Connect with:
Monday / December 23. 2024

logo
mobile-logo
Home2021August (Page 14)
AgroPolicy, Environment

The agromet advisories will help farmers to decide on day-to-day agricultural operations, which can further optimise the application of input resources at the farm level during extreme weathers

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that India Meteorological Department (IMD) has undertaken installation of Agro-Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) to provide exact weather forecast to the people, especially the farmers. 

 

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, he said, the installation was done at District Agromet Units (DAMUs) located in the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) network. The Minister said Agro-AWS is being installed at 200 DAMUs to augment block-level Agromet Advisory Services (AAS) under Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) scheme. 

 

Weather-based operational AAS viz. GKMS scheme, rendered by IMD jointly with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and state agricultural universities, is a step towards weather-based crop and livestock management strategies and operations for the benefit of the farming community in the country. Under the scheme, medium-range weather forecast at district and block level is generated and based on the forecast, Agromet Advisories are prepared and communicated by the Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) co-located with state agricultural universities, and DAMUs at KVKs to the farmers every Tuesday and Friday.

 

These agromet advisories help farmers to decide on day-to-day agricultural operations, which can further optimise the application of input resources at the farm level during deficient rainfall situations and extreme weather events to reduce monetary loss and maximise crop yield. IMD also monitors rainfall situations and weather aberrations and issues alerts and warnings to the farmers from time to time under the GKMS scheme. SMS-based alerts and warnings for extreme weather events along with suitable remedial measures are issued to take timely operations by the farmers. Such alerts and warnings are also shared with state department of agriculture for the effective management of calamity.

 

Agromet advisories are communicated to the farmers through multichannel dissemination systems like print and electronic media, Doordarshan, radio, Internet etc. including SMS using mobile phones through Kisan Portal launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and also through private companies under the PPP mode. At present, 43.37 million farmers in the country receive the Agromet Advisories through SMS directly. KVKs of ICAR has also given a link to the respective district-level advisory in their web portal. 

 

A mobile App viz., ‘Meghdoot’ has also been launched by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, to help the farmers to get the weather information including alerts and related agreement advisories specific to their districts.

The agromet advisories will help farmers to

AgroPolicy, Agrotech

The ecosystem will help the government to effectively increase the income of farmers in particular and improving the efficiency of the agriculture sector as a whole

The government is in the process of finalising ’India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA)’ which will lay down a framework for Agristack. The department has commenced the work for creating Agristack in the country. Accordingly, a Task Force has been constituted and in furtherance, a Concept Paper on IDEA has already been floated for comments from the general public not only through the department’s website but also through emails especially to subject matter specialists, Agro-Industry, Farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). 

 

This information was given by Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Lok Sabha. 

 

The IDEA would help in laying down the architecture for the Agri-stack in the country and that would serve as a foundation to build innovative agri-focused solutions leveraging emerging technologies to contribute effectively in creating a better ecosystem for agriculture in India. This ecosystem shall help the government in effective planning towards increasing the income of farmers in particular and improving the efficiency of the Agriculture sector as a whole. As the first step in this direction, the government has already initiated building a federated farmers’ database that would serve as the core of the envisaged Agristack.

 

No private sector companies are involved as far as the building of the Agristack is concerned. However, leading technology/agri-tech/startUp companies were identified and invited to collaborate with the Government of India to develop Proof of Concepts (PoC) based on small portions of data from the federated Farmers’ database for certain identified areas (Districts/Village). 

 

A public call through the Department’s website has been placed inviting proposals for PoCs. MoUs purely on a pro bono basis with selected companies are being signed, for one year to develop PoCs. The PoCs will help in understanding solutions that can be built using available data and some of them, if found beneficial to the farmers will be scaled up at the national level. 

 

Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has signed an MoU with Esri India Technologies for working on a PoC in select districts/villages to develop a model for an agriculture Geo-Hub to establish a framework to collect and integrate available geospatial information with other associated information, perform spatial analytics, share results and data and deploy dynamic apps which would support estimates for policy planning, monitoring requirements and ease in decision making. 

The ecosystem will help the government to

AgroPolicy, Supply Chain

According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, no report of black marketing of tomato, onions and potatoes have been received so far

Prices of vegetables are determined by the normal market forces of demand and supply as well as production/harvest season. This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha. 

 

The prices of vegetables are also influenced by other factors such as disruptions in the supply chain, functioning of mandis, rainfall, labour, transportation etc. The Government is implementing a market information system where the prices of vegetables are collected through the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis and disseminated for its use by the farmers through the Agmarknet portal, mobile applications etc. for better price realisation.

 

The Government is implementing the scheme of ‘Operation Greens’ for integrated development of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) value chain since 2018-19 to give a fair price to the farmers for green vegetables. The major objectives of the scheme inter alia include enhancing value realisation of TOP farmers; Price stabilisation for producers and consumers; reduction in post-harvest losses; increase in food processing capacities and value addition in TOP value chain by creating firm linkages with production clusters.

 

Further, the government has extended the short term price stabilisation measures from TOP to another 41 notified crops-fruits and vegetables w.e.f June 11, 2020. As of July 19, 2021, at a total subsidy of Rs 47.66 crore has been released as part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan under the Operation Greens scheme.

 

No report of black marketing of onions and tomato have been received from the States/UTs. State governments as well as the Central government continue to exercise powers under the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980 for preventing such practices.

 

According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs,

AgroPolicy, Trade, Transportation

West Bengal is new to taking up cultivation of this exotic fruit

A consignment of fibre and mineral-rich ‘dragon fruit’, which are sourced from farmers of Gujarat & West Bengal, have been exported for the first time to London, the UK and the Kingdom of Bahrain. In India, dragon fruit is also referred to as Kamalam.

The consignment of exotic fruit exported to London was sourced from farmers of the Kutch region and exported by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) registered packhouse in Bharuch, Gujarat, while the consignment of ‘dragon fruit’ exported to the Kingdom of Bahrain was sourced from the farmers of West Midnapore (West Bengal) and exported by APEDA registered enterprises, Kolkata.

Earlier in June 2021, a consignment of ‘dragon fruit’ that was sourced from the farmers of Tadasar village, Sangli district, Maharashtra was exported to Dubai by APEDA recognised exporter.

There are three main varieties of dragon fruit: white flesh with pink skin, red flesh with pink skin, and white flesh with yellow skin. However, the red and white flesh is typically being relished by the consumers.

At present, dragon fruit is grown mostly in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. West Bengal is new to taking up cultivation of this exotic fruit.

APEDA is making efforts to export it to other European countries to get better price realisation to the farmers of their produce.

West Bengal is new to taking up

Interaction

Speakers also emphasised the need for cloud-based network for real time irrigation

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh recently organised a virtual launching workshop of ICAR-NASF Funded Project- ’Development of Nano Sensor and its Application through Cloud-Based Network for Real-Time Irrigation to Soil and Plant.’

The Chief Guest, Dr Suresh Kumar Chaudhari, Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management), ICAR emphasised the need for nano-sensors in modern agriculture and their utilisation in irrigation scheduling. He applauded the lead and co-operating Centres for the initiative.

Dr Ashok K Patra, Director, ICAR-IISS, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh highlighted the importance of the Nano-Sensors in agriculture in the wake of “Per Drop More Crop”.

Senior officials of the various ICAR Institutes also participated in the workshop.

Speakers also emphasised the need for cloud-based

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agrotech, R&D

IFFCO endeavours on developing highly advanced agricultural technological projects and promote precision farming and sustainable development in the country to double farmer’s income by 2022

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) research and development unit, Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) has signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi for research consultancy, knowledge transfer and collaborative projects.

 

IFFCO endeavours on developing highly advanced agricultural technological projects and promote precision farming and sustainable development in the country to double farmer’s income by 2022. The collaboration emphasises focussed joint research through sharing laboratories of IIT Delhi and IFFCO and providing research consultancy.

 

The MoU will broaden the scope for research and technological development in the field of agriculture. It will facilitate advanced research in the Area of Nano Technology for futuristic applications. IFFCO scientists and engineers will work with academic research faculty and scholars of IIT Delhi in addressing challenging agricultural and environmental related problems to find an innovative solution

 

Dr US Awasthi, MD, IFFCO said, “At IFFCO, we always look forward to adopting new technologies so that we can add value to the farmer at ground level. We also believe in creating sustainable innovative solutions to reduce the input cost of agriculture and farming and hence increase the income of farmers and that is the reason we were able to create the world’s first nano urea liquid at IFFCO. We are also committed to sustainable Agriculture and look for opportunities to create new solutions for sustainable farming to reduce environmental pollution.”

 

Prof V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi, welcomed this initiative, and said, “Impetus to research and innovations will help in achieving modern agriculture system, which will be beneficial for farmers of the country. IIT Delhi is happy to collaborate with IFFCO and work together on futuristic technologies of mutual interest.”

 

Prof Anurag S Rathore, Dean, Corporate Relations, IIT Delhi said, “It’s a matter of pride that this collaboration with IIT Delhi will benefit farmers immensely and look forward to some engaging work in the research areas like nanotechnology and material science, chemical engineering, agriculture technologies, environmental science and technology, rural development, data science, nano-bio interface and many more in due course of time.”    

 

 

IFFCO endeavours on developing highly advanced agricultural

AgroPolicy, Sustainable Energy

The bulletin has been released to reach out to policymakers, private sector companies and development practitioners

India’s leading economic think tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) has released the first issue of their quarterly publication Agri-Food Trends and Analytics Bulletin (AF-TAB) on July 22, 2021. This issue is titled COVID- 19 and Indian Agriculture: From Crisis to Opportunities. The bulletin has been released by ICRIER’s Agriculture Policy, Sustainability and Innovations (APSI) team to reach out to policymakers, private sector companies and development practitioners. 

 

Using the findings from an ICRIER study of 2,917 migrant workers across six states — Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the lead article of the bulletin, COVID-19’s Impact on Indian Agriculture and Migrants, points out that on an average, household income of migrants fell by 85 per cent during June-August 2020. Although 63.5 per cent of the migrant workers had re-migrated to the destination areas by February 2021, the household income of the re-migrants still evidenced a contraction of 7.7 per cent relative to the pre-lock-down level.

 

India has evidenced a record production of food grains at 305.4 million tonnes in the 2020-21 crop year, along with a historically high procurement of wheat (43 million tonnes) and rice (57.4 million tonnes) as of June 27, 2021. Yet, 30 to 40 per cent of the CPI inflation of 6.3 per cent in June 2021 is ‘due to the inflationary pressures from the food and beverage category’ – as per the second article of the bulletin, India’s Food Inflation Imbroglio. Using the case of pulses that account for 11 per cent of the current CFPI inflation, the article deliberates whether the central government’s recent move of (re) introducing stocking limits on private trade of pulses can control inflation. 

 

Speaking about Agri-Food Trends and Analytics Bulletin (AF-TAB), Dr Deepak Mishra, Director and Chief Executive, ICRIER, said, “The pandemic has been a body-blow to this country, and we are still reeling under its threat. But it is also the time for renewal and revival. At this juncture, an evidence-based, analytical publication like this one holds the potential to inform our policymakers to rebuild a more resilient India.”

 

Elaborating on the highlights of the bulletin, Dr Ashok Gulati, Infosys Chair Professor for Agriculture, APSI and Chief Editor of AF-TAB said, “Healthy production and procurement is good news at this time when the government has doled out various (food) support schemes for the poor/vulnerable/ migrant labourers who have lost their livelihoods to the contagion…. Can we not turn around the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity for effecting our long-overdue agricultural reforms?”

 

While the articles in this issue explore the current policy environment, these also throw light on emerging private sector-led innovations that are silently changing the contours of Indian agriculture. A case study of Sahyadri FPCL, for instance, demonstrates how deepening the interface of institutions and technology can foster farmer-market linkages through the federation of farmers’ collectives or FPOs. 

 

A note on the technological innovations for food waste management refers to an ongoing APSI study, which estimated the total post-harvest loss (from grains, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, plantation crops, and spices and livestock produce) in India to be about Rs 1,30,481 crore for the year 2020-21.

 

 

The bulletin has been released to reach

Finance, North America

By 2022, Bayer Fund will double the individual donations to $5,000, up from $2,500 in previous years

Bayer Fund has recently announced the kickoff of the 2022 America’s Farmers Grow Communities programme, which has been revamped to make it even easier for farmers across the country to find and fund the organisations and institutions that keep their communities thriving. From August 2 to November 1, eligible farmers can enrol for the chance to direct a donation to a local eligible non-profit organisation, school STEM or youth agriculture programme. By 2022, Bayer Fund will double the individual donations to $5,000, up from $2,500 in previous years.

America’s Farmers initiatives have awarded more than $60 million to thousands of schools and nonprofit organisations. Since the creation of Grow Communities in 2010, farmers have played a key role in directing funds to programmes and organisations that contribute to their communities’ health and vibrancy, such as food banks, schools and agriculture programmes.

“We can’t thank our local farmers and the Grow Communities programme enough for their donation and continued support,” said Beth Burrow, Greenfield High School’s ag instructor. “As educators, we’re always looking for ways to engage our students with hands-on experiences, and that’s what we’ve been able to do thanks to Grow Communities.”

Farmers are eligible to enrol in Grow Communities if they are 21 years of age or older and are actively engaged in farming at least 250 acres of any crop.

By 2022, Bayer Fund will double the

Nature, Organic

Growing vegetables and fruits through hydroponic farming offer great control to farmers to make sure plants get the exact nutrients required for their healthy growth.

Agriculture has undergone a tremendous technological revolution. Traditionally, it relied on natural factors including climatic conditions. However, heatwaves and unexpected rains affected the harvest, thereby hindering the supply chain. With technological advances, traditional farming witnessed advancements in irrigation, seeds engineering, growth monitoring, etc. But still, the type of conventional farming depends on uncontrollable factors and that’s how the commercial production of fresh vegetables and fruits is affected.

 

Considering the difficulties posed by the present agriculture scenario, several newer farming methods have been adopted by urban farmers. Growing vegetables and fruits through hydroponic farming offer great control to farmers to make sure plants get the exact nutrients required for their healthy growth.

 

Understanding the concept of hydroponic farming 

The idea of hydroponic farming is based on growing plants in water, instead of soil. Apart from this, it also addresses the problem of scarcity of fertile land to be used for healthy production. Hydroponic system’s ability to grow plants indoors allows farmers to monitor and have control over temperature and lighting for the plants. Additionally, the farm is set up vertically to not only utilise the space wisely but also to add planting density. It allows farmers to create a farm where soil condition is poor and space is limited. 

 

Hydroponic systems over traditional farming

With the dearth of fertile land and the introduction of new scientific techniques, hydroponic farming is coming into existence. It provides a myriad of benefits over traditional farming by addressing the major concerns including widening nutrition gaps.

 

Nutritious yield

Hydroponic systems are designed in a way that anchors plants in a slightly angled direction. It allows nutrient solution to flow properly making it reach the plants. As a result, plants do not leech the water from the soil and grow faster and larger. Considering the traditional farming methods, nutrients in the water penetrate the soil that affects the process of understanding the exact amount of nutrients necessary for plant growth. However, in the case of hydroponic farming, the exact amount of water and nutrients are monitored by the farmer and the roots of the plants remain submerged. Furthermore, the excess water flows back to the holding tank and is recycled to feed the plants, thereby reducing water wastage.

 

Less space and water

In urban cities, the scarcity of land does not allow abundant and healthy production of crops. The use of a Hydroponic system allows urban farmers to grow nutritious vegetables and fruits in less space. The new-age farming method is combined with the vertical farming method that uses up to 80-90 per cent less land than traditional farming. Unlike farming in soil, the roots of the plants are not spread out to search for nutrients and moisture. The nutrients are directly delivered to plants that reduce the requirement of big spaces. With vertical stacking, a much smaller area is needed to produce a complete new-age farm.

 

Overcomes unpredictable challenges

Traditional farming methods are based on weather conditions that are unpredictable and are controlled by nature. Unpredictable weather conditions such as floods, drought, problems from pests, etc can affect production. This also presents a ripple effect on the supply chain, causing difficulty in getting nutritious vegetables and fruits. However, in a hydroponic system, the farmer controls the amount of sunlight and manages the growth of the plant. Being an indoor farming system, hydroponic farms have negligible chances of weed or pest attacks. Apart from this, a controlled environment helps in growing crops all year round. For instance, spinach with high nutritious content is grown even during the summer season on a hydroponic farm.

 

Sustainable farming

Currently, every country is losing fertile land at an alarming rate. According to the UN – the world loses 24 billion tons of fertile land lost every year. Furthermore, traditional farming is a major contributor to soil degradation. On the contrary, hydroponic farming enables the growth of crops at the same place over and over again, without considering crop rotation practices. Since it does not require soil or extensive farming land, this technique is an excellent way to grow the healthiest greens. Apart from this, the hydroponic farming technique yields more vegetables and fruits in a shorter time as compared to the traditional farming method. As a result, it reduces carbon footprints with no use of fossil fuel power.

 

Bottomline

Hydroponic farming proves to tackle the unmet challenges of conventional farming methods. It is more economical, efficient and consistent in yielding results. This makes the hydroponic farming way of agriculture with more return on investment. It is a wise choice that is still picking up among the new-age and urban farmers. Its potential is going to have a long-term influence on the traditional agriculture sector.

 

Growing vegetables and fruits through hydroponic farming

Dairy, Start ups

Launches SubhaLaxmi programme for providing entrepreneurial opportunities to women

Gurgaon-based dairy and whole-food tech startup NutriMoo by Credence Whole Foods has expanded its current offerings of milk, paneer, curd and ghee to launch daily essentials such as fresh vegetables, fruits, bread and eggs with same-day delivery. With this, NutriMoo plans to target 30,000 monthly active users (MAUs) from its current 1500 MAUs.

NutriMoo has an in-house processing facility that is well equipped to meet world standards in pasteurisation, sterilisation and homogenisation. The foremost mission is to provide good wholesome milk to ensure the safest and purest products reach the customers. NutriMoo is currently operational in Gurgaon and plans to launch its Delhi and UP operations in a phased manner.

The company started the SubhaLaxmi programme for providing entrepreneurial opportunities to women. The initiative is introduced by founders Abhishek Rao and Mayank Arora. The SubhaLaxmi programme is under the able mentorship of Somya Satsangi who is an early-stage investor along with Youdhbir Singh, an expert in warehousing solutions and cold chain logistics.

NutriMoo organised an event to recognise and felicitate the contribution of over 200 SubhaLaxmis as part of the joint program. Key dignitaries including the founders, investors and also the family of the SubhaLaxmis were present.

The company has backed up the entire setup including the supply chain with the latest use of technology. With a sense of passion to work towards social welfare, NutriMoo is working towards curating innovative “Health and Wellness” products, reaching out to a diverse community, creating a sustainable future.

Abhishek Rao, Co-founder & Director, Credence Foods said, “We look forward to serving the people and deliver one million orders per month by 31st march 2022.”

Mayank Arora, Co-Founder, & Director, Credence Foods said, “NutriMoo is not just providing the luxury of ordering daily consumables online, but also assuring the best quality products.”

Somya Satsangi, Investor said, “At NutriMoo, we deeply appreciate the important role and positive impact women have in making economic decisions, raising a family and nurturing our communities. Through the SubhaLaxmi initiative, that’s key to our supply chain, we are committed to empowering and changing the economic outlook for these women entrepreneurs.”

Launches SubhaLaxmi programme for providing entrepreneurial opportunities

Finance, Start ups, Warehousing

Arya has also expanded its warehousing footprint from 15 Lakh tonnes to 50 Lakh tonnes covering 30 Mn sq. ft. 

Arya – India’s largest post-harvest Agritech player, reports a growth in its Asset Under Management (AUM) of 125 per cent – from Rs 4200 to INR 9300 Cr on a Q-on-Q basis for the quarter ending June ‘21. The company’s success is a true testament to its platform’s robust expansion initiative that has impacted the lives of over 6 lac farmers on the platform. Given its commitment to stakeholders closer to the farmgate, the start-up has increased its FPO base from 300 to 500 over the past year. In this span, Arya has also expanded its warehousing footprint from 15 Lac tonnes to 50 Lac tonnes covering 30 Mn sq. ft.

Linked to around 5500 warehouses in 20 states at 1530 locations, 85 per cent of Arya collateral’s presence caters to India’s rural locations servicing customers such as farmers, FPOs and small aggregators. Arya’s digital platform Arya.ag also witnessed a growth of 3X in its loan portfolio disbursing over Rs 4400 Crores through its own balance sheet and in partnership with banks and financial institutions. 

 Speaking on this phenomenal growth, Prasanna Rao, CEO & Co-Founder, Arya said, “The pandemic has validated the relevance of our services. Greater adoption of technology across the agricultural value chain has ensured significantly deeper penetration of our integrated services, strengthening our position as a market leader in the agritech ecosystem. The growth in our business over the past 12 months is a reflection of the additional value created for our customers in near farm markets.”

 Arya’s integrated near farm solutions – covering aggregation, storage, finance, and market linkages -ensure better returns for its customers over 68 commodities. Addressing the issue of fragmented value chains in Indian agriculture, Arya offers a one stop solution through its integrated digital platform connecting the demand side with the supply side creating a layer of trust. The commodity marketplace on Arya’s digital platform facilitated a sale of agri-produce worth over Rs 100 crores in the last quarter. The complete visibility of quality and assurance provided by Arya guarantees peace of mind for the buyer. 

 

Arya has also expanded its warehousing footprint

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agrotech, Environment

The purpose of the trial is to assess the agronomic performance of commercially available ammonium bicarbonate as a nitrogen source for cannabis development

Bion Environmental Technologies, a developer of advanced livestock waste treatment technology that dramatically reduces environmental impacts while recovering high-value coproducts, announced that its cannabis trials are starting at Southern Illinois University, using commercial ammonium bicarbonate as a nitrogen fertiliser.

The purpose of the trial is to assess the agronomic performance of commercially available ammonium bicarbonate (AB) as a nitrogen source for cannabis development, compared to more traditional nitrogen fertilizer. If the results of this trial are positive, as expected, additional trials will be conducted using Bion’s AD Nitrogen when it becomes available in sufficient quantities in 2022. The results of subsequent AD Nitrogen trials, if warranted, would be expected to mirror the results demonstrated by the commercial AB product. Planning, design, and preparation for the study will commence this week. The trial will continue through September, followed by lab analysis, with a report expected in February 2022.  

SIU’s School of Agricultural Sciences will conduct the trial for Bion, to determine the effect of ammonium bicarbonate (AB) fertiliser on cannabinoid and terpene development in three different cultivars of the cannabis plant: BAOX, Cherry Citrus, and Super CBD. There will be three experimental treatments: 1) ammonium bicarbonate, 2) standard 12-12-12 fertiliser product, and 3) no additional treatment beyond Scotts Miracle-Gro Osmocote, following transplant like the others, as a control group.

The trial will include 27 plants in total. Following the predetermined growth cycle, analysis conducted will include cannabinoids (CBD), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and 19 different terpenes, which determine flavour, aroma and other consumer-related characteristics. 

The purpose of the trial is to

Machinery – Post-harvesting, Transportation

The newly launched MF 7235 DI offers modern technology, advanced features, best-in-class power, high fuel efficiency etc

Tractors and Farm Equipment (TAFE) has launched the 35 hp Massey Ferguson 7235 DI Haulage Special tractor for trolley and commercial applications in Uttar Pradesh. The newly launched MF 7235 DI offers modern technology, advanced features, best-in-class power, high fuel efficiency, globally renowned MF hydraulics, low maintenance, maximum safety and operator comfort, at a special introductory price.

The MF 7235’s dynamic performance makes it the ideal tractor for rural entrepreneurs, fleet owners, contractors and drivers, for use in commercial and haulage segments like sugarcane haulage, brick kilns, sand mines, stone mines, water tanker, construction material transportation, infrastructure and development work.

TAFE has also put together attractive offers and great benefits for the MF 7235 and these include free maintenance for two years, estimated yearly savings up to Rs 60,000 on fuel cost and a low booking amount of Rs 35,000 and easy finance options, addressing key customer concerns of high capital investment and operating cost. Top-notch features like 35 hp powerful and fuel-efficient Simpson engine, portal bull gear system, Maxx oil-immersed brakes, diaphragm clutch, higher ground clearance, longer wheelbase, factory fitted bumper, power steering, flat platform, 8×2 side shift gearbox, 1200 kgf lift capacity and superior MF hydraulics with 25 lpm hydraulic pump, make it truly unmatched.

The new MF 7235 also provides high backup torque at low operating rpm, resulting in better power delivery and lower fuel consumption, enabling the customers to complete more trips in less time with the added benefit of enhanced safety, comfort and ease of operation. The portal type bull gear reduction system used in the MF 7235 provides higher traction and better load pulling capacity, similar to the reduction system often used in military vehicles.
 

The newly launched MF 7235 DI offers

Agrotech, Seeds

PowerPollen’s Pollination-on-Demand technology will give farmers greater flexibility by allowing them to optimise the timing of pollinations

PowerPollen has announced a commercial license agreement with Bayer. The move will help corn seed production growers increase their yields. PowerPollen’s Pollination-on-Demand technology gives farmers greater flexibility by allowing them to optimise the timing of pollinations. Bayer will be providing farmers with the prescriptive expertise they need to increase their seeds’ yield and purity.

“Pollen preservation and handling technologies offer new and efficient ways to produce a crop. We are excited to partner with Bayer for commercial use of our technology,” said DrmTodd Krone, co-founder and CEO, PowerPollen.

“PowerPollen’s technology allows us to mitigate risk in the pollination process and explore several production schemes globally,” said Shannon Hauf, Senior Vice President and Head of Seed Production Innovation, Bayer Crop Sciences.

“That further enables our company to provide top genetics and technology in the highest quality seeds to our customers.”
PowerPollen’s patented technology includes collection, preservation and application of pollen in seed production fields using custom-designed tools, and pollen preservation and handling methods built to scale for commercial operations.

PowerPollen’s Pollination-on-Demand technology will give farmers greater