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Agrotech, Company News, Seeds

All new varieties feature Enlist E3 technology to combat difficult weeds and will be available for the 2023 growing season.

Xitavo soybean seed, distributed exclusively by BASF, is offering 10 new soybean varieties for the upcoming year. With these additions, the Xitavo seed portfolio includes a total of 39 varieties.

All new varieties feature Enlist E3 technology to combat difficult weeds and will be available for the 2023 growing season. Xitavo soybean seed is owned by M.S. Technologies and solely distributed by BASF.

These new varieties support versatility and include the Enlist E3 triple-stack herbicide-tolerant trait to give farmers confidence in their soybean weed control program. They have been extensively tested and evaluated by our leading team of agronomists to ensure the seed rises above and beyond industry standard.

Xitavo soybean seed is designed with the understanding that a high-performing crop starts below the ground. Enlist E3 soybeans offer growers an advanced herbicide-tolerant trait technology with maximum flexibility and convenience.

BASF provides growers with support that extends beyond the field. Seed agronomists and agronomic solutions advisors consult with crop protection, technical service and seed treatment field representatives to give growers customized advice and recommendations for their field. These representatives also collaborate with consultants and university Extension specialists to capture, evaluate and summarize variety information.

All new varieties feature Enlist E3 technology

Agrotech, Company News, Start ups

Company plans to expand the western belt and aims to add over 100 partners by the end of September.

Delhi -based agritech start-up and India’s first community group buying platform for fresh produce, Otipy, enters the west market by launching its services in Mumbai. With the app, Otipy will provide the residents of the city with a single platform to buy and get the farm fresh fruits & vegetables delivered to their doorsteps.

Otipy is offering an essential range of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables and plans to add more products to this category along with FMCG items, dairy, and bakery products in near future. Working on the B2B2C model the start-up connects end consumers to farmers through a community of resellers who handle the last-mile delivery of fresh produce. With the help of AI-based demand prediction, Otipy procures its produce from farmers from different parts of the country and leveraging its unique prediction-based model, the start-up has been able to decrease food wastage in the supply chain from 40 percent down to just 3 percent.

Otipy follows a special supply chain model of 12 hours delivery with only two touch points which acts as a crucial point to ensure fresh deliveries. The experience and knowledge of F&V help to cater the consumers in the best way possible with innovations in packaging and delivery model. Thus, promising delivery of fresh produce at your doorstep before 7 am.

Talking about the latest expansion, Varun Khurana, Founder & CEO says,” Conventional fruits & vegetable supply chain takes almost 48-72 hours to reach consumers directly from the farms. In 48-72 hours, freshness, as well as the nutrition value, deteriorates. Through our model, we ensure that the customers get the order in as little as 12 hours only. We deliver the freshest produce to consumers straight from the farms with minimal logistics costs around the industry. With our latest expansion in Mumbai, we hope to provide fresh produce with the fastest delivery guarantee”.

Otipy is expanding its operations in Thane and other areas in Mumbai like Powai, Mulund, and Bhandup this will be followed by the Suburban areas like Andheri and Navi Mumbai regions of Mumbai. Through this expansion, Otipy plans to expand the western belt and add more partners and community leaders. Otipy aims to add over 100 partners by the end of September.

Company plans to expand the western belt

Agrotech, Company News, Thailand

Company is also partnering with major agri technology companies to present a wide variety of innovations, including drones and smart greenhouses.

 Chia Tai Company Limited, Thailand’s leading innovative agricultural company, launches a new business for agricultural solutions under “FarmInno (Thailand)” brand, paving its way towards becoming a leading agricultural solution provider, while also partnering with major agricultural technology companies to present a wide variety of innovations, including drones for smart farming, smart greenhouses, and agricultural community platform. In addition, the effort includes the development of an all-in-one knowledge and agricultural community platform, with gurus recommending cultivation information, products, and agricultural services.

Manas Chiaravanond, Chief Executive Officer, Chia Tai Company Limited, said, “Another important step for Chia Tai in this new century is to become a leading agricultural solution provider, developing a comprehensive Agri Eco-System from upstream, midstream, to downstream, while also trying to explore and advance state-of-the-art technology and agricultural solutions in order to bring innovations to solve agricultural complications and issues, as well as to promote and develop farmers’ skills and capabilities in all cultivation processes. This new business brand called “FarmInno (Thailand)” will be a valuable asset for Thai farmers in bolstering efficiency, saving labor, and making farming smarter and more convenient than before.

At Chia Tai, we aspire to contribute to the transformation of Thailand’s agricultural industry, to add to farmers’ ability to grow more efficiently, and more notably, to instil a great sense of pride in the farmer’s profession while also advocating for safe, high-quality produce and improving the quality of life for both farmers and consumers in accordance with our strong commitment to sustainability.”

Dr Wallapat Kaewumpai, Chief Strategy Officer, Chia Tai Company Limited, further added, “With more than a century of expertise in the agricultural industry, Chia Tai has accumulated an extensive and diverse body of agricultural knowledge, which has led to our ambitious goal to establish a new s-curve business like FarmInno (Thailand). Certainly, this endeavour will reiterate our position as the major player in agricultural innovation that provides a comprehensive range of products and services to seamlessly address our customers’ needs. Our mission is to help farmers minimize constraints and boost productivity so that they can consistently produce high-quality crops, despite difficulties brought on by various external factors, such as unpleasant weather or plant diseases”.

Company is also partnering with major agri

Agro Universities, Singapore

Supporting Singapore’s food resilience and sustainability drive, “The Greenhouse” features various agricultural systems to optimise plant growth by applying data analytics

Singapore’s, Republic Polytechnic (RP), launched “The Greenhouse”, a facility spanning 650m2 dedicated to academic and research studies. With this, RP becomes the first Institute in Singapore for Higher Learning (IHL) to have a facility to monitor and analyse plant growth under naturally ventilated, climate-controlled conditions. This will provide first-hand real-world experiences for over 700 Pre-Employment Training (PET) and Continuing Education and Training (CET) candidates as part of their annual agriculture-related curriculum.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Education and Foreign Affairs officiated the opening of the facility on 3 August 2022.

Explaining the significance of the new facility, Mr. Yeo Li Pheow, Principal/CEO, Republic Polytechnic said, “Developing self-sufficiency and a resilient food supply chain will help Singapore cushion against external food disruptions. As we mark our 20th-anniversary milestone this year, we are pleased to announce the launch of The Greenhouse. This facility will further deepen RP’s engagements and expertise in the agritech space and nurture a pipeline of industry-ready talent. This new facility will also serve to strengthen cross-industry collaborations and accelerate the development of new technologies for the sector.”

The facility consists of a core building comprising a naturally-ventilated greenhouse, a climate-controlled glasshouse, and two stories of laboratories within containers that allow for the precise control of the growing microclimates. It also houses different types of agricultural systems, together with remote and smart monitoring systems for the collection of critical physiological and environmental data.  In line with the nation’s sustainability drive, sustainable building elements such as the installation of integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) on the roof, and a water treatment system have been integrated into the construction of the facility. These elements help to reduce the environmental footprint of the facility.

New facility features multiple advanced agricultural systems

The Greenhouse also features industry-standard cultivation systems, designed to accommodate the growth cycle of plants and facilitate the smooth supply of nutrients. For example, the Bato bucket system provides larger space for root growth while the growbag system supports the use of different substrates. Utilising the vertical space, multi-tier tray-based systems and the A-frame nutrient film technique systems enable the growth of more plants within a small physical area. Besides growing plants, the facility also adopts the principles of circular economy, where unconsumed plant parts can be upcycled through black soldier fly into fertiliser, along with plants and fishes in an integrated aquaponics, system.

The facility’s advanced agricultural systems will support a range of student and staff research, consultancy, and industrial projects in the fields of agriculture and plant science. These projects include the optimisation of plant growth, plant genetics, and the cultivating of superior crop varieties, Internet-of-Things (IoT) enabled and machine learning solutions for smart farming, as well as bio-based solutions for the prevention of plant diseases. It will also help bring together established industry partners, such as Sembcorp Industries and Ripe Fresh, to collectively drive the institution’s initiatives in urban agriculture, plant science as well as sustainable energy and water solutions. Students will have the opportunity to acquire first-hand experience in on-farm operation, plant genetics, crop physiology, and breeding principles that will help prepare them for a career in the agritech sector.

Supporting Singapore’s food resilience and sustainability drive,

Agro Universities, Agrotech, Packaging & Labelling, R&D, Supply Chain

The fabricated nanocomposite film can monitor the packed food freshness using just a UV light source.

Scientists from the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology has developed biodegradable, biopolymer nanocomposite which can detect relative humidity can find application as smart packaging materials, especially for the food industry. 

In this, two biopolymers, Guar Gum (a variety of beans obtained from plant) and Alginate (obtained from brown algae), were blended with carbon dots (nanomaterial) to make a nanocomposite film that was successfully used to detect relative humidity. The fabricated nanocomposite film was an excellent smart sensor based on the fluorescence ‘on-off’ mechanisms against humidity. Their research has been published in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules.

The nanocomposite film shows change in fluorescence in presence of high humidity. Hence, the fabricated nanocomposite film can monitor the packed food freshness using just a UV light source. “Smart and active packaging can help consumers select a fresh product without breaking the pack. Such innovative packaging boosts sales and reduces consumers’ time to identify fresh food products,” said the researchers.

The fabricated nanocomposite film can monitor the

Acquaculture, Company News, Finance, Start ups

Nutreco’s acquisition of Eruvaka will enable Skretting, its aquaculture business, to deliver on-farm software and smart equipment to shrimp farmers globally.

 Agritech-focused venture capital firm Omnivore announced the sale of Eruvaka to Nutreco , delivering the largest exit to date in Indian agritech.  Based in Vijayawada, Eruvaka develops cloud-based aquaculture pond management solutions, including real-time monitoring and smart feeders. Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquaculture, acquired a majority stake in Eruvaka. Nutreco’s acquisition of Eruvaka will enable Skretting, its aquaculture business, to deliver on-farm software and smart equipment to shrimp farmers globally.

Omnivore originally invested in Eruvaka in 2013, one year after the startup was launched by Sreeram Raavi, an engineer with prior work experience in semiconductors. A true agritech pioneer, Raavi recognized that shrimp farmers globally struggled with pond management and began building IoT solutions to radically improve their profitability. Within a few years, this homegrown Andhra Pradesh startup discovered a demand for its technology solutions across multiple geographies, including Ecuador, Honduras, and Mexico. Eruvaka has been profitable since FY2018-19 and has delivered 168.5 per cent compound annual revenue growth since FY2017-18.

Commenting on the exit, Sreeram Raavi, Founder of Eruvaka said, “I am extremely grateful to my incredible team in Vijayawada, who believed in the vision and persevered to make Eruvaka a global leader in precision aquaculture technology. We are thankful to Omnivore for believing in us and guiding Eruvaka to this moment. I have absolute faith that Eruvaka will thrive under the leadership of Nutreco, bringing digitization and sustainability to aquaculture farms across the world.”

Mark Kahn, Managing Partner at Omnivore, also noted, “Eruvaka is an amazing example of Make in India, delivering cutting edge agritech solutions to aquaculture farmers globally. With Nutreco acquiring Eruvaka, the Indian agritech ecosystem has seen its first large exit, and many more will follow in the coming years. This is a very proud moment for Omnivore, for Eruvaka,  and for agritech in India.”

Nutreco CEO Fulco van Lede says, “We are grateful to everyone whose expertise and vision brought Eruvaka to where it is today. In particular, the company’s dedicated employees, its most valuable asset; its founder Sreeram Ravi, who not only invented the original concept but whose vision and drive brought it successfully to market; and aqua/agritech-focused venture capital firm Omnivore, whose early belief and investment in the company were instrumental to its growth. We are looking forward to further developing and growing Eruvaka together with its great team.”

Nutreco’s acquisition of Eruvaka will enable Skretting,

Agrotech, Finance, India

New investors include GMO Venture Partners, and DG Daiwa Ventures who join existing investors such as Blume, Arkam Ventures, Mirae Asset and Snow Leopard Ventures.

Jai Kisan is a leading financial services provider to rural Indian farmers and retailers. The company focuses on enabling more transparent and attractive financing along the agriculture value chain with its buy-now, pay-later and supply chain financing offerings.

Founded by Arjun Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego in 2017, Jai Kisan has grown into a critical part of India’s agriculture ecosystem by providing financing to both agriculture retailers and farmers. Since its founding, Jai Kisan has expanded its services to include supply chain financing and buy-now, pay-later offerings.

“We were immediately struck by the opportunity that Jai Kisan has to help enable better financing to rural Indians,” says George Roche of the Yara Growth Ventures team. “Better credit access can help micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) grow their businesses, while helping growers afford products which will improve their yield and quality.”

The Yara Growth Ventures team has been impressed with the professionalism and passion of the Jai Kisan team. They have a clear plan of action for how to deliver value to their customers by creating a strong fly-wheel – starting with a free software tool for MSMEs to better run their businesses, all the way to financing for the MSMEs and their customers directly.

“We are proud to have come thus far in this journey of revolutionizing financial services for rural India,” says Arjun Ahluwalia, co-founder and CEO of Jai Kisan. “It is due to the strong support of our network of customers and partners, and our extremely resilient team that we have been able to launch and scale such ground-breaking solutions. We are grateful for the faith that our investors, lenders and other stakeholders have shown, and continue to show in our vision. We will continue to build on the back of this support and create impact in this underserved space, leveraging creative new age solutions and keeping customer experience at the core of our beliefs.”

New investors include Yara Growth Ventures, GMO Venture Partners, and DG Daiwa Ventures who join existing investors such as Blume, Arkam Ventures, Mirae Asset, Snow Leopard Ventures, and others. Northern Arc, Alteria and MAS Financial contributed to the debt raise.

New investors include GMO Venture Partners, and

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agrotech, Company News, India

The Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards 2022 were presented across 30+ categories including sectoral, growth-based and special award categories.

Hyderabad based Coromandel International Limited, India’s leading Agri solutions provider in the business of Fertilisers, Crop Protection, Bio Pesticides, Specialty Nutrients, Organic Fertilizer and Retail, has been recognised as the Top Performer in the fertilisers segment by the jury of Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards 2022. Coromandel is also part of Dun & Bradstreet’s list of India’s Top 500 companies.

Sameer Goel, Managing Director, Coromandel International Limited received the prestigious award on behalf of the company at the hands of Avinash Gupta, Managing Director & CEO, Dun & Bradstreet.

Speaking on the achievement, Sameer Goel said, “We are delighted to be featured amongst the top performing corporates by Dun & Bradstreet. This is a recognition of our continuous efforts towards improving the shareholders’ value and conducting operations in a sustainable manner. Our Corporate Governance practices are based on transparency and accountability. We are committed towards farmers welfare and with our diversified presence across the agri value chain, we continuously engage with the farmers in developing novel agriculture solutions and integrated farming practices to maximise farm productivity. Our factories operate well within the Environmental norms and we have established a bird sanctuary in 350 acres at our Kakinada plant which has been recognised by UNDP. We are pioneers in ESG in our sector and will continue to strengthen the same.”

For more than a decade now, the Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards have been commemorating the outstanding performers among Indian Corporates. The Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards 2022 were presented across 30+ categories including sectoral, growth-based and special award categories. Only companies forming part of the Dun & Bradstreet ‘India’s Top 500 Companies’ publication in 2022 were in contention for these Awards.

The Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards 2022

Agro Universities, Agrotech, R&D

 The webinar was organised as part of global efforts to mainstream climate action and sustainable practices.

To develop actions to mitigate climate change-induced risks in agriculture, a panel of experts shared their global experiences and reflected on the required policies and alliances towards building climate-resilient and sustainable agri-food systems at a webinar organized by the British Deputy High Commission, Hyderabad and ICRISAT.

The webinar on “Policies and Development Actions for Mainstreaming Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture” was organized as part of global efforts to mainstream climate action and sustainable practices.The webinar was a part of a series of events that the British Deputy High Commission, Hyderabad plans to deliver over the next few months in the post-United Nations Climate Change Conference (CoP26) context focusing on specific outcomes from the summit.

Although multiple local and global stakeholders are increasingly working towards building resilience in agri-food systems, experts shared how current adaptation efforts to address this challenge from a systems perspective are not unified or well-integrated into development plans and actions.

Steering the discussion, Dr Jacqueline Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT, expressed the need to strengthen research policy links and shape coherent local-to-national level agricultural and climate decision-making and policies.

“Strengthened local and national stakeholder networks and capacity on climate action would be key to shaping and expanding risk-informed agricultural development in a changing climate and shift trajectories towards economic, environmental and social goals,” said Dr Hughes.

Elaborating on how the United Kingdom is transforming its agriculture sector to make it more climate-smart, the British Deputy High Commissioner, Hyderabad, Dr Andrew Fleming shared how the nation has sought advice from the Climate Change Committee, an independent, statutory body. ​

Dr Fleming further spoke on ways to strengthen UK-India collaboration to develop cutting-edge technology to build a green, resilient, prosperous future for both nations.

Citing the impact of climate change on crops, Dr Shalander Kumar, Deputy Global Research Program Director, ICRISAT, India, spoke on how climate change also impacts the nutritional quality of crops.

Other panelists Dr Rengalakshmi, Director, Eco-technology, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and Dr Sabine Homann – Kee Tui, Senior Scientist, Enabling Systems Transformation, ICRISAT, Malawi agreed that there is an urgent need to transform agri-food systems for a new climate reality that exists across multiple scales (local, regional and global), by involving multiple stakeholders and sectors. A total of 95 viewers participated in the webinar.

In his closing remarks, Dr Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General-Research, ICRISAT, emphasized that linking research practices and policy will be the key to effectively addressing climate change impacts.

 The webinar was organised as part of

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agrotech, Finance

Better product realisations, favourable exchange rate, and higher volumes contributed to revenue growth in Q1 FY23.

Agrochemical major, UPL Ltd has reported financial results for the first quarter of FY23 (Apr-June 2022). Q1 FY23 revenue witnessed growth of 27 per cent YoY to reach Rs 10,821 crore, led by better product realizations (+18 per cent), favourable exchange rate (+3 per cent), and higher volumes (+6 per cent). Q1 FY23 EBITDA grew by 26 per cent YoY to Rs 2,342 crore as against Rs 1,862 crore in Q1 FY22.

Commenting on the performance, Jai Shroff, CEO – UPL Ltd., said “After a strong end to FY2022, we continued to see solid growth momentum in Q1 FY23, as the strong agri commodity prices drove significant uptick in price realizations as well as healthy demand from growers. The EBITDA margin remained largely intact despite the significant input cost inflation and a challenging macro-economic environment exacerbated by geopolitical issues. This was driven by proactive pricing actions coupled with efficient supply chain management that led to the strong top-line growth getting translated into robust operating profitability growth as well.

Powered by our OpenAg purpose, we continued to leverage collaboration as a catalyst for sustainable and lasting change. In partnership with the FIFA Foundation, we held the European launch of Gigaton Carbon Goal, a global initiative to sequester one billion metric tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide by 2040. And in Brazil, we announced a new agreement with Bunge to establish Orígeo, an innovative company providing end-to-end solutions to help increase farmer’s productivity, profitability and sustainability.

Moving on, as we look ahead to the rest of the year, we are well poised to continue our healthy growth momentum, as product realizations continue to remain strong, recent new launches continue to see good traction in the marketplace, and the overall demand outlook continues to be constructive.

Better product realisations, favourable exchange rate, and

Agrotech, Company News, Europe, Finance

 It will help the company to gain new revenue streams through potential commercialization of oilseed crop for renewable fuels and livestock feed with ecosystem benefits.

Bayer and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (Chevron), a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, have signed a shareholders’ agreement in connection with Bayer’s acquisition of a 65 percent majority ownership of the winter oilseed producer CoverCress, Inc. (CCI). The remaining 35 percent of CCI will continue ownership under Bunge and Chevron.

CoverCress™ is a rotational cash crop which combines grain production with the environmental benefits of a cover crop without displacing other harvests. Oil extracted from CoverCress™ grain is designed to achieve a lower carbon intensity score and can be made into renewable diesel with Bunge’s expertise in oilseed processing and Chevron’s proficiency in fuels manufacturing. This farm-to-fuel supply chain represented by CCI, Bayer, Bunge and Chevron aim to give corn and soybean growers another revenue outlet by providing the world with a desirable fuel product and high-protein meal for animal feed.

“CoverCress is exciting because it has the potential to become an important source for biofuel production as a new harvested rotational crop, while giving growers an innovative option to continue effective stewardship of their land and improve soil quality by acting as a cover crop,” said Rodrigo Santos, Member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President of the Crop Science Division.

Aligning the combined expertise of Bayer, Bunge, and Chevron with the potential held by CoverCress™ will position CCI to further develop and commercialize its namesake winter oilseed into a rotational cash cover crop with potential sustainability and carbon sequestration benefits and bring a new lower carbon fuel feedstock to the renewable diesel industry. CCI, which will continue to operate as an independent entity, has developed CoverCress™ as a unique crop whose grain is a lower carbon, low-input source for fuel and feed.

“Since our founding in 2013 we have actively sought – and benefited from – scientific, operational, and financial support from our academic and strategic partners. The progress we have made in converting pennycress into our novel, lower carbon intensity oilseed technology, CoverCress™, would have been much slower without this critical support,” said Mike DeCamp, CEO and president of CCI.

By leveraging expertise and backing from leaders in fuels, soybean crushing, logistics, and crop sciences, CCI will be positioned to deliver on its full potential via a supply chain that understands its crop’s production, growth, processing, and delivery needs from the ground up.

 It will help the company to gain

Company News, Finance, Machinery - Pre-harvesting

Total tractor sales (Domestic + Exports) during July 2022 were at 23307 units, as against 27229 units for the same period last year.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.’s Farm Equipment Sector (FES), part of the Mahindra Group, today announced its tractor sales numbers for July 2022. Domestic sales in July 2022 were at 21684 units, as against 25769 units during July 2021.Total tractor sales (Domestic + Exports) during July 2022 were at 23307 units, as against 27229 units for the same period last year. Exports for the month stood at 1623 units.

Commenting on the performance, Hemant Sikka, President – Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, “We have sold 21684 tractors in the domestic market during July 2022. After a very robust Q1 wherein we achieved a volume growth of 18 per cent, the month of July witnessed normalization in volumes. July is traditionally a lean month as the land preparation phase, wherein a tractor finds highest utility, gets over and farmers start sowing their crops. Monsoon, which is a key determinant of Agri growth has stayed on course so far. Overall rainfall has been higher than normal barring few states in Eastern part of the country, which have received deficient rainfall until now. With these states being country’s key paddy producing markets, recovery in rainfall is crucial. Festive season falling in later half of August and sufficient rainfalls across most of geographies will shape up the industry in the upcoming months. In the exports market, we have sold 1623 tractors, a growth of 11 per cent over last year.”

Total tractor sales (Domestic + Exports) during

Agri Genomics, Agrotech, Finance, India, Start ups

 Seed funding was led by Ankur Capital to build a platform for the discovery of new sustainable crop varieties.

India/UK-based Agri-Genomics start up, Piatrika Biosystems has raised $1.2 million in a seed round led by Ankur Capital. The company is bringing sustainable seeds and agri chemicals to market faster and cheaper. The investment will be used to build a strong Product Development team, also for more profound research, and to accelerate the productionising and commercialization of MVP. ​

Piatrika Biosystems is incubated out of NIAB (Cambridge, UK) & ICRISAT (Hyderabad, India) and working with Researchers, Seed companies & Research institutes. Founded in 2019 by Vasudev Kumanduri and Phani Yarlagadda, Piatrika Biosystems is also building a new innovative cloud-based enterprise Platform-As-A-Service (PAAS) for agri-genomic discoveries and plant breeding decision support, program designing, and monitoring. The seed discovery platform is supported by novel technologies in computational biology and data science, integrating this with autonomous phenotypic, temporal, and spatial data capture for more accurate analysis helps enhance the discovery process. The company aims to bridge the gap between scientific research and commercial enterprise solutions.

Vasudev Kumanduri, Co-Founder & CEO, Piatrika Biosystems, said, “There remains a significant disconnect between state-of-the-art research and its practical implementation. This means that while there has been ground-breaking research in recent years in computational biology / genomics, data science, cloud and instrumentation, this important knowledge has not been applied in a timely practical manner in agriculture. There is an urgent need to translate these research advances into practical benefit for the agriculturist, the consumer and ultimately the planet through modern, sustainable and ethical food production.”

Ritu Verma, Partner, Ankur Capital said, “We are excited to partner with Piatrika on their journey to enable and create new seeds through computational biology. With the challenges that agriculture faces both from climate and increased food demand, innovation in the seed sector is critical. With advances in computational biology, we see this as a critical tool to bring new seeds to market quickly.”

 Seed funding was led by Ankur Capital

Agrotech, Company News, North America, R&D, Seeds

This site further expands the company’s capacity for vegetable seed processing and quickens availability to growers.

Syngenta has announced the launch of its new Global Vegetable Seeds Quality Control Lab in Nampa, Idaho. This lab represents a $15 million investment in global seed health, expanding on the previous $30 million Trait Conversion Accelerator opened at the site in 2019.

The 37,000-square-foot quality control facility features state-of-the-art contained environment growth areas and precision testing that will enhance seed health in the global vegetable industry and for vegetable seed customers. In turn, work at the quality control lab in Nampa will support reducing the timeline from seed production to grower fields.

 Stacy Woodruff, Global Head of Vegetable Seeds Production, Syngenta Seeds said, “We have a global footprint, and this further expands our ability to bring the highest quality vegetable seed products to growers around the world. It expands our quality control capabilities, increasing efficiency and capacity.”

Phytosanitary standards in seed movement are paramount, and this global quality control lab ensures only the highest quality seed makes it into grower hands around the world.

“We have great science and great scientists, and this gives us greater capabilities in seed testing and development,” said Matthew Johnston, Global Head of Syngenta Vegetable Seeds and Flowers.

Local Roots, Global Impact

Nestled in the Treasure Valley region of Idaho, the Nampa facility serves growers around the world. This new strategic addition to the site increases Syngenta’s flexibility and speed in which products go to market.

Syngenta’s investments also bring new technology and methodologies to improve turnaround times and accuracy for pest testing, such as:

Grow out trials – These provide an additional check for seed quality and can be required in certain regulatory processes.

Protein sampling – Analyzes samples for the presence of bacteria with precision and a two- to three-day result turnaround.

Molecular testing – Uses PCR-type technology to provide evidence of the presence or absence of DNA related to seed-borne pests with a one- to two-day window for results.

The harmonized approach for seed production allows Syngenta to meet regulatory requirements for markets around the world, meaning growers worldwide can have access to our upgraded supply chain.

This site further expands the company’s capacity