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AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Finance, Floriculture, Supply Chain

The project will upgrade 16 existing post-harvest facilities and construct three new ones to provide individual farmers and FPOs with clean, accessible, and sustainable crop storage and processing facilities

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India have signed a $100 million loan to promote an agribusiness network to boost farm incomes and reduce food losses in the State of Maharashtra.

 

Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance signed for the Government of India, the agreement for the Maharashtra Agribusiness Network (MAGNET) Project, while Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission signed for ADB.

 

After the signing of the loan agreement, Mishra stated that the project supports agribusiness development in Maharashtra with holistic support to on-farm improvement in productivity, up-gradation of post-harvest facilities, and establishing efficient marketing structures to benefit horticulture producers.

 

“The project will help small and marginal farmers in Maharashtra improve their post-harvest and marketing capacity, reduce food losses, and increase incomes through access to finance, capacity building, and horticulture value chain infrastructure development,” said Konishi. 

 

Though Maharashtra produces 11 per cent and 6 per cent of India’s fruit and vegetable production, respectively, and accounts for about 8 per cent of the country’s floriculture exports, most smallholder farmers lack the capital to scale up and do not have direct access to emerging high-value markets. The ADB loan will help provide financing opportunities for farmer producer organizations (FPOs) and value chain operators (VCOs) through matching grants and financial intermediation loans to support 300 subprojects.

 

The project will upgrade 16 existing post-harvest facilities and construct three new ones to provide individual farmers and FPOs with clean, accessible, and sustainable crop storage and processing facilities. It will also build the capacity of FPOs and VCOs on value chain acceleration and post-harvest handling and management, especially those owned and led by women. The project is expected to benefit 200,000 farmers.

 

ADB will provide a $500,000 technical assistance (TA) grant from its Technical Assistance Special Fund and $2 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction on a grant basis to improve market linkages for FPOs. The TA will establish crop-based centres of excellence networks, promote innovative technologies in agribusiness and agriculture value chains, and support capacity building, including the asset and financial management capabilities of the MAGNET Society and the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board.

 

 

The project will upgrade 16 existing post-harvest

Acquaculture, Agrotech, Live Stock, R&D

The market can exhibit an 11.71 per cent CAGR over the forecast period

According to a comprehensive research report by Market Research Future (MRFR), Agriculture Analytics Market information by Farm Size, by Components, by Deployment Modes and Region – forecast to 2027, the market size can reach $1.5 billion by 2026. It can exhibit an 11.71 per cent CAGR over the forecast period.

 

Agriculture analytics are designed to improve farming techniques and makes use of complementary technologies such as satellites, drones, and others to make informed decisions. Rising consumption of food and the need for fertile land can drive its demand.

 

The huge potential of urban farming due to people growing vegetables in the gardens and homes can drive market growth. The ability to provide food to local communities and the benefit of shielding crops from environmental elements can bode well for the market. The use of big data and artificial intelligence can be used by farmers to enhance their potential and increase crop production significantly.

 

The rise of digitisation and employment of novel techniques to improve crop yields and streamline the supply chain can drive market growth. The need for outsourcing of field operations owing to a labour shortage and worker expenses can accelerate the transformation. Managed service providers can use analytical tools to accumulate, process, and analyse information to improve the decisions of farmers and improve crop cultivation.

 

The use of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide data connectivity to farmers in rural areas to streamline the agriculture value chain as well as revolutionise precision agriculture can bode well for the market. The adoption of satellite analytics can propel market demand over the forecast period.

 

But high costs of accumulation of relevant data and huge initial capital investment can impede the market growth. The use of drones and tractors for navigation and mapping are costly affairs that can increase crop production rates.

 

Based on components, the agriculture analytics market has been bifurcated into solutions and services. The solutions segment is likely to capture a major market share over the forecast period due to the need for analysis of large data sets for optimum decision making. Identification of critical parameters as well as the correlation of large swathes of data can encourage segment growth.

 

Based on farm size, the agriculture analytics market has been segmented into large farms and small and medium-sized farms. Large farms are likely to capture a huge market share owing to the ability to scale its cultivation and huge demand for food among the masses. Agriculture analytics can assist large farms in managing information for higher yields.

 

Major applications of the agriculture analytics market are segmented into farm analytics, livestock analytics, aquaculture analytics, and others. Furthermore, the other segment is subdivided into orchids, forestry, and horticulture. Livestock analytics includes observation of animals and tracking of their data to ensure the quality of products.

The market can exhibit an 11.71 per

Agro chems – Pesticides, Agrotech, Live Stock

The award was presented in Basel, Switzerland at the 16th Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting (ABIM) organised by the IBMA

International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA) has recognised Bee Vectoring Technologies International (BVT) with the Bernard Blum Award for novel biocontrol solutions, awarding Bronze for BVT’s VectorHive system.

 

The award was presented in Basel, Switzerland at the 16th Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting (ABIM) organised by the IBMA and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture. Ashish Malik, CEO, BVT and Christoph Lehnen, BVT Business Manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa attended the conference. 

 

“BVT being recognised with a Bernard Blum Award is a strong indicator of the robustness and sustainability of our natural precision agriculture solution,” said Lehnen.

 

BVT’s Vectorite with CR-7, a biological fungicide, controls fungal diseases including Colletotrichum (anthracnose), Botrytis (grey mould) and Monilinia (mummy berry).

 

As bees exit the hive during normal pollination activities, they walk through BVT’s VectorHive system, picking up trace amounts of the biological product (which attach harmlessly to their bodies), then carry it directly into blooms. As the bees pollinate crops, they efficiently deliver the microbe directly to where plants are most susceptible to many fungal diseases: the flower. Once on the flower, the microbe colonises the plant and protects the crop against various diseases.

 

The award was presented in Basel, Switzerland

Agrotech, Finance

The consolidated income from operations in Q2FY22 stood at Rs 532.41 crore

 

Praj Industries (Praj) announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2021. The consolidated income from operations in Q2FY22 stood at Rs 532.41 crore (Q1 FY22: Rs 386.26 crore; Q2 FY21: Rs 260.24 crore). Profit before tax (PBT) is at Rs 46.77 crore for the period (Q1 FY22: Rs 29.80 crore; Q2 FY21: Rs 15.67 crore). Profit after tax (PAT) is at Rs 33.34 crore (Q1 FY22: Rs 22.20 crore; Q2 FY21: Rs 11.39). The order intake during the quarter was Rs 745 crore (Q1 FY22: Rs 661 crore; Q2 FY21: Rs 405 crore).

In H1 FY22, the consolidated income from operations stood at Rs 918.67 crore (H1 FY21: Rs 389.79 crore). PBT is at Rs 76.57 crore for the period (H1 FY21: Rs. 1.15 crore). PAT is at Rs 55.54 crore (H1 FY21: Rs 0.89 crore). The order intake is at Rs 1406 crore (H1 FY21: Rs 715 crore).

Shishir Joshipura, CEO and MD, Praj Industries said, “We have leveraged our leadership position to build a very strong order book and report a robust performance during the quarter. Focus on developing a carbon-free economy coupled with a gradual return to normalcy in post covid era is leading to improving traction in our international business. Overall, we are looking forward to accelerated growth building on our technological prowess and leadership position in the market.”

The consolidated income from operations in Q2FY22

Agrotech, Finance, Start ups

Premium growth is 100 per cent YoY and is expected to continue over the next few years 

India’s leading rural insurtech startup ‘GramCover’ has crossed the milestone of Rs 100 cr premium for FY21 and covered more than 17 lakh customers with net revenues growing 55 per cent YoY. 

Since its inception, GramCover has enabled over 3.2 million Indian farmers with insurance through its vast unique technology-led distribution and servicing model. The company has customers in 13 states, 50 districts, 450 blocks and 8000 villages. In the coming year, GramCover aims to target 100 per cent CAGR growth and expand its offerings, geographies and partners. 

The company has witnessed a huge increase in first-time insurance adopters and significant interest in the products that are provided at the doorstep of the customer. 

Commenting on the growth milestone, Dhyanesh Bhatt, CEO, GramCover said, “GramCover has shown significant traction in the last few years moving from 1000 customers in FY 18 to 1.7 mn customers in FY 21. While crop insurance is our largest product as of now, we have seen massive growth in our non-crop portfolio as well including motor, health and livestock in FY21. Going forward, we expect an exponential increase in our non-crop portfolio which shall be the key growth driver for us.”

GramCover offers 10 products – crop insurance, parametric insurance, cattle insurance, goat insurance etc.

Premium growth is 100 per cent YoY

Agrotech, Machinery - Pre-harvesting, Machinery – Post-harvesting, Sustainable Energy

The world’s first production methane tractor was showcased at the EIMA Agricultural Trade Show in Bologna, Italy

New Holland Agriculture, a global agriculture brand of CNH Industrial, has been awarded the title of ‘Sustainable Tractor of the Year 2022’ for its T6 Methane Power, the world’s first production methane tractor, at the EIMA Agricultural Trade Show in Bologna, Italy. The award is determined by a jury of leading farm equipment journalists from Europe’s top agricultural publications. 

New Holland Agriculture is now manufacturing series production units at the brand’s Basildon, UK tractor plant, with a growing number of units currently in operation. The T6 Methane Power tractor originated from New Holland Agriculture’s pioneering work on the use of alternative fuels through its Clean Energy Leader strategy. It marks a significant milestone on the journey to decarbonising agriculture.  

Using methane as a fuel creates a circular energy system wherein farmers produce fuel from waste products. New Holland Agriculture’s T6 Methane Power tractor is a key enabler for this circular process and demonstrates CNH Industrial’s longstanding commitment to sustainable farming. 

The T6 Methane Power tractor provides valuable economic and practical advantages to biogas plant operators, farmers with access to the gas network, and governments looking to reduce their emissions footprint by expanding their fleets of compressed natural gas vehicles.

The world’s first production methane tractor was

Dairy, Finance, Start ups

Led by Nutreco, Stellapps has completed the first close towards its pre-series C round from various investors worth $18 million

Nutreco, a global animal nutrition and aquaculture company based in the Netherlands, has invested in India’s leading dairy-tech startup Stellapps to enable farmers to increase productivity and efficiency. Led by Nutreco, Stellapps has completed the first close towards its pre-series C round from various investors. The total size of the round will be $18 million. The fundraising round also saw participation from existing investors including Qualcomm Ventures, Celesta Capital, and ABB Technology Ventures.


The latest funding round is a significant step forward to enabling Stellapps technology to solve these challenges. Stellapps plans to deploy the funds to rapidly scale-up its traceability network and extend its digital footprint across India.

Led by Nutreco, Stellapps has completed the

Agrotech, Environment

Acquires Soil Metrics, industry-leading technology for comprehensive soil carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment

Indigo Agriculture, a company leveraging nature and technology to unlock economic and environmental progress in agriculture, has announced a deepened commitment to advancing discovery in soil carbon science, enabled by the acquisition of Soil Metrics — an industry-leading technology for comprehensive soil carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment in agricultural soils.

The strategic investment reaffirms Indigo’s commitment to the rigorous scientific process underlying soil environment measurement and will further enhance and scale the premier carbon measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) system powering its industry-leading carbon farming programme to maximise profitability and sustainability benefits for growers.

The companies have already been working together to meet the high scientific standards set by the registry-approved soil carbon methodologies in use by the Carbon by Indigo program. Indigo’s digital and technological capabilities, along with its diverse network of ag partners, will help scale and enhance Soil Metrics’ biogeochemical modelling. In turn, Soil Metrics will be able to leverage Indigo’s resources to improve and expand upon its soil carbon modelling capabilities while continuing to deliver services to its existing and future customer base.

In collaboration with farmers across the US, Indigo researchers are also now in their third year of the Soil Carbon Experiment, a long-term soil study that includes a combination of observational and interventional field-scale research sites that span 12 states and over 130 fields.

Acquires Soil Metrics, industry-leading technology for comprehensive

Agro chems – Chemicals, Finance

The company’s PBT for the first six months has been registered at Rs 67.92 crore

New Delhi-based Best Agrolife has registered revenue of Rs 668.95 crore for the period ending September 30, 2021, registering a jump of 4.43 per cent over PY of Rs 640.60 crore with an EBITDA of Rs 71.29 crore. The profit after tax was at Rs 50.73 crore. The company’s profit before tax for the first six months was Rs 67.92 crore that grew drastically five times compared to the previous year’s Rs 12.57 crore.

The company in its second quarter generated revenue of Rs 324.39 crore with a growth of 16.81 per cent – an EBITDA of Rs 35.23 crore and PAT of Rs 24.95 crore.

The merged turnover of two subsidiaries- Best Crop Science and Seedlings India– will reflect from the third quarter onward. The company expects a growth of 30-35 per cent in revenue and PBT to change from 7 per cent to 11 per cent. The company plans to purchase an agrochemical factory located in Sabha, Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir).

“The continuous efforts to understand the needs of our biggest stakeholders and the farmers are showing us the path to create innovative products. With leading products in the upcoming quarters, we are creating a strong pipeline for the business,” said Vimal Alawadhi, MD, Best Agrolife.

The company’s PBT for the first six

Agrotech, IT, Supply Chain

The company has launched innovative efforts in the agricultural sector

CropIn, a leading AI and data-led Agtech organisation has received the Tech India Transformation Award in the ‘Agritech of the Year’ category. CropIn earned this award for its innovative efforts in the agricultural sector.

The award ceremony was held virtually, where several other tech leaders were present. All attendees at the ceremony are assisting India hit global highs aided by the power of technology. The idea is to infuse technology not just at the farmland but throughout the supply chain. With the inclusion of AI and ML, revenue generation has witnessed a boost while making the process a lot more manageable and smoother.

Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO, CropIn commented, “CropIn has come a long way since its inception changing lives for the better with the help of AI and ML. The idea of AG-Tech is swiftly picking up both nationwide and globally, and CropIn is leading the joyride. This has only been possible due to CropIn’s team, who worked dedicatedly to turn a vague vision into reality. This marks the beginning of our aggressive growth for the years to come.”
 

The company has launched innovative efforts in

R&D, Seeds

The seven-hectare global Product Design Center in San Nicolás includes state-of-the-art lab space for cell biology research and greenhouses for seed production

Bayer has announced the expansion of its vegetable seeds R&D product design centre in San Nicolás, Spain. The San Nicolás site supports Bayer’s global vegetable seeds R&D pipeline for varieties sold to customers in more than 130 countries and territories under the Seminis and De Ruiter brands, both united under Vegetables by Bayer. 

 

With the largest investment in research and development in the industry, Bayer began the €5.1 million expansion of the product design centre in September 2019. The expansion includes a multifunctional R&D facility for cell biology, laboratories, cell culture rooms, climate-controlled chambers, and plans to develop a high-tech greenhouse space. It also allows for a three-fold increase in capacity for innovative doubled haploid (DH) production methods. 

 

The seven-hectare global Product Design Center in San Nicolás includes state-of-the-art lab space for cell biology research and greenhouses for seed production. The San Nicolás site is a key component of a holistic strategy to accelerate the design of novel genetic combinations and produce high quality doubled haploid plants at scale. The product design approach within vegetable breeding enables the incorporation of cutting edge technologies including genomics, cell biology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and imaging to better design products for growers and consumers. San Nicolás is one of more than 30 best-in-class vegetable R&D sites around the world and one of four Product Design Centers located in key vegetable producing regions including the Netherlands, Guatemala, and California.

  

The San Nicolás announcement comes as the United Nations celebrates the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables in 2021, which aims to raise awareness around ways to promote increased consumption of fruits and vegetables across the value chain.

The seven-hectare global Product Design Center in

Agro chems – Pesticides, AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Supply Chain

Urges the govt to take concrete steps for the betterment of farmers

Eminent scientists and agriculture experts from Karnataka have demanded to allow Biosafety Regulatory Level 1 (BRL 1) field trials of Bt Cotton and maize in Karnataka. After the success of Bt Cotton in India, since 2002 no other crop (enhanced through biotechnology) has been released in India. While farmers have been demanding to get hold of such technologies to improve crop productivity and control insect attacks, nothing has been approved by the government so far.

Dr BV Patil, Former Vice-Chancellor and Senior Entomologist, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka said, “Adoption of new innovative methods/ practices by the farming community will not only increase the food production which feeds the growing population but also make agriculture more sustainable and profitable to the farmers. Searching for new ideas i.e research should continue till we achieve our desired goal/objective. I recommend integrating GM technology as one of the technologies in pest management.”

Dr KK Narayan, Founder Director, Sthayika Seeds, Director and CEO, Agrigenome Labs, Director, Foundation for Advanced Training in Plant Breeding (ATPBR), said “ I strongly recommend that approval should be accorded to conduct field trials for these cotton and maize products so that the farmers of this country and the state can have the benefit of modern science in improving their productivity and farm incomes.”

Dr SA Patil, Former Director IARI and Former VC, University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad said, “I feel that the government has to act and encourage scientific dialogues with all the policymakers, technology developers and farming community. Decisions for a scientific matter through the public consultation may otherwise push the country many years back.”

The experts opined that the government and policymakers must educate the general public on the scientific advances that are being made globally to address the serious issues adversely impacting agricultural productivity. Policymakers will have to enable the development and evaluation of technologies in a reliable and time-bound manner.

Urges the govt to take concrete steps

Agrotech, Environment

The analytical tool enables institutional asset owners and managers to better understand the impact of climate change on private asset portfolios

MSCI, a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community, and The Burgiss Group, a market-leading provider of data, analytics and technology solutions for investors of private capital, have announced the launch of a new analytical tool that enables institutional asset owners and managers to better understand the impact of climate change on private asset portfolios.

Launched ahead of COP26, the Carbon Footprinting of Private Equity and Debt Funds measures the carbon intensity of private equity and debt funds. The analytical tool is designed to address a serious transparency gap in the private assets market, spanning private equity, fixed income, and venture capital investments. Though the transition to net-zero affects every asset, the challenge of addressing climate risk intensifies with private portfolios, both because of the importance of private assets in institutional portfolios and the opacity that can characterise them.

The analytical tool enables institutional asset owners

Agrotech, Finance, Start ups

Gramophone will use the proceeds towards geographic expansion, marketing, technology development and M&A

Gramophone – a full-stack agri-tech platform has raised $10 million round led by Z3Partners, a market-leading early growth investor that brings decades of experience in investing in leading technology and digital businesses like DealShare, Cyfirma, and prior Fund investments like Ofbusiness, BigBasket, Pepperfry and MedGenome, etc. Gramophone will use the proceeds towards geographic expansion, marketing, technology development and M&A.

 

Existing investor, Info Edge, has doubled down in this round along with participation from other existing investors, Asha Impact, and Siana Capital. Other new investors in the round include Amit Sharma from erstwhile Sunrise Group, Sumeet Kanwar from Verity, and Chona Family Office (Havmor Group). These family offices bring vast experience in building agri and food businesses.

 

Gramophone is a market-leading agri-tech company that provides agronomy services, input and output products in Madhya Pradesh, Chattishgarh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan by way of an eCommerce marketplace.

 

Tauseef Khan, Co-founder & CEO, Gramophone said, “ With this investment, we will double down on investing in technologies that lower costs, improve transparency and empower the local community of agri entrepreneurs with more earning opportunities in rural areas. We are excited to welcome Z3Partners and other new investors in this journey and deepen our partnership with Info Edge, Asha Impact and Siana Capital.”

Gramophone will use the proceeds towards geographic