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Bee keeping, North America

When Pol-line colonies and standard colonies were treated against Varroa mites in both fall and December, Pol-line bees had a winter survival rate of 72 per cent while standard bees had a survival rate of 56 per cent

Pol-line honey bees, a type of Varroa mite resistant honey bee developed by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), are more than twice as likely to survive through the winter than standard honey bees, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.

Although ARS developed Pol-line bees in 2014, the study was the first time that they were tested head-to-head alongside standard honey bee stock in commercial apiaries providing pollination services and producing honey. Colonies’ ability to survive winter without being treated to control Varroa mites was followed in four states: Mississippi, California, and North and South Dakota.

In this study, Pol-line colonies that were given no treatment to control Varroa mites in the fall had a survival rate of 62.5 per cent compared to standard bees colonies in commercial apiaries also given no fall Varroa treatment, which had a winter survival rate of 3 per cent.

When Pol-line colonies and standard colonies were treated against Varroa mites in both fall and December, Pol-line bees had a winter survival rate of 72 per cent while standard bees had a survival rate of 56 per cent. So, Pol-line bees still had a better winter survival rate regardless of receiving double Varroa mite treatment.

This research was the culmination of breeding efforts to develop honey bee colonies with naturally low Varroa populations that began at the Baton Rouge lab in the late 1990s.

Winter colony survival is crucial for beekeepers because in February each year, about 2.5 million honey bee colonies are needed in California to pollinate almond crops. Larger, healthier colonies bring beekeepers premium pollination contracts at about $220 a colony.

Varroa mites can cause massive colony losses; they are the single largest problem facing beekeepers since they spread to the US from South East Asia in 1987. While miticides used to control Varroa exist, resistance is developing to some of them.

In addition, overall winter survival, the scientists examined the levels of viruses in Pol-line and standard bee colonies that are commonly transmitted by varroa mites.

The Pol-line colonies showed significantly lower levels of three major viruses: Deformed wing virus A, Deformed wing virus B and Chronic bee paralysis virus, all of which can cause significant problems for colonies.

When Pol-line colonies and standard colonies were

Agro chems – Pesticides, Biofuel industry, Biostimulants, Environment, Interaction, Sustainability, World

The Annual World BioProtection Summit and Awards to be held in Birmingham from May 23-24

The Annual World BioProtection Summit and Awards will be held in Birmingham from May 23-24. The event will cover topics on biopesticides, biostimulants, biofertilisers, biocides and bioremediation. Besides, the summit will have the Annual World BioProtection Summit and Awards (AWBSA).

AWBSA will offer:

  • An excellent conference programme featuring top-billing speakers who will share the latest developments and opinions in bioprotection.
  • A session dedicated to regulatory challenges, with a meaningful panel discussion involving representatives from across the sector, including policymakers
  • Excellent networking opportunities
  • An opportunity to pitch new ideas in a vibrant and energetic InvestorReady session
  • An Awards scheme celebrating the sector’s brightest achievements.

According to Dr Minshad Ansari, Chairman, The World Bio Protection Forum (WBF), the past two years have shown how quickly life can change. The covid pandemic, extreme climate events, and geopolitical challenges that are resonating throughout the world have made us all realise the fragility of our lives, and that of even the strongest business. Few companies were prepared for the changes that the past two years have wrought and, while strengthened supply chains, flexible working and other pragmatisms have provided the resilience that AgriTech needs to continue thriving in the ‘new normal’, old challenges remain.

Ansari said, “Primarily, the biocontrol sector continues to struggle with the challenge of converting brilliant ideas into commercial products that can be sold on the market. There appears to be no shortage of new ideas for biocontrol solutions, but the following challenges remain.”

The challenges are:

  • Innovation: There are not enough biocontrol products on the market to address growing demand – as more toxic chemicals are banned, the world urgently needs more biological solutions to fill those gaps.
  • Formulation: Early biocontrol options failed due to sub-optimal formulation techniques that allow full efficacy to be achieved.
  • Regulation: Despite 30 years of efforts by individual companies and other industry groups, little has been achieved in gaining the regulatory reforms required for new biopesticides.
  • Investment: The biocontrol sector is dominated by entrepreneurs, spin-offs and SMEs that need external investment to advance their innovations and get them to market.

The Annual World BioProtection Summit and Awards

Agro Universities, Start ups, Sustainability

Discussions were held on the promotion of sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural development through participative financial and non-financial interventions

The ICAR-National Institute of Natural Fibre Engineering and Technology, Kolkata recently organised the ‘Interface Meeting with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’ in Kolkata.

Dr AR Khan, CGM, NABARD, West Bengal Regional Office underlined the initiatives taken by the NABARD for the promotion of sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural development through participative financial and non-financial interventions, innovations, and technology and institutional development for securing prosperity.

Dr DB Shakyawar, Director, ICAR-NINFET, Kolkata outlined a few areas of collaboration, viz., the entrepreneurship development programme, product diversification, establishment of jute fibre quality testing and agric-clinics and agri-business centres, skill-building programmes, start-up funding and awareness and FLD Programmes with the institute which may open a new vista for uplifting the rural people.

Earlier, delivering the welcome address, Kamalesh Kumar, GM, NABARD, West Bengal Regional Office highlighted the collaborative approach with the ICAR-NINFET for disseminating the technologies to the farmers’ fronts.

The senior officials of both the organisations were present during the occasion.

Discussions were held on the promotion of

AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, Logistics, Pulses, Trade, Transportation

The highest ever exports have been achieved for staples like rice, wheat, sugar and other cereals

Exports of agricultural products (including marine and plantation products) for the year 2021-22 have crossed $50 billion, the highest level ever achieved for agriculture exports. As per the provisional figures released by DGCI&S, the agricultural exports have grown by 19.92 per cent during 2021-22, to touch $50.21 billion. The growth rate is remarkable as it is over and above the growth of 17.66 per cent, at $41.87 billion, achieved in 2020-21 and has been achieved despite unprecedented logistical challenges in the form of high freight rates, container shortages etc.

The highest ever exports have been achieved for staples like rice ($9.65 billion), wheat ($ 2.19 billion), sugar ($4.6 billion) and other cereals ($ 1.08 billion). Wheat has recorded an unprecedented growth of more than 273 per cent, jumping nearly four-fold from $568 million in 2020-21 to touch close to $2119 million in 2021-22. An increase in exports of these products has benefitted farmers in states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra etc. India has captured nearly 50 per cent of the world’s market for rice.

The export of marine products, at $7.71 billion, is also the highest ever, benefitting farmers in the coastal states of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Spices exports have touched $4 billion for the second year in a row. Despite facing tremendous supply-side issues, coffee exports have crossed $1 billion for the first time, which has improved realisations for coffee growers in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Exports have taken place from clusters like Varanasi (fresh vegetables, mangoes), Ananthpur (banana), Nagpur (orange), Lucknow (mango), Theni (banana), Solapur (pomegranate), Krishna & Chittoor (mango) etc. Initiatives like ‘Happy Banana’ train, an exclusive train with reefer containers to transport bananas from Anantapur to JNPT, Mumbai have been taken to boost exports from unconventional areas.

The highest ever exports have been achieved

AgroPolicy, Animal Health, Dairy, Goat farming, Poultry, Schemes - Govt

The key objective of the unit is to develop a national One Health roadmap based on the learnings of the pilot project implementation

The Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Government of India has launched a pilot project in the state of Uttarakhand to implement the One Health Framework by One Health Support Unit. The key objective of the unit is to develop a national One Health roadmap based on the learnings of the pilot project implementation.

The inter-ministerial One Health committee under the chairmanship of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India has been established to lead the implementation of the One Health Support Unit. A Project Steering Committee (PSC) is constituted under the chairmanship of Secretary (AHD), GoI involving representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, ICAR, civil societies, international development organisations and field practitioners.

Based on the recommendations of PSC, state and district level one health committees need to be constituted by involving competent authorities from health, animal husbandry and environment ministries. Some of the key activities to be undertaken as part of the pilot project include institutionalising the mechanism for the data collection on disease outbreaks, prevalence, management, and development of targeted surveillance plan, integrating the network of laboratories, developing and implementing communication strategy across sectors and integration of the data with the digital architecture of the National Digital Livestock Mission.

The pilot project in Uttarakhand was launched by Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India in the presence of Dr Praveen Malik, Animal Husbandry Commissioner, Government of India, Alkesh Wadhwani, Director, Poverty Alleviation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation India, Dr R Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Uttarakhand, Shri Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Secretary, Department of Medical, Health and Family Welfare Government of Uttarakhand, Ranjan Kumar Mishra, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife Uttarakhand Forest Department, Government of Uttarakhand and Dr Prem Kumar, Director, Department of Animal Husbandry Government of Uttarakhand among other key stakeholders.

The key objective of the unit is

Agro Universities, Agrotech

Ablation is the removal of male and female inflorescences and fruit bunches produced during the juvenile period of oil palm

The oil palm ablatool developed by ICAR-Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Pedavegi, Andhra Pradesh has been granted the Patent (No. – 393982).

Ablation is the removal of male and female inflorescences and fruit bunches produced during the juvenile period of oil palm (1 to 3 Years). It improves the vegetative growth of the palm by retaining the nutrients which are supposed to be used by the developing inflorescences or fruit bunches. It also improves the drought-resistance capacity of young palms by improving the shoot and root growth, especially, in the low production areas where dry conditions exist.

The ablation tool developed by the institute consists of a long handle of GI Pipe of 5 Ft length. On one end of the pipe, a ‘U’ shaped holder is welded. A sharp-pointed nail is welded at the Centre of the ‘U’ holder.

The operator has to locate the unopened inflorescence to be removed and pushes the ‘U’ holder into the inflorescence. In this process, the sharp needle pierces into the inflorescence and with a small push, the inflorescence gets broken and is hooked like a fish.

The tool can be operated without drudgery at an angle of 680 to the ground level from a distance of 1.3 metre. The average time taken to ablate one inflorescence would be two seconds. On average, in one hour, a person can ablate 125 inflorescences, without removing the green leaves.

Ablation is the removal of male and

Interaction, Sustainability

Vertical farming has emerged as a sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture says Dr Shivendra Bajaj, Executive Director, Federation of Seed Industry of India and Alliance for Agri Innovation

Globally responsible companies and multilateral organisations are intensely pushing for sustainable means of agriculture as it can help humans to meet their needs without harming the environment. With the unpredictable weather conditions posed by climate change, the pre-existing issues such as pollution, crop failure and depleting natural resources have aggravated. In such a scenario, vertical farming has emerged as a sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture as vertical farming is usually done indoors, it is soil less farming, hence, the risk of contamination through pests is negligible.

Vertical farming is considered the future of farming as it needs less space and the growing system is hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics. The major advantage of this farming is that it requires very less land in comparison to conventional agriculture, consumption of water is 80 per cent less, moreover, the water is recycled and saved and most importantly its productivity does not depend on weather conditions.

Vertical farming allows consumers to access fresh vegetables or fruits soon after they are harvested. Moreover, any farm commodity can be grown around the year since vertical farming allows control of environmental conditions. Even exotic farm items can be produced easily. Food traceability is an important factor associated with vertical farming as food safety starts with traceability. Consumers, food processors, and regulators can easily find the source of vegetables and other farm produce. They can even check on the quality of seeds, and crop inputs that are used to grow these vegetables as it will bring transparency to the supply chain.

Another major benefit is that local production especially in the urban setting will help to reduce carbon emissions that are released during transportation as trucks are laced with cooling facilities and more fuel is used for longer distances. Also due to the less distance between farm to table, it reduces agricultural wastage by a big margin.

Major companies like Walmart, McDonald’s are investing in vertical farming to achieve sustainability targets. It allows them to provide fresh and quality products to customers as well as achieve sustainability in the business.

The newest model of farming is bringing a revolution in the agriculture sector and transforming the ways of farm operations and our food habits. Vertical farming holds huge potential for entrepreneurs to bring innovations and create employment opportunities.

Now advanced technology such as smart cameras, artificial intelligence, and sensors are being used in vertical farming. Entrepreneurs must exploit this opportunity since indoor farming will be a major trend due to the demand for safe, fresh and local food.

The government too is encouraging vertical farming and has extended subsidies for setting up vertical farms. Vertical farming ensures a fairly stable crop yield. It is easier to make long term agreements with grocery stores as vertical gardening will stabilise crop income and revenue streams. All this makes vertical farming an ideal start-up platform for scalable growth. This will help create employment opportunities in urban agriculture as well as help protect the environment.

Vertical farming has emerged as a sustainable

Agrotech, World

Arya.ag will conduct business in alignment with UN Global Compact Network India

Arya.ag has joined the United Nations Global Compact India thereby voluntarily conforming to universal sustainability principles and taking steps to support UN SDGs. Within the agritech ecosystem in India, Arya.ag is among the pioneers to proactively embrace this globally coveted framework.

The United Nations Global Compact is an evolved framework of Corporate Governance driven sustainability that requires members to conduct business conforming to 10 principles encompassing elements such as human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. Furthermore, members are required to take action to achieve SDG 2030.

The world’s largest corporate responsibility initiative, UNGC has over 16000 companies and 3000 non-business signatories across 160 countries through over 70 local networks. The India Network, UN GCNI presently has around 550 participating organisations.

Prasanna Rao MD, Arya.ag said, “At Arya, we propagate solutions that are sustainable to the ecosystem and inclusive for communities. Conforming to benchmarks of the coveted UN Global Compact program validates our efforts and nudges us forward towards a more inclusive and purposeful organisation. We aim to set newer reference points in the agritech space on aspects related to sustainability.”

Aseem Kumar, Executive Director (Officiating), UN Global Compact Network India commented, “As part of the One UNGC family and acting as its local arm in India, we take immense pride in the work that we are fortunate to be doing to achieve SDGs and driving Sustainable and Responsible Business Practices. We firmly believe in the power of partnerships and collaborations at all levels as the key enabler to pursuing the Goals. We are pleased to welcome ARYA.ag as our latest member organisation and are confident of driving much-needed CHANGE with their support.”

Arya.ag will conduct business in alignment with

Agrotech

The company is offering its customers with Synergen DRT: the first solution to come out of our DropForward concept

One of the leading global suppliers of specialty chemicals for agriculture, Clariant has launched DropForward: a focused approach to providing precision application with adjuvants and co-formulants. The company is offering its customers Synergen DRT: the first solution to come out of our DropForward concept.

Synergen DRT, the drift control agent and biological activator specifically for drones. Developed in Clariant’s high-tech facilities in Germany, and under real-life conditions in Brazil, this high-performing adjuvant allows the application of standard pesticides under the low volume conditions of small drone tanks.

“Synergen DRT helps to control drift and volatility of fine droplets during application and helps improving the coverage and penetration of the actives in the leaves, boosting biological performance as well as making drone spraying more sustainable and environmentally friendly,” said Fabio Caravieri, Clariant’s Head of Marketing, Industrial & Consumer Specialties.

The new adjuvant technology has shown that with small doses of the adjuvant, a robust performance is obtained in the control of drift and performance, even when used with mixtures of products, and standing out in the desiccation of weeds, ensuring higher efficacy of herbicides.

The company is offering its customers with

Company News, Live Stock

ISO/IEC 17025 is one of the most important internationally recognised quality standards

NEOGEN Corporation recently announced that its Genetic Veterinary Sciences, Inc (GVS) facility has received ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) — the highest recognised quality standard in the world for testing and calibration laboratories.

ISO/IEC 17025 is one of the most important internationally recognised quality standards and was developed to promote confidence in testing and calibration labs by setting requirements to demonstrate competency and ability to generate valid results.

Marylinn Munson, Vice President of Genomics at NEOGEN commented, “This accreditation exemplifies our discipline to upholding rigorous quality management systems. Veterinarians, breeders, and owners of companion animals around the world can be reassured that GVS tests are accurate, precise, and produce valid test results.”

ISO/IEC 17025 is one of the most

Agrotech, Finance

 The funding is led by NABARD backed NABVENTURES Fund 

TraceX Technologies has raised $1 million in pre-series A funding led by NABARD backed NABVENTURES Fund. The round also saw participation from Paipal Ventures, an early stage family office investment fund, and angel investor Sunil Kumar. The newly raised capital will be used towards scaling up operations across geographies in India and international markets, enhancing the technology platform, foraying into other value chains and building high-performance teams across functions.

 The funding is led by NABARD backed NABVENTURES

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Animal Health, Dairy, Goat farming, Live Stock

Union agri minister inaugurates the exhibition

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare inaugurated the ‘Technology Exhibition’ in the historic Mallinath Krishi and Pashu Mela held at the Tilwara Village of Barmer District, Rajasthan. Present were Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of Jal Shakti; Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Kailash Choudhary, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare. The exhibition was organised by the ICAR Institutes.

Delivering the inaugural address, Tomar highlighted the Central Government’s plans for putting a greater emphasis on agricultural research and enhancing the farmers’ income. The benefits of the Farmer’s Insurance Scheme were also underlined by the Union Minister.

Shekhawat outlined the interlinking of the rivers for the farmers’ benefit.

Dr Balyan expressed his concerns over the declining camel population. The role of goats and sheep in the drought years of Rajasthan was also highlighted by the minister.

Shri Choudhary applauded the efforts of the research institutes and farmers of the region that have brought revolutions in agriculture and horticulture in the driest parts of the region. The increased cultivation of pomegranate, date palm and fig which are now being marketed in the international markets was accentuated by the minister.

Union agri minister inaugurates the exhibitionNarendra Singh

AgroPolicy, Biofuel industry

The move will facilitate project proponents to complete the projects and to avail of the benefits of interest subvention

The Central Government has decided to extend the timeline for disbursement of loans up to September 30, 2022, in respect of all the schemes notified during 2018-2021. The move will facilitate project proponents to complete the projects and to avail of the benefits of interest subvention.

The government to increase the production of ethanol and its supply under the Ethanol Blended with Petrol (EBP) Programme, especially in the surplus season and thereby improve the liquidity position of the sugar mills enabling them to clear cane price arrears of the farmers, notified different interest subvention schemes for sugar mills and distilleries during 2018-2021. The government is extending financial assistance in the form of interest subvention @ 6 per cent per annum or 50 per cent of the rate of interest charged by banks, whichever is lower, on the loans to be extended by banks for five years including a one-year moratorium.

Under the schemes, the timeline for disbursement of loans for ethanol projects is up to March/April 2022. However, due to the unavoidable and unfortunate situation caused by COVID-19, project proponents were unable to adhere to the time limit for disbursement of loans from Banks/ Financial institutions and unable to complete their projects in a given time frame. Therefore, there is a need to extend the timeline for disbursement of loans under interest subvention schemes announced earlier during 2018-2021.

The ethanol distillation capacity of molasses-based distilleries was only 215 crore litres before 2014. However, in past seven years due to the policy changes made by the government, the capacity of molasses-based distilleries has increased by one and a half times and is currently at 555 crore litres. The capacity of grain-based distilleries which was 206 crore litres in 2013 increased to 280 crore litres. Thus, the total ethanol production capacity in the country has reached 835 crore litres. However, ethanol production capacities are required to be enhanced to about 1700 cr litres to achieve 20 per cent blending by 2025. The decision to extend of timeline for ethanol projects would help in enhancing ethanol production capacities further.

The move will facilitate project proponents to

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Sustainability

Awareness programmes to be organised for 30,000 village heads across the country

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the online training programme for master trainers on natural farming, organised by the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad. 

Speaking on the occasion, Tomar said that MANAGE has been entrusted with the task of organising 750 awareness programmes for 30,000 village heads in the country from April to August as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. 

In the coming days, trained master trainers will organize 750 awareness programmes for 30,000 village heads across the country and help in taking forward the initiative of natural farming in their respective states. 4.09 lakh hectare area is covered under natural farming. 

The Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Kailash Choudhary and Shobha Karandlaje were also present on the occasion. Manoj Ahuja, Joint Secretary, Priya Ranjan and Director General, MANAGE Dr P Chandrashekhar also addressed the session. Online training will be given by MANAGE to 215 master trainers on the subject of introduction principle and practice of natural farming, which will be completed before August 15.

Awareness programmes to be organised for 30,000