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Agrotech, Start ups, Warehousing

Latest move enables Arya.ag to attain grain traceability from store to farm

Arya.ag today announced the acquisition of agriculture data science company, Prakshep. With this acquisition, Arya reinforces its position as India’s largest integrated grain commerce platform and further its tech capabilities to provide end-to-end solutions to its users. This acquisition helps to bolster Arya’s vision of bringing cutting edge AI/ML capabilities to farm digitization, crop monitoring, quality assaying and surveillance. This acquisition will help Arya to further deepen its relationship with other agri-chain stakeholders like FPOs, processors and corporates, banks, and insurance companies.

Arya.ag connects sellers and buyers of agriproduce, providing complete assurance on quantity, quality and payments. The distinct digital offerings of Prakshep will add to Arya.ag’s deep tech capability to provide traceability, transparency, quality assurance for seamless commodity commerce.  Arya.ag will now hold the largest database in agriculture adding farm details including boundaries, crop activities, health and yield valuation to its existing repository of storage and grain value chain database.

Arya.ag is currently developing India’s first public agri blockchain ledger. Prakshep’s deeptech experience and expertise will add further farm level integration and preload extensive historical farm activity data to Arya.ag’s blockchain ledger. Arya.ag promises to provide complete visibility and traceability of the commodity right from the producers’ field and build complete assurance for all stakeholders in the agri-value chain.

Prasanna Rao, Arya.ag’s MD & Co-founder said, “Leveraging our technology stack, we have already created a digital identity for over 10000 warehouses across India on Arya.ag and have built in transparency at all levels from aggregation to storage, finance, and commerce. Under this context, Prakshep’s tech-led proposition finds a natural fit as it enables a digital identity for every grain that traverses the value chain and builds in transparency in terms of where it was grown and the journey it has made. The aligned values of sustainability, climate smart agriculture and inclusive economic growth has brought us together.”

Avijeet Singh, Prakshep’s CEO commented, “The transformation brought about by digital technologies in the conventional agriculture ecosystem while seemingly overwhelming has just scratched the surface. Arya as a market leader provides us with an opportunity to create an impact in the lives of our small holder farmers on a much larger scale and value. Through this partnership, we will be able to provide our users many more new offerings based on data, scientific research and analytics creating trust and transparency in all our transactions.”

Latest move enables Arya.ag to attain grain

Agrotech, Dairy, Finance

The fund will be utilised to expand into newer geographies, scale up operations and invest in technology

Agri-fintech firm Dvara E-Dairy Solutions has raised pre-Series A funding of $2 million (around Rs 15.4 crore) from Axilor and Dvara Venture Studio, an initiative of Dvara Holdings.

The funds will be used to expand into newer geographies, scale up operations and invest in technology.

“The investment will propel us forward in our mission to enhance the livelihoods of millions of small and medium dairy farmers across the country,” said Ravi KA, CEO of Dvara E-Dairy Solutions.

The fund will be utilised to expand

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, People, R&D

The award was given at the 10th National Seminar on “Agriculture and More: Beyond 4.O

Dr Opinder Singh Sandhu, Assistant Professor (Soil Science), Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jalandhar, Punjab Agricultural University, has bagged the ‘Young Scientist Award’ during the 10th National Seminar on “Agriculture and More: Beyond 4.O.” The event was organised by the Society for Community Mobilization for Sustainable Development (MOBILIZATION), New Delhi and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar in collaboration with Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Jammu.

Dr Sandhu published his research work in reputed high impact factor journals along with many extension publications that earned him the said recognition of the society.

The award was given at the 10th

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Environment, Sustainability, Water

Union agri minister applauds the concerted efforts of the Government of Himachal Pradesh in the promotion of natural farming in the state

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare. recently took part in a two-day ’12th Biennial National Krishi Vigyan Kendra Conference – 2022′ in Solan Himachal Pradesh. The conference was jointly organised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi and Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh at Solan, Himachal Pradesh.

The Union Minister regarded the KVKs and agricultural universities as the prominent source of guidance for the farming communities. Tomar applauded the concerted efforts of the Government of Himachal Pradesh in the promotion of natural farming in the state.

“It is the need of the hour to give more importance to save water as it is the essential element not only for the agricultural practices; but, the survival of human life too”, stressed Jai Ram Thakur, Chief Minister, Government of Himachal Pradesh. The various initiatives taken up by the Government of Himachal Pradesh for promoting natural farming practices on a large scale in the state were highlighted by the chief minister.

Kailash Choudhary, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare urged the agricultural scientists for disseminating the new and latest agricultural technologies at the farmers’ doorsteps effectively.

Union agri minister applauds the concerted efforts

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Dairy, Live Stock, Poultry, R&D, Start ups

The conclave focussed on three technical thematic sessions namely increasing productivity and improving animal health, value addition and market linkages and innovation and technology

Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying inaugurated the Unnat Pashudhan Sashakt Kisan Conclave-the conclave of 75 entrepreneurs and exhibition of 75 indigenous livestock breeds’ in New Delhi. Dr L Murugan, MoS, FAHD and Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, MoS, FAHD were the Guests of Honour.

More than 1200 farmers were present in the event. The farmers from across the country were connected with the event through 1,000 common service centres.

Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of FAHD in association with CII has organised the Conclave with a focus on dairy and poultry farmers, innovative entrepreneurs, startups and industry.

Rupala launched the training programme for A-HELP at the conclave. The minister felicitated three Padma Shree awardees – Prof Moti Lal Madan, Dr Kushal Konwar Sarma and Dr Sosamma Iype during the event. Further, Rupala felicitated the winners of the Animal Husbandry Startup Grand Challenge 2.0 at the Conclave. A coffee table book about 75 indigenous breeds and 75 Entrepreneurs was launched at the Unnat Pashudhan Sashakt Kisan Conclave. The event showcased videos of four farmers who have achieved recognition at the national and global levels due to their innovative techniques in the farming and dairy sector.

The conference focussed on three technical thematic sessions namely increasing productivity and improving animal health, value addition and market linkages and innovation and technology.

The conclave focussed on three technical thematic

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Environment, R&D, Sustainability

The priority areas include sustainable energy technologies, environment and clean technologies, biobased economy, bio-based materials for different applications, food and agri tech

Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST) Dr S Chadrasekhar stressed aligning the priority areas with the scientific importance of India and Germany at an online webinar conducted as part of the outreach activity to promote the recently launched call for proposals for International Research & Training Group between DST and DFG. 

The priority areas include Sustainable Energy Technologies (generation, conversion, and storage), Environment and Clean Technologies, Biobased Economy, Bio-based materials for different applications, food and agri technologies, technologies for advanced manufacturing and Integration of AI and Machine Learning in all domains.

Prof Dr Katja Becker, President, DFG, German Research Foundation, highlighted that the programme will be a beacon for Indo-German partnerships. It will create strong research collaboration through a bottom-up approach to address global challenges.

SK Varshney, Head, International Cooperation Division, DST, suggested that this programme will not only achieve a larger objective but also train and build capacity among the scientist and researchers in a way that will be instrumental in facing other scientific challenges of the future.

Dr Katja Fettelschoß, Deputy Head of Division Research Careers, DFG, hoped that this new platform will build a long-term partnership between India and Germany and that the participation of young researchers in this programme should be promoted.

Over 80 participants from universities and institutions from both countries were present in this online webinar of IRTG and discussed their queries with the officials from the International Division of DST (Dr Rajiv Kumar, Scientist-E) and DFG (Martin Roatsch (Research Careers, IRTG Team, DFG) about the details of application process under joint IRTG call.

The priority areas include sustainable energy technologies,

Company News, Finance, Machinery - Pre-harvesting

Domestic sales in May 2022 were at 34153 units, as against 22843 units during May 2021, registering a growth of 50 per cent.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.’s Farm Equipment Sector (FES), part of the Mahindra Group, today announced its tractor sales numbers for May 2022. Domestic sales in May 2022 were at 34153 units, as against 22843 units during May 2021.Total tractor sales (Domestic + Exports) during May 2022 were at 35722 units, as against 24184 units for the same period last year. Exports for the month stood at 1569 units.

Commenting on the performance, Hemant Sikka, President – Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, “We have sold 34153 tractors in the domestic market during May ’22, a growth of 50 per cent over last year. This is on the back of 51 per cent growth achieved in the month of April ’22. With the timely arrival of the south-west monsoon and forecast of a normal monsoon, kharif crop is expected to deliver record production. Food prices continue to be high, ensuring better remuneration for farmers for their produce, creating a positive sentiment and higher demand for tractors and agri implements. In the exports market, we have sold 1569 tractors, a growth of 17 per cent over last year.”

Domestic sales in May 2022 were at

Bee keeping, Company News, Middle East countries

This year 2,000 hectares, nearly 90 per cent of total pepper growth will be grown using BioBee’s IPM/Biocontrol methods.

A vast majority of Israeli farmers now prefer to get rid of their pests using BioBee’s host of friendly predators, rather than rely solely on chemicals to do the job. This year, 2,000 hectares of peppers, nearly nine tenths of the country’s production, will be protected from aphids, mites, thrips and whiteflies using of BioBee’s products and services.

In addition to its success in protecting vegetables from harmful pests, using IPM/Biocontrol has drastically reduced the amount of chemical residue found on Israeli peppers. According to a 2009 Dutch study, 71 per cent of peppers grown in Israel were found to be completely free of residue, with the remaining 29 per cent still under the maximum allowed limit. In comparison, only 50 per cent of Dutch peppers and only 18 per cent of Spanish peppers, both countries that use IPM/Biocontrol as the primary method of pest control in pepper growth, were found to be completely residue free.

BioBee’s products and the intensive technical support provided by its employees, has won over Israeli pepper growers, leading to a steady rise in IPM/Biocontrol use in the country. A decade ago, less than 50 hectares of peppers were grown using IPM/Biocontrol, but every year more and more farmers decided to switch over to the greener method. This year 2,000 hectares, nearly 90 per cent of total pepper growth will be grown using BioBee’s IPM/Biocontrol methods.

“We are very pleased with our growth this year. It shows that the farmers trust us to deliver the results that they need. We have tailored a package that has proven extremely successful for pepper growers and our employees provide hands on assistance to farmers for the entire growth period, from planting to termination.”

This year 2,000 hectares, nearly 90 per

People

Deere has announces senior leadership changes including Ryan Campbell as President, Worldwide Construction & Forestry; Raj Kalathur as CFO

Deere & Company has announced that its Board of Directors elected Ryan Campbell as President, Worldwide Construction & Forestry and Power Systems effective May 31, 2022. He is succeeding John Stone, who has elected to leave the company.In his new role, Campbell will be leading the Construction & Forestry team to increase the adoption of precision technology in earthmoving, forestry and roadbuilding applications, as well as delivering a broad range of electric and hybrid-electric product models – all with a goal to boost economic value and sustainability for customers. Campbell will additionally be leading the company’s commitment to deliver viable low/no carbon alternative power solutions via Deere’s Power Systems group.

“Ryan’s record of success and proven leadership skills make him highly qualified to ensure we will make continued progress executing our smart industrial strategy and in serving our construction, forestry and power systems customers at the highest level,” said John C May, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Deere also announced the election of Raj Kalathur as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. He will retain his present duties for John Deere Financial and have continued oversight for information technology. His areas of responsibility as CFO include accounting and reporting, treasury, taxes, internal audit, strategy and business development, sustainability, and investor relations.

Prior to assuming his current role, Kalathur was President, John Deere Financial and Chief Information Officer (CIO) where he led the team responsible for ensuring that John Deere equipment customers throughout the world have ready access to competitive financing. Under Kalathur’s leadership, the John Deere Financial loan portfolio has grown to over $50 billion. In addition, Kalathur served as CIO and successfully helped lead the company’s digitalisation journey.

Deere has announces senior leadership changes including

Europe, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy

Future Crops finds greener pastures, zero carbon emissions in wind power and solar energy.

Netherlands based Future Crops, Ltd., has taken its vertical farm a further step off the grid by shifting to reliance on 100 per cent renewable energy. Harnessing the natural green powers of solar and wind energy, the company also is solving the primary hurdle to bringing the industry to a substantially greater carbon-neutral position, all while advancing its sustainability goals.

Over the past decade, vertical farms have been cropping up as creative method of boosting food resilience and bringing food sources closer to home. Multistory indoor farming optimizes land use by growing food from the ground up in designated horticultural regions or even within dense urban localities. However, this method of growing crops in a controlled indoor environment can be energy intensive.

Future Crops operates a state-of-the art, multilevel indoor vertical farm in ABC Westland, Netherlands, the greenhouse hub of Europe. The facility grows a broad portfolio of pesticide-free leafy green vegetables and herbs. While many such facilities rely on hydroponics, the scale-up developed a unique, proprietary soil substrate in which to grow crops, bringing the vertical farm concept closer to nature and the earth.

“Vertical farming is an emerging industry that is gaining traction due to its multiple virtues,” explains Gary Grinspan, co-founder and CEO of Future Crops. “We are able to grow tremendous amounts of high-value food on a much smaller stretch of land—approximately 5% of the land required for conventional agriculture. And having no reliance on seasonality amplifies growing cycles tenfold. This means we can grow more, faster while concurrently cutting the food mileage. Our produce also has a naturally longer shelf-life which cuts food waste and eliminates ecotoxicity to people and the earth since no pesticides or harmful chemicals are required. The Future Crops system also addresses the downside of the controlled indoor methods of growing crops: high energy consumption due to crops being unable to soak up natural sunlight.”

Future Crops finds greener pastures, zero carbon

Agro chems – Chemicals, Company News

Zorvec Encantia specifically targets late blight, a detrimental pathogen currently compromising local potato growth

Corteva Agriscience has launched Zorvec Encantia, a new fungicide that specifically targets late blight, a detrimental pathogen currently compromising local potato growth. The solution, based on Zorvec active, is the first member of a novel class of fungicides, which effectively utilises a unique biochemical mode of action, and has no cross-resistance with existing fungicides.

“Zorvec Encantia is here to change everything in terms of effectiveness, protection and productivity, and will be a great ally for South Africa’s potato producers during all stages of cultivation and in challenging climatic conditions,” says Stephan Marais, Product Manager at Corteva Agriscience. “After more than a decade of research, we have created a novel chemical with an unrivalled level of consistency and control, especially when it comes to management, allowing for lower operational costs and overall improved efficiency.”

Zorvec Encantia produces multiple effects on a pathogen’s life cycle for better efficacy and duration of control and protects leaves as they grow and expand, enhancing the protection of new foliage even if they have not been treated.

Zorvec Encantia, now available for purchase, features a favourable environmental profile and is effective on target organisms at very low use rates and has no harmful effects on beneficial species.

Zorvec Encantia specifically targets late blight, a detrimental

AgroPolicy

An amount of over Rs 21,000 crores was transferred to more than 10 crore beneficiary farmer families

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently addressed the ‘Garib Kalyan Sammelan’ in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. This unique public event was organised in state capitals, district headquarters and Krishi Vigyan Kendras across the country to commemorate the completion of eight years of the government led by Prime Minister Modi.

On the occasion, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi also released the 11th installment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme. An amount of over Rs 21,000 crores was transferred to more than 10 crore beneficiary farmer families.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of Commerce and Industry, Textiles, Food & Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal participated in the programme from Delhi, in which a large number of farmers besides agricultural scientists were present.

The agriculture minister said that in the field of agriculture, concrete work has been done to raise the production and productivity of farmers, promoting use of technology and to ensure that farmers should get reasonable price for their crop. Earlier, wheat and rice were procured at MSP, Modi also started procurement of other farm produce including coarse grains. PM wants that farmer should move forward, their income should be doubled and that farmers adopt crop diversification, use of fertilisers and water is limited, the cost of farming should also come down, hence a campaign has been launched and crores of farmers are getting benefitted.

An amount of over Rs 21,000 crores

Agrotech, Dairy, Europe, Finance

The goal of the incentive is to increase cattle grazing, biodiversity and climate actions

Valio is updating its sustainability bonus programme for dairy farms on 1.5.2023. Going forward, farms can receive additional pay per milk liter for grazing their cattle and giving them access to outdoor activity, for farming practices supporting biodiversity, and for efforts aiming to reduce the farm’s carbon footprint. The renewal is significant also in the big picture of agriculture because about 80 per cent of the milk produced in Finland is within the sphere of Valio’s sustainability bonus programme. After the update, Valio will pay its dairy farmer owners, through cooperatives, nearly 50 million euros for actions exceeding the statutory requirements.

Valio launched the sustainability bonus programme in 2018 to encourage dairy farms to carry out sustainability actions that go beyond the statutory requirements. So far, the farms have received the bonus for actions improving animal welfare. Meeting the criteria has required, e.g., veterinarian visits, planned healthcare for cows and systematic monitoring of welfare. The healthcare of the cattle is monitored through the national and certified Naseva, the Centralised Health Care Register for Finnish Cattle Herds.

“The goal we set four years ago was for all Valio dairy farms to commit to the sustainability bonus programme actions to improve animal welfare by 2021. Now that the original goal has been achieved, we are further developing the sustainability bonus programme. Going forward, dairy farms will receive a sustainability bonus also for farm actions that strengthen biodiversity and mitigate climate change. Animal welfare continues to be an important theme, and now we will focus particularly on increasing grazing and year-round outdoor activity for cows,” says Ilkka Pohjamo, Senior Vice President, Primary Production at Valio.

The new actions are voluntary for farms, and the idea is that each farm will choose the actions that are right for them. Previously, the sustainability bonus was two cents per liter of milk; now it will be possible for farms to earn an additional cent by combining various actions. For example, the average size farm of 45 cows currently receives a sustainability bonus of 8,000 euros. With the programme update, it’s possible to increase the bonus to 12,000 euros.

The goal of the incentive is to

Agrotech, IT, Sustainability

Over 17000 assets, including its internationally recognised scientific and research publications, standards, textbooks, annual meeting papers, will be migrated to the new platform

Impelsys, a leading global provider of digital transformation solutions, announced the launch of American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE’s) new eLibrary on its iPC Scholar 3.0 platform. ASABE – a global leader in promoting sustainable technology and practices, will migrate over 17000 assets, including its internationally recognised scientific and research publications, standards, textbooks, annual meeting papers, and more, to the new platform.

The first phase of the migration process has gone live with journals and will soon be followed by ASABE’s other publications. The new eLibrary on iPC Scholar 3.0 platform accentuates an enhanced user experience for ASABE’s individual and organisational members.

Joseph Walker, Director of publications,, ASABE, said, “We will be able to host and distribute our journals to multiple types of subscribers with the iPC Scholar 3.0. The platform will provide our customers with an intuitive user experience, easy navigation, and content discovery. With this launch, we are looking forward to migrating all our content and digital assets to the iPC Scholar 3.0 platform.”

As an intelligent content delivery platform, the iPC Scholar 3.0 is a ‘ready-to-deploy’ journal solution and caters to all aspects of content management, distribution, and monetisation. A white-label solution that represents an organisation’s brand effortlessly, it is a unified solution for publishing valuable content like journals and other digital research content. 

“We welcome ASABE to the iPC 3.0 community of innovative future-ready societies. iPC Scholar 3.0 is one of the most comprehensive content delivery platforms for societies and associations and will help ASABE to empower its members to improve their research with easy and quick access to relevant content. We are excited about many new possibilities in the future, working with ASABE and enabling them in their digital transformation journey,” said Mahesh Chikodi, Vice President of Products & Platforms at Impelsys.

Over 17000 assets, including its internationally recognised