Connect with:
Monday / March 10. 2025

logo
mobile-logo
Home2021 (Page 133)
Agro chems – Chemicals, Agrotech

Shroff pioneered red phosphorus manufacturing in 1969, giving an impetus to the indigenous chemical industry

Rajnikant Devidas Shroff, Chairman, UPL is among ten recipients who would receive the coveted Padma Bhushan award for 2021, the third-highest civilian honour for his outstanding body of work in Trade and Industry. 

Born in Gujarat’s Kutch, Shroff pioneered red phosphorus manufacturing in 1969, giving an impetus to the indigenous chemical industry. In the 1980s, UPL started to launch a number of crop protection products and currently is among the leading total crop solutions providers globally.

A graduate of Chemistry from Bombay University, he established a novel process of manufacturing mercury salts in a plant at the U.K. and was paid a royalty for it by the British Company; a big achievement for any Indian way back in 1957. Soon after, he mastered red phosphorous and quickly moved on to the production of other chemicals like Aluminium Phosphide (fumigant) and Zinc Phosphide (rodenticide) for agriculture.

In the 1980s, UPL started launching an avalanche of crop protection products and is one of the leading total crop solutions providers in the world now. 

His dedication to his company and his causes is unwavering. His many awards are a mere testimony of his legend. Here are a few of them:

  • AGROW Lifetime Achievement Award in September 2015 in London
  • UPL listed by the World CSR Congress as one of the top ‘50 Most Caring Companies Award 2014’
  • Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (manufacturing) in 2013
  • Rolta Corporate Award 2010
  • Indian Chemical Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award for the entrepreneur in 2010
  • Lifetime Achievement Award by Chemexil in 2008
  • President’s Gold Shield Award for indigenous development of technology in 1972.

Shroff pioneered red phosphorus manufacturing in 1969,

Start ups

This Techathon has been organized to promote the participation of the youth of India in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ recently flagged off the Agri-Food Techathon at IIT Kharagpur and also laid the foundation for Agri-Business Incubation Centre, which will incubate innovative ideas in the agriculture and food technology domain for creating Agri-preneures. Addressing the first Agri-Food Techathon organized by NABARD and IIT Kharagpur, Union Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said that the country’s agricultural sector, including our farmers, our villages, are the pillars of self-reliant India. If they remain strong then the foundation of self-reliant India will be strong and I believe that the role of agri-food startups will be very important in developing a self-reliant India.

This Techathon has been organized to promote the participation of the youth of India in innovation and entrepreneurship in various sectors of the agri-food sector. This agri-food techthon will identify new ideas for startup incubation in the region and help them become successful businesses. The main objective of this event is to find new solutions to agricultural problems through technical talks by encouraging academics and encouraging young farmers, besides spreading awareness is also an important objective of this program.

Talking about agri-food startups, the Union Minister said, Indian agriculture can be improved to a great extent with the help of advanced agri-technology. In this case, there is a huge scope for agri-food startups in India. In a decade, the indomitable spirit of launching educated youth, innovative ideas and advanced technical and business ideas has been given a new height to Indian agriculture.

Special emphasis will be given through action-oriented research to promote climate-resilient agriculture in vulnerable districts, agricultural value chains, promote farmers’ collectives, value addition, market-linkage, and risk management; also offering expert advisory services, policy advocacy including building up of human capital in rural areas.

 

This Techathon has been organized to promote

Trade

The spice recorded maximum growth in the first half of the current fiscal.

The export of small cardamom has recently shown an upward trend during the first half of 2020-21, with a volume of 1900 MT valued at Rs 56.52 crores, registering an increase of 483 per cent in value terms and 369 per cent in quantitative terms.

The small cardamom sector does face challenges, both at the production and export fronts, due to natural calamities and other factors. Though the collective efforts of stakeholders have helped the Indian small cardamom sector to manage the challenges to a certain extent.

The Board conducted a virtual Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) recently to address the concerns of the small cardamom industry and to provide a common platform for the stakeholders to interact directly and establish effective business linkages. The BSM saw the participation of more than 130 stakeholders. The BSM would help in sourcing quality cardamom for export to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

Inaugurating the BSM, Adv Dean Kuriakose, Member of Parliament, Idukki, said that small cardamom is intertwined with the social fabric of the growers of Idukki and production and export of good quality cardamom will help to take this product worldwide.

Spices Board has been supporting the small cardamom stakeholders throughout the various stages of the supply chain. It has various programs/activities for assistance for area expansion, nursery management and post-harvest improvement, promoting good agricultural practices, integrated pest management (IPM) and use of bio-control agents, creating awareness through campaigns, training and other programs, promoting collaborative movements amongst growers through Spice Producer Societies (SPS), R&D support and so on.

The spice recorded maximum growth in the

Acts & Schemes – Centre, Poultry

Post Operation Surveillance Plan (POSP) has been issued for 1 epicenter for Kerala, 3 epicenters for Madhya Pradesh and 5 epicenters for Maharashtra.  

As on January 24, 2021 outbreaks of Avian Influenza (Bird flu) have been confirmed in 9 States which includes Kerala, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab for poultry birds and in 12 States of Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab for Crow/Migratory/ Wild birds. 

Post Operation Surveillance Plan (POSP) has been issued for 1 epicentre for Kerala, 3 epicentres for Madhya Pradesh and 5 epicentres for Maharashtra.  Control and Containment Operations (Cleaning and Disinfection) are going on in the rest of the affected epicentres of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttarakhand.

 Compensation is paid to farmers whose poultry birds, eggs and poultry feed are culled/disposed of by the State as per the Action Plan. The Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Government of India provides funds to states / UTs on a 50:50 sharing basis under ASCAD component of its LH & DC Scheme.

 All the States are reporting to the Department on daily basis regarding the control measures adopted by the States/UTs based on the Revised Action Plan for Prevention, Control and Containment of Avian Influenza 2021. The Department is taking continuous efforts to generate awareness about Avian flu through platforms including social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook handles.

Post Operation Surveillance Plan (POSP) has been

Agro chems – Pesticides, North America, Trade

It will offer customers increased marketing, sales and R&D support in countries currently served by Rovensa business units  

 

Rovensa, a Lisbon-based company, has acquired US based Oro Agri, Inc., a global leader in bio-rational crop protection and adjuvant technology. Oro Agri currently distributes its crop protection products in 85 countries around the world. The combined companies will offer customers increased marketing, sales and R&D support in countries currently served by Rovensa business units and also help establish Rovensa’s presence in countries not currently served by Rovensa business units. 

Rovensa has made numerous acquisitions in the organic and bio-rational crop protection market as part of its strategy to be a leading part of solving the global challenges facing agriculture today and in the future. Its acquisitions include Idai Nature, a manufacturer of OMRI-approved and bio-rational crop protection products, and Trade Corp, a manufacturer of humic- and kelp-based nutrients products.

Erroll Pullen, CEO of Oro Agri, sees the acquisition as a win for both organizations. “Oro Agri now can offer an extensive library of new active ingredients and crop protection products to our customers. We are particularly excited about Rovensa’s organic and bio-rational portfolio. It opens up great opportunities for the Oro Agri business. And, as we move forward, the commitment Rovensa has made to be a leader in this increasingly important market segment means Oro Agri will be able to offer our customers the cutting edge in bio-pesticide crop protection. For Rovensa and its related businesses, we can offer a turn-key sales and marketing team in important markets like North America, where it does not currently have a significant presence.”

It will offer customers increased marketing, sales

AgroPolicy

A target of 51 lakh has been fixed to cover summer season with pulses, oil seeds and nutri-cereals crops this season.

The Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parshottam Rupala had recently addressed the National Conference on agriculture for summer campaign, 2021 through video conferencing on 22nd January, 2021 This Conference is going to review and assess the crop performance during the last crop season and fix crop-wise targets for Zaid/Summer season in consultation with State Governments, ensure supply of critical inputs and facilitate the adoption of innovative technologies with a view to enhance production and productivity of the above crops.

 A target of 51 lakh  has been fixed to cover summer season with pulses, oil seeds and nutri-cereals crops this season. Further, as per 4th Advance Estimates (2019-20), total food grains production in the country is estimated at 296.65 million tonnes, and horticulture production 319.57 which will be an all time record in 2019-20. The pulses and oilseeds production is at 23.15 and 33.42 million tonnes, respectively. Production of cotton is being estimated at 354.91 lakh bales with which India is set to rise to the top producing countries in the world. On the production and productivity fronts, the horticulture sector has also outperformed conventional food grain crops.

Government will make all out efforts to make the agriculture sector self reliant and entrepreneurial mode by developing necessary strategies, improved production technologies, creating new market opportunities and developing agricultural infrastructure to take the Nation to a new Horizon under the dynamic leadership of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A target of 51 lakh has

Agro Universities, R&D, Water

The approximately 24,000 litres of water that can be rejuvenated using ARP will be sufficient for almost 4 acres of agricultural land 

CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur has unveiled the first-ever Waste water Treatment Technology Model which purifies waste water for irrigation/farming purposes. Prof Dr Harish Hirani, Director, CSIR-CMERI inaugurated the ‘Aqua Rejuv’ along with Subhendu Basu, Additional District Magistrate (Zila Parishad), Paschim Bardhaman and Additional Executive Officer, Paschim Bardhaman Zila Parishad  at CSIR-CMERI colony in Durgapur (West Bengal).

During his inaugural speech Prof Hirani said that he wanted the solution for the society from Carbon Dioxide, frequent chockage of the drainage system and the discharge of sewage water through application of basic sciences

Aqua Rejuvenation Plant (ARP) is an Integrated Waste Water Rejuvenation Model which has Six-Stage purification profile for comprehensive treatment of Waste Water, based upon diverse purification parameters. The approx. 24,000 litres of Water that can be rejuvenated using ARP will be sufficient for almost 4 acres of Agricultural Land (barring seasonal variations in water requirements). The used filtration media have been specially developed to handle Indian Sewage Water Parameters and based upon Geographical Variations they may be modified. The filter media is also locally source-able, so as to ensure that there would not be any stress in the Supply Chain for scaled-up Manufacturing of ARP. The treated water which is now being used for irrigation can be used even for drinking purpose also when little more time is given for settling.

 The system has dual benefit as while the treated water is being used for irrigation purpose, the filtered sludge generated is also utilized as manure / fertilizer. The bio char prepared from dry leaves falling in autumn season is also used for mixing in soil as it reduces the water requirement for irrigation thus saving precious water. The Institute was earlier also using alternate technologies like sprinkle system and others for reduced water requirement for such purpose. Prof. Hirani urged the different stake holders of the Society, Civic bodies, Governmental authorities, NGOs to come forward and work with the scientific community.

 

The approximately 24,000 litres of water that

Agro chems – Fertilizers

This project will generate employment as well as support the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan by way of generating import substitution by boosting the domestic mineral production of Potash and associated minerals.

A tripartite agreement was recently signed between Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL), Rajasthan State Mines & Minerals Limited (RSMML), and the Department of Mines & Geology (DMG), Govt. of Rajasthan for taking up feasibility studies of Solution Mining of Potash in the state of Rajasthan.

The MoU was signed virtually in the presence of Union Minister for Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Arjun Ram Meghwal and Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot. 

Prahlad Joshi said “MoU will pave the way to undertake feasibility studies for harnessing sub-surface salt deposits through solution mining, utilize Rajasthan’s rich mineral reserves, boost its economy and establish it as a hub of solution mining of potash, the 1st in the country”.

Rajasthan has huge Potash and Halite resources spread across 50,000 sq. km in the Nagaur – Ganganagar basin in the northwest. GSI and MECL have established 2476.58 million tonnes and 21199.38 million tonnes of Potash & Halite respectively. Potash & Sodium Chloride from the Bedded Salt are extensively used in the Fertiliser Industry and the Chemical Industry respectively.

MECL has been assigned as the program manager for taking up the feasibility study in the state with the help of an international consultant. Paving the way for the 1st Solution Mining project in the country, this project will generate employment as well as support the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan by way of generating import substitution by boosting the domestic mineral production of Potash and associated minerals.

This project will generate employment as well

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Start ups

The incubation centers aims to promote start-ups and innovators in agriculture and allied sectors. 

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel inaugurated two incubation centres at Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV) Raipur to promote start-ups and innovators in agriculture and allied sectors.

While virtually inaugurating Biotech Incubation Centre and Agri-Business Incubation and Production Centre to mark the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Baghel said every university in the state should establish incubation and manufacturing hubs to promote new business ideas.

The incubation centres will provide infrastructure, technology, financial and business networking assistance to budding innovators and entrepreneurs in the agri-biotechnology and agriculture sector, a public relations officer of the IGKV said. 

The chief minister also laid the foundation stone for a new building of the biotech incubation centre, which is a part of the biotechnology park, a joint project of IGKV Raipur and state Agriculture department, he said. The project will be completed in two phases.

 In the first phase, the new building of the incubation centre will be set up at a cost of Rs 30 crore in the university campus in the next two years, where 23 companies will be provided facilities for their offices and labs. Startups related to agri-biotech, healthcare biotech and food processing will be given preference there, he said.

 In the second phase of the project, a ’’business enterprises zone’’ will be developed on 9.59 hectare land in Mungi village in Arang area of Raipur district, where 23 companies will be provided research, technical and infrastructure facilities. At present, 94 entrepreneurs are being trained at the agri-business incubation centre, while 24 companies have already set up offices there”, he added.

The incubation centers aims to promote start-ups

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Finance, Water

By Randhir Chauhan, Managing Director, Netafim India and Senior Vice President, Netafim Ltd 

The Indian agriculture sector accounts for close to 16 percent of the country’s GDP, uses nearly half the available land, consumes around 80 percent of the freshwater resources, and engages almost 50 percent of the country’s workforce. Approximately 70 percent of the rural households still depend primarily on agriculture, with close to 80 percent of farmers being small and marginal. Even though the recent COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges for most sectors of the Indian economy, agriculture and allied activities demonstrated extraordinary resilience. The available statistics amplify the potential of India’s agriculture sector to aid fiscal growth. However, adherence to a traditional approach and unscientific farming methods still loom large over the agricultural space. The forthcoming budget, thus, is a window for the policymakers to actively identify and poise volumetric targets with sustainability while moving up the value chain to enhance farmer and national income.

Improvement in agricultural productivity through micro-irrigation

As of 2020, out of the 141 million hectares of cultivated land, 51 per cent of the land is under irrigation and within this only about 16 per cent (11 million hectares) have access to modern irrigation technology. The government data suggest that in the year 2019-20, only 11.72 lakh hectare has been covered under micro-irrigation.  The current target is to popularize the use of micro-irrigation technology by covering additional 10 million hectares of land in 5 years. To achieve this ambitious target and contribute towards making Indian agriculture self-reliant, it becomes imperative that the government emplaces a mechanism to ensure the smooth flow of funds, thereby ensuring their adequate utilization by the end beneficiary.

 Special budgetary assistance for Micro Irrigation to State Government to overcome COVID impact

The financial strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has left many states across the country to slash the budget for micro-irrigation. The policymakers should consider supporting the states through an additional corpus of funds either by direct special assistance program or increasing the existing Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) set up under NABARD to facilitate the states in mobilizing resources for expanding coverage of micro-irrigation.

 Process streamlining measures in irrigation subsidy

The delays in the disbursal of micro-irrigation subsidies under the PMKSY program are hampering its progress. Online portal for an end-to-end process execution and visibility, transparency in the process for fund disbursement, ensuring checkpoints at various stages and adherence to timelines would bring the efficiency in subsidy disbursal and support farmers to be debt-free in a faster way. SOPs to map the district-wise annual progress and penetration of micro-irrigation would act as an instrumental measure. Water budgeting for the entire village could be created under the model village program and executing District Irrigation Plans (DIP) to push PMKSY goals at the district level would work in advantage. The installation of micro-irrigation could be geo-tagged to get real-time data annually. All these measures would assist to ensure faster transmission of funds to the beneficiaries.

Providing infrastructure status to the Micro-irrigation industry

Infrastructure status would help the micro-irrigation manufacturer (95% of which comes under MSME) in reduced operating costs, thereby accelerating the industry growth as well as bring the equipment cost down for the farmer community.

Aligning different schemes together for exponential benefit – Solar and Micro-irrigation, Agriculture alongside Solar installations, and others

Focus on renewable energy like solar will not only ensure energy security especially in agriculture and the rural landscape but also address environmental concerns. Making farmers energy-sufficient would also reduce burden on government energy subsidy bill. Solar installation-friendly agriculture would help farmers with reduced operational costs, boost land utilization and improve overall income. Additionally, making micro-irrigation mandatory for subsidized solar installations at individual farms would lead to faster adaption of the modern farming techniques.

Diversification programs to increase productivity and value in different crops like oilseeds, oil palm and rice with a special focus. 12 percent of the cropped area under Fruits & Vegetables (F&V) leads to 24 percent in value terms, in contrast to 13 percent area under oilseeds which gives only 6 percent in value terms because of lack of scalability. Addressing the domestic demand of edible oils, it is inevitable to promote domestic oilseeds and oil palm cultivation with higher productivity measures. Similarly, rice which has been the major crop both in terms of area coverage and water usage can be disrupted through drip technology intervention which can improve yield, save water and reduce carbon emissions. Drip irrigation adoption also facilitates crop diversification thus making a direct impact on farmer incomes. Incentivization of cultivation of such crops and accentuating the same with precision technology like micro-irrigation can lead to both income gains for farmers and self-sustenance for India.

Focus on creating infrastructures to support innovation and digitalization in Agriculture

Special focus and fund allocation in the upcoming budget for infrastructure in rural areas would support the digitalization of agriculture and put the agriculture sector on the fast track. Currently, India is spending less than 1 per cent of Agri GDP in R&D. An Agri innovation fund, which supports ag-tech solutions, start-ups and digitalization at different levels of the Agri value chain, can transform the agriculture economy in the future

 Interest subsidy on agriculture for long term loans

Access to credit remains one of the critical elements in a sustainable and more importantly a growing ecosystem. Interest subsidy on agriculture for long term loans to help farmers with long-term investment on farming and micro-irrigation equipment, or infrastructure creation related to farming can goes a long way in building a sustainable development model in agriculture. Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for adopting micro irrigation similar to CGTMSE for MSMEs will be helpful where initial support can be provided by the government.

By Randhir Chauhan, Managing Director, Netafim India

Agrotech, Singapore

CropLife Asia advocates a safe, secure food supply, and our vision is food security enabled by innovative agriculture

With the recent launch of the United Nations (UN) ’Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition’, Singapore based CropLife Asia released a statement urging more partnership and agricultural technology adoption across the region to help ensure an abundant and accessible supply of safe, nutritious food for all.

CropLife Asia is a non-profit society and the regional organization of CropLife International, the voice of the global plant science industry. It advocates a safe, secure food supply, and our vision is food security enabled by innovative agriculture

“Today’s report confirms a sadly familiar refrain for Asia: our region is failing to deliver food security for far too many – particularly among mothers, children and the more vulnerable parts of society,” said Dr. Siang Hee Tan, CropLife Asia Executive Director.

“The new data shared today is troubling and simply unacceptable. Nearly two billion people in Asia cannot afford a healthy diet. Meanwhile, two-thirds of our region’s children suffer from wasting; and 14 countries in Asia have a prevalence of stunting with children exceeding 30 per cent.

“Ensuring a healthy start for our region’s children is crucial. We owe it to this generation and those that will follow to put aside differences and work together to address Asia’s growing food crisis. From farm to fork, greater cooperation and collaboration across the region’s food supply chain is critically important in helping realize positive nutritional outcomes.

“The innovative technologies of the plant science industry have a key role to play, but it’s only one part of the solution. Making certain an ample supply of affordable and nutritious food reaches those who need it most is not a government, civil society or private sector responsibility – it’s all our responsibility.”

 

CropLife Asia advocates a safe, secure food

Oilseeds, R&D

Yield10 plans to extract the PHA bioplastic from the Camelina seed for product prototyping, sampling and business development. 

Yield10 Bioscience, Inc, an agricultural bioscience company has announced successful field testing of prototype lines of the oilseed Camelina sativa, that have been programed to produce PHA bioplastics directly in seed.

PHA are natural polymers, prevalent in nature and fully biodegradable in the environment. Currently produced by fermentation of engineered microbes, PHA polymers also have applications in water treatment where they act as a zero-waste solution to nitrate pollution and as animal feed ingredients. Yield10 has a long history with and deep knowledge of PHAs and it believes that direct production of PHA in seed as a co-product with oil and protein meal has the potential to enable production of PHA bioplastics on an agricultural scale at costs in line with commodity vegetable oils to drive large-scale adoption in the plastics markets. PHA bioplastics could ultimately be used to manufacture a wide range of fully biodegradable consumer products.

The prototype plants tested in these studies were programed with microbial genes based on a recent patent filed for new technology developed by Yield10 researchers to produce Camelina seed containing high levels of PHA bioplastic suitable for field production. All engineered PHA Camelina lines tested produced PHA in the seed. The levels of PHA produced in seed at the two different locations were consistent and measured up to 6 percent PHA of mature seed weight depending on the plant line tested, demonstrating proof-of-concept for field production of PHA in Camelina sativa using the new technology.

Based on these results, Yield10 has selected two PHA Camelina lines for larger scale field testing in 2021, pending the issuance of permits in the U.S. In addition to generating more data, Yield10 plans to determine the suitability of the lines for initial commercial activities. Each PHA application area has different price points and scale requirements, and will have different PHA content requirements for commercial launch. Based on this, Yield10 believes that PHA content in the range of 5 to 20 percent of mature seed weight in Camelina would address the range of target applications. Yield10 plans to extract the PHA bioplastic from the Camelina seed for product prototyping, sampling and business development.

 “Our development of Camelina as a new platform crop to produce proprietary products is aligned with global trends to a low carbon economy. These include innovations in cash relay and cover crops for growers to reduce the environmental impact of commodity agriculture and the production of carbon negative products for food, fuel and plastics,” said Oliver Peoples, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Yield10 Bioscience.

Yield10 plans to extract the PHA bioplastic

World

The company intends to divest cannabis subsidiaries in Canada.

US-based Pyxus International, Inc. (Pyxus) a global value-added agricultural company, announced recently, after a strategic review by the Boards of Directors of Pyxus and certain subsidiaries, that it intends to divest its cannabis business in order to focus on its more profitable tobacco and e-liquid businesses. In addition, the Company has taken action to restructure its industrial hemp and CBD operations to minimize financial investment in that business.

“Our strategic decision to exit cash flow negative cannabinoid operations will allow us to reduce corporate SG&A and sharpen our focus on growing our more profitable tobacco and e-liquid businesses such that these complementary businesses can fully leverage Pyxus’ 145-year heritage and existing relationships,” said Pieter Sikkel, President and CEO of Pyxus International.

In connection with the plan, the Company’s three Canadian cannabis subsidiaries, FIGR Brands, Inc., Canada’s Island Garden Inc. (FIGR East), and FIGR Norfolk, Inc. (FIGR) filed for and received protection from their creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). FTI Consulting Canada Inc. has been appointed as the Court-appointed monitor (FTI) of the Applicants.  

As part of its filing under the CCAA, FIGR has obtained a Debtor in Possession (DIP) loan facility from another Pyxus subsidiary to support FIGR and fund its operations through the CCAA proceedings. 

During the CCAA proceedings, it is expected that ordinary course obligations to employees and key suppliers of goods and services subsequent to the filing date will continue to be met. FIGR intends to seek approval of a sale process to be conducted by the Monitor in the near future. 

The company intends to divest cannabis subsidiaries

Agro chems – Pesticides, R&D

Researchers urge UK to keep EU ban on the pesticide

Two studies by scientists at Bristol’s Schools of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and Biological Sciences have recently shown that these insecticides affect the amount of sleep taken by both bumblebees and fruit flies, which may help us understand why insect pollinators are vanishing from the wild.

Dr Kiah Tasman, Teaching Associate in the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and lead author of the studies, said: “The neonicotinoids we tested had a big effect on the amount of sleep taken by both flies and bees. If an insect was exposed to a similar amount as it might experience on a farm where the pesticide had been applied, it slept less, and its daily behavioral rhythms were knocked out of synch with the normal 24-hour cycle of day and night.”

The fruit fly study published on 21 January in Scientific Reports, allowed the researchers to study the impact of pesticides on the insect brain.

Dr James Hodge, Associate Professor in Neuroscience in the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and senior author for the study, added: “Being able to tell time is important for knowing when to be awake and forage, and it looked like these drugged insects were unable to sleep. We know quality sleep is important for insects, just as it is for humans, for their health and forming lasting memories.”

Dr Sean Rands, Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences and co-author, explained: “Bees and flies have similar structures in their brains, and this suggests one reason why these drugs are so bad for bees is they stop the bees from sleeping properly and then being able to learn where food is in their environment.

 

Researchers urge UK to keep EU ban