such as, MTU 7029 (Swarna) released in 1982 and BPT 5204 (Samba Mahsuri) released in 1986 continue to dominate the Eastern India region. The Paddy yields in Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh were just half to that of Punjab and Haryana within the same maturity class.

 

Dr Mohapatra emphasized taking-up such surveys in

Agro chems – Chemicals, World

Fawligen is manufactured by the global leader and innovator in biological pest control, AgBiTech LL

Farmers in Nigeria, the first country where Fall Armyworm (FAW) was detected in Africa in 2016, will soon get access to a biological tool that will prevent an infestation of the invasive pest. The product which is called Fawligen belongs to the new IRAC mode of action Group 31 (host-specific occluded pathogenic viruses). It contains a nucleopolyhedrovirus specific to the Fall Armyworm pest and has been undergoing several regulatory trials and evaluations across several African countries since early 2018.

To ensure that farmers in Nigeria which have the largest maize acreage in Africa of 5 million hectares can protect their crops from severe injury and economic damage caused by the FAW infestation, Golden Agri Inputs Limited (GAIL), a member of the FMN Group have partnered with AgBiTech as its exclusive distributor for Fawligen in the country.

Fawligen is manufactured by the global leader and innovator in biological pest control, AgBiTech LLC. According to Dr Shachi Gurumayum, Head of Africa & South Asia for AgBiTech, “Fawligen has been tested and evaluated by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for two consecutive years in Nigeria. Having access to a safe and effective biological control for FAW will be a welcome relief to many of the Nigerian farmers affected by FAW”. 

 

Fawligen is manufactured by the global leader