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Agrotech, Supply Chain, Warehousing

Agri Reach is capable of establishing industry-standard warehouse operations anywhere across the country within 24 hours

Sohan Lal Commodity Management Private Limited, India’s leading Post Harvest Management Group (SLCM Group) has recently announced the receipt of ‘Patent Certificate’ from the Patent Office, Government of India for its application titled “Methods for Real Time Data Management” filed on December 16, 2013. SLCM Group is the only company in the Indian Agriculture sector that has registered a technology patent in the Agri Logistics (Warehousing) segment till date that is spanning 75 years post-Independence.

Agri Reach, SLCM Group’s proprietary solution, allows real-time monitoring and management of crops. Under the umbrella, the invention offers a diverse set of services such as audit receipts, quality control, and surveillance. Agri Reach is capable of establishing industry-standard warehouse operations anywhere across the country within 24 hours.

Commenting on this achievement, Sandeep Sabharwal, Chief Executive Officer, SLCM Group, said, “Observing the increasing pace of technology penetration, I had the vision of ‘Phygitalising’ the warehouse management system over a decade ago. With a dedicated team of professionals, we created ‘Agri Reach’ – a system that enables effective warehousing solutions agnostic of infrastructure, geography, and crops. With firm belief in our innovation and a passion to improve Indian agriculture, we applied for the patent 9 years ago. Today, it gives me immense pleasure to say that our patent application has received its accreditation from the Government of India. This brings us one step closer to revolutionising agriculture at the ground level.”

The impact of Agri Reach implementation across the business verticals of SLCM Group has resulted in remarkable growth, which is considered as an industry benchmark. In 2017, SLCM Group was handling Assets Under Management (AUM) worth Rs 1010.9 Crore per day. In comparison to this, the current outstanding AUM handled by the company per day has a net worth of Rs 5322.75 Crore (as on March 20, 2022).

Agri Reach is capable of establishing industry-standard

China

The new traits include change of the leaf angle and improvement in drought tolerance of corn

Origin Agritech Limited, an agriculture technology company, announced that the company, together with its partner China Agricultural University, has submitted applications for bio-safety certificates for six newly developed gene edited traits that significantly increase the yield of corn crops.

The new traits include change of the leaf angle and improvement in drought tolerance of corn. Changing the leaf angle and plant types will improve the photosynthesis efficiency and increase the planting population, which in turn increases yields. The new traits will also improve the water use efficiency and drought tolerance for corn plants. Origin is currently integrating these traits into its commercial hybrid corns, including the company’s nutritionally enhanced corn. 

In late January, China announced that the country would allow gene edited crops and that the approval process would be very streamlined as compared to the process for getting a new GMO trait approved.

Origin began creating gene edited corn traits in 2017 and already has developed many other desirable traits. Additionally, Origin’s insect resistant and herbicide tolerant GMO corn is also in the approval process. All of these traits could be integrated into these corn crops as well, further increasing yields.

“Given the current challenges facing the world of food inflation, environmental change and uncertainty of food exports from certain countries due to geopolitical events, we are thrilled to be playing a major role in improving food security,” said Dr Gengchen Han, Origin Agritech’s Chairman.

The new traits include change of the

Agrotech, Finance

Insta-Release aims to empower farmers with quick access to their farm produce for value optimisation upon repayment of loans

Arya.ag, India’s largest and fastest-growing integrated grain commerce platform, has recently announced another industry-first, Arya’s Insta-Release – One Click Loan Repayment and Commodity Discharge. Leveraging its technology stack, Arya.ag has been able to optimise its release process to happen within seconds – which otherwise by current industry standards takes over 24 hours to a week.

Agricultural market prices are quite dynamic. The platform’s Price Intelligence mechanism combined with immediate access to the farmers’ stocks – loaned and otherwise, enables them to make prompt & informed decisions on commodity sales. With Arya’s marketplace search engine that connects sellers to buyers across the country and its embedded logistics service, users can now seamlessly reach buyers in no time.

The launch of innovative Insta-Release services aims to empower farmers to immediately optimise their farm produce upon repayment of loans. Insta Release leverages Arya.ag’s pioneering integrated digital platform and allows the farmer to gain complete control of her farm produce immediately upon repayment of loans – all this at just click of a button. Apart from convenience, the Insta-Release offering drives home transparency, efficiency and ease of Arya.ag’s integrated service offerings to farmers.

To release stocks, registered customers can log on to their dashboard, choose how many bags of funded or non-funded bags they wish to release. Once they select the quantity, the platform instantly generates details of the rent and loan outstanding accrued against those bags. A user can pay instantly on the platform to receive the Release Order in a matter of seconds.

Anand Chandra, Arya.ag’s co-founder, said, “Our endeavour at Arya.ag is to align the supply and demand in a secure yet mutually beneficial proposition. We recognise that reduced turn-around-time and lower transaction costs benefits all stakeholders; however immediate payments benefit small-hold farmers, and immediate delivery of stocks is critical for buyers”.

 Arya.ag’s Insta-Release leverages AI, ML, IoT to deliver an enriching experience to end-users. Instant loans, online payments and instant release of commodities ensures that agri-commodity becomes a powerful tool in the hands of the producer.

Insta-Release aims to empower farmers with quick

Agrotech, Start ups

The team have built a digital platform with a big Bharat footprint – including 500,000 app users, 4 million rental hours and 4 million acres of farmland

Mahindra Group has increased its stake in Carnot Technologies, an ag-tech startup, to approximately 69 per cent. The group has also affirmed its commitment to its vision of making Krish-e, the group’s farming as a service vertical, India’s largest ecosystem of digital products and solutions. As part of the round, an attractive ESOP pool for future employees has also been created.

Talking about the investment Senior Vice President of Farm Equipment Strategy and Head Krish-e Ramesh Ramachandran said, “This investment signals our strategic commitment to Carnot. They have been at the forefront of building for Bharat and innovating specifically for farmers. Since our last investment in late 2020, they have been our partner in leading the digital product and technology vision for Krish-e and in just under 18 months we have built a digital platform with a big Bharat footprint – including 500,000 app users, 4 million rental hours and 4 million acres of farmland. We now deepen the ties and continue building on our strengths.”

Carnot Technologies is a start-up founded by IIT Bombay alumni which developed the leading agriculture IoT platform Simha (rebranded to Krish-e Rental) which now has over 25,000 tractors, harvesters and sprayers working on over 3 million acres of land each season. The platform is protected by 5 patents and was awarded the Qualcomm Design in India award for $100K by then Minister of Cabinet for Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad.

“The team has also developed the Krish-e app which through its unique and intuitive farmer centric design is helping farmers earn up-to Rs 15,000 more per acre.” said Pushkar Limaye, Co-founder & CTO at Carnot. “In the course of our partnership with M&M, we realised that someone had to understand our farmers, and make products that are innovative, highly cost conscious and make sense for our farmers. And if it’s not the next generation of engineers and entrepreneurs then who will build them? With this round of investment, we also want to move into top gear, in pursuit of building a great team and a data driven culture within every function.”

The team aims to invest more in their technology and people to scale rapidly in the next year. Carnot CEO and Co-founder Rohan Vadgaonkar added “With our technology and product mindset and Mahindra’s strong brand and presence in rural India, we’re perfectly poised to build India’s largest agri marketplace.”

The team have built a digital platform

Animal Health, Finance

The funds will be utilised to support the growth momentum of the Company

Provet Pharma Private Limited, headquartered in Chennai, one of the fast-growing animal health care companies in India, raises an undisclosed amount from N+1 Capital, one of India’s largest revenue-based growth capital funds. The Company will be using this fund to support its expansion plans of all its operating verticals. Devansh Shah, Bilanz Capital Advisors is the advisor to the deal.

With its highly regarded leadership, business strategy and execution capability, the Company has managed to achieve its mark in the Animal Healthcare industry. Despite the micro and macro level challenges in the recent years, the Company has been growing by an astonishing CAGR of more than 40 per cent while its EBITDA margin is outpacing the revenue growth by growing more than 90 per cent CAGR.

Speaking on the fundraising, Dr Muthu Selvan, Co-founder and Managing Director of the Company, said that the Indian Animal Health Care industry is growing at a CAGR of around 10 per cent and the Company is focusing majorly on the products well suited to dynamic market requirements. He also highlighted the fact that the industry is shifting towards the usage of non-antibiotic feed additives and the product portfolio of the Company has been already built to ride on this shift with more innovative and conceptual products in the pipeline. 

“Provet has built a strong sales and distribution network pan India since its inception. It is a preferred partner to many mid to large firms in the poultry and aquaculture space. The Company’s products are well established in the industry. We are impressed by the Company’s growth potential and are excited to partner with Provet,” said Ashish Singla, Managing Partner, N+1 Capital.

The funds will be utilised to support

Agro chems – Fertilizers, AgroPolicy

Supply of Muriate of Potash (MOP) will be for the period 2022 to 2027 with a yearly quantity of 6 to 6.5 LMT

Indian Potash limited (IPL), under Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers signed an MoU with Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL) for the supply of Muriate of Potash (MOP) for the period 2022 to 2027 with a yearly quantity of 6 to 6.5 LMT in the presence of Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers today in Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mansukh Madaviya said, “India and Israel share an extensive economic, defence, and strategic relationship based on mutual trust and cooperation. Agriculture sector in India has huge potential and provides ample opportunities to collaborate and innovate. India and Israel should work together in the field of Research in Fertilizer sector so that it benefits the farming community”.

The Union Minister added that it is an important step towards increasing the availability of MOP in the country. This will further propel the agriculture production in the country thereby improving the lives of the farming community. It has been a matter of great satisfaction that M/s. Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL) is also working with Indian Potash Limited (IPL) in operating a project titled “Potash for Life focused on achieving higher fertilizer use efficiency” with an aim to increase the income of farmers.

 Elad Aharonson, Global President, M/s. Israel Chemicals Limited, applauded the association of his company with India through Indian Potash Limited and stated that M/s. Israel Chemicals Limited will be glad to be associated with the efforts being made in India and willingness to develop a deep association for improved technologies, logistics and application in the area of downstream fertilizers.

Supply of Muriate of Potash (MOP) will

Acquaculture

This partnership is an important signal of the companies’ long-term commitment and confidence in Chile and the future of the salmon industry in the country

Multiexport Foods SA, a pioneer and leader of salmon farming in Chile, has announced that Cargill, the global food and agriculture company, has agreed to purchase 24.5 per cent of the shares of Salmones Multiexport SA (Multi X), the subsidiary of Multiexport Foods SA. In turn, Mitsui, a shareholder of Multi X since 2015, will increase its shareholding by 1.13 per cent, to 24.5 per cent.

Multiexport Foods SA maintains control of Multi X with 51 per cent of the total shares. The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and the fulfillment of conditions agreed by the parties.

This partnership is also an important signal of the companies’ long-term commitment and confidence in Chile and the future of the salmon industry in the country.

“Adding Cargill as a new partner of Multi X will be a strategic and decisive step in the next stage of development of the company and its purpose to win over the world’s consumers with high-quality, value-added, sustainable products sold under our brands ‘Multi X’, ‘Arka’ and ‘Latitude 45’,” said José Ramón Gutiérrez, Chairman of Multiexport Foods SA.

Tim Noonan, managing director for Cargill’s seafood business commented, “This partnership is an important next step in the development of our seafood strategy and will leverage our capabilities across the value chain, including consumer insights, culinary innovation, value-added processing know-how, risk management, and fish nutrition and health solutions. As a result, we hope to provide more customers and consumers with access to Multi X’s high-quality portfolio of private label and branded salmon products.”

This partnership is an important signal of

Agrotech, Company News, Sustainability

Effective April 1 2022, Agoro Carbon will become an independent business, and full legal entity separate from parent company, Yara.

Agoro Carbon Alliance has announced that it will become an independent business, effective April 1 2022. This planned move makes Agoro Carbon Alliance a full legal entity separate from Yara and is part of the business’s long-term strategy to decarbonize agriculture.

Agoro Carbon Alliance will remain 100 per cent owned and backed by Yara and will continue to have a close working relationship. Following the separation, all Agoro Carbon Alliance’s existing contracts with growers, partners and vendors will be transferred unchanged to the new company.

After legally formalizing this independence, Agoro Carbon Alliance is taking the next step on its journey to becoming a high-impact global business. By ensuring strategic control and flexibility, Agoro Carbon Alliance is even better able to help its farmer partners succeed in their decarbonization journeys, unlocking increased profitability and environmental benefits for farms around the world. Additionally, this independent status opens longer-term possibilities for new investors to join the alliance of farmers, ranchers, agronomists, co-ops, retailers, and other businesses.

Alex Bell, CEO of Agoro Carbon Alliance, said: “Our independent status gives us the best of both worlds: enabling Yara’s full strategic backing of Agoro Carbon, while giving us even more operational flexibility. Agoro Carbon will continue to focus on practical agronomic excellence and be input and practice agnostic. The separation underscores our intent and confirms our ability to be entirely focused on providing best in class and unbiased farmer enablement to generate premium environmental assets for responsible buyers and investors.”

Effective April 1 2022, Agoro Carbon will

Agrotech

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal has recently organised national webinar on “Agritech innovations to leap forward sustainable management of soil and environment”

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh has recently organised national webinar on “Agritech innovations to leap forward sustainable management of soil and environment”.

Delivering the inaugural address, the Chief Guest, Dr Suresh Kumar Chaudhari, Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management), ICAR highlighted the importance of the scientific management of soil and water using the agri-innovations like Sensors, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud-based Solutions. The nature-based solutions for reducing the reliance on the high input agriculture were also stressed by the DDG.

Dr Ashok K Patra, Director, ICAR-IISS, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh underlined about the ICT based Agritech innovations in doubling the farmers’ income.

Dr Praveen Pankajakshan, VP Data Science & AI, Cropin (India) delivered the Keynote Address on “Crop Mapping using AI & Remote-Sensing for Eco-Agriculture and Sustainability (CARES)”. The ways in which the Cropin is dealing with the issues like crop diversity, soil restoration, climate smart agriculture, carbon storage using prediction models and identification of crop pests & diseases were stated by Dr Praveen.

Dr Sara Malvar, Senior Research Software Development Engineer, Microsoft, Brazil and Tusher Chakraborty, Software Engineer – II, Microsoft, India also delivered the keynote address on “FarmBeats and Terra Vibes: Empowering farmers with affordable digital agriculture and earth observation solutions”.

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal

Agrotech, Company News, Europe, Packaging & Labelling

Innovative liquid packing, underlining Syngenta’s commitment to meet growers’ needs and make on-farm operations safer and easier.

Syngenta Crop Protection has announced EvoPacTM, an innovative liquid packaging range designed in close collaboration with growers, which alongside the easyconnect cap can significantly reduce operator exposure and potential risk of spills when filling.

EvoPacTM comes with a variety of new features making it a modern, ergonomic design for easier handling, pouring, rinsing and disposal. Mark Hall, Head of Sustainable and Responsible Business EAME, explains: “First, the rotating and flexible handle of the new bottle enables farmers to safely pour the product into the induction hopper when used in the traditional way. When using the easyconnect system, the handle design supports the upside-down rotation and precise positioning of the bottle on the coupler. Second, the bottle is translucent and allows the user to see the remaining product in the bottle. Third, there are no areas where product can remain due to the pack’s round angles and its central neck.”

With the introduction of EvoPacTM, Syngenta is stepping up efforts to make on-farm operations safer, easier, and more environmentally friendly.The development of EvoPacTM was strongly driven by the practical challenges and needs of growers.

With the launch of EvoPacTM, Syngenta supports CropLife Europe’s commitment to make Closed Transfer Systems (CTS) available to European farmers and operators by 2030. The new packaging is compatible with the easyconnect CTS that has been developed in a cross-industry effort by leading ag-industry players. The joint implementation by various industry leaders provides farmers with the freedom to choose from a wide range of products.

Innovative liquid packing, underlining Syngenta’s commitment to

Agro chems – Fertilizers, North America

USDA will make available $250 million through a new grant programme this summer to support independent, innovative and sustainable American fertiliser production to supply American farmers

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing it will support additional fertiliser production for American farmers to address rising costs, including the impact of Putin’s price hike on farmers, and spur competition.

USDA will make available $250 million through a new grant programme this summer to support independent, innovative and sustainable American fertiliser production to supply American farmers. Additionally, to address growing competition concerns in the agricultural supply chain, USDA will launch a public inquiry seeking information regarding seeds and agricultural inputs, fertiliser, and retail markets.

“Recent supply chain disruptions from the global pandemic to Putin’s unprovoked war against Ukraine have shown just how important it is to invest in this crucial link in the agricultural supply chain here at home,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Fertiliser prices have more than doubled since last year due to many factors including Putin’s price hike, a limited supply of the relevant minerals and high energy costs, high global demand and agricultural commodity prices, reliance on fertiliser imports, and lack of competition in the fertiliser industry.

The new programme will support fertiliser production that is:

  • Independent;
  • Made in America;
  • Innovative;
  • Sustainable;
  • Farmer-focused

Secretary Vilsack said, “As I talk to farmers, ranchers and agriculture and food companies about the recent market challenges, I hear significant concerns about whether large companies along the supply chain are taking advantage of the situation by increasing profits—not just responding to supply and demand or passing along the costs.”

USDA will make available $250 million through

AgroPolicy, Biofuel industry, Sugar industry

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister Road Transport and Highways was addressing the Sugar & Ethanol India Conference (SEIC) 2022 held in Mumbai.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari has given a clarion call to the sugar factories to make a shift to conversion of sugar into ethanol, in line with the realities of changing times and the needs of the nation. The Minister issued a warning to leaders of sugar and allied industries that if sugar production goes ahead as it does now, it will be harmful for the industry in times to come. Reminding them that as a country, we are rice-surplus, corn-surplus and sugar-surplus, Gadkari said that what is good for our future is to reduce production of sugar and increase production of ethanol.

The Minister was addressing the Sugar & Ethanol India Conference (SEIC) 2022 held in Mumbai. The conclave, organized by ChiniMandi, news and information portal for the sugar and allied industries, sought to bring together leading domestic & global industry experts to discuss the top challenges and risk response strategies in domestic and global sugar trade and the way forward to building a more innovative and sustainable Sugar & Ethanol sector in India.

The Minister explained how the economics of ethanol is superior to that of vehicles run by diesel or petrol. “We have issued advisory on flex engines; Toyota, Hundai and Suzuki have assured me that they will bring flex engines within six months. Recently, we launched pilot car run by green hydrogen. Toyota Chairman informed me that their car is flex – either 100 per cent petrol or 100 per cent ethanol and that Toyota cars of coming days will be run on hybrid electricity, which will generate 40 per cent electricity and run 60 per cent of the distance using 100 per cent ethanol. This economics will be highly advantageous in comparison to petrol.”

The Minister informed that Govt. of India has decided to open biofuel outlets for citizens to fill ethanol and that cars, scooters, motor cycles and rickshaws can be available on flex engine. “Prime Minister has inaugurated three ethanol pumps in Pune; however, no one has come so far to fill ethanol. However, Bajaj, TVS and Hero have launched motor cycles driven by flex engine; scooters and motor cycles are available on flex engines. They are ready to come up with auto rickshaws as well.”

The Minister exhorted all sugar factories who manufacture ethanol to open ethanol pumps in their factories and other areas. “This can bring in 100 per cent ethanol-run scooters, auto rickshaws and cars and thus increase ethanol consumption, reduce pollution, bring down imports and also provide jobs to people in villages.”

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister Road Transport and

AgroPolicy, Agrotech

 Choudhary, was speaking at a FICCI seminar on Consumer Awareness “Jaago Kisan Jaago” on World Consumer Rights Day.

Speaking on occasion, Kailash Choudhary, Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, emphasised the need to connect farming with new technology. He added that farmers need ‘better seeds, lower cost of production, storage and market access’. Alluding to the efforts taken by the government for the farm sector, the minister pointed to the increase in the agriculture budget to around 132,000 crores now, neem coated urea, nano fertiliser, the launch of the eNAM portal, among others. The minister also said that 10,000 FPOs are being formed countrywide to aid farmer groups jointly undertake several post-production activities. “4000 FPOs are already set up,” he said and added, “Every block will have one FPO.”

R.G. Agarwal, Chair of the FICCI Committee on Crop Protection and Chairman, Dhanuka Group, pointed to the need for sensitising farmers to new technology and innovation. “Farmers need knowledge more than subsidy today.” he added.

Agarwal also spoke about the increasing importance of pesticides and other plant protection equipment in farming and the need for genuine bio-stimulants. He alluded to several spurious bio-stimulants in the country harming the farmers.

Talking about the need for plant protection, Dr. P.K. Chakrabarty, Member, ASRB, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India and Former ADG (PP), ICAR, said that 20-40 per cent of production is lost due to improper or no plant protection. He said that this amounts to 90,000 to 100,000 crores in value terms. “If we avoid this loss, we will save an amount almost equal to our agriculture budget,” he said.

Dr. Chakrabarty also stated that India is the fifth largest seed market globally on the back of 49 crop research institutes of ICAR, 45 all-India coordinated projects, 77 State agriculture universities and a robust partnership with the private sector.

Speaking on the need for creating awareness among farmers, Dr. A.K. Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticultural Science), DARE – Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, underscored various tech-led initiatives that the government has taken in reaching out to farmers. He said that more than five crore farmers are registered on the mKisan portal and receive regular updates and Kisan call centres address 20,000 calls every day.

 Choudhary, was speaking at a FICCI seminar

Agro chems – Pesticides, Company News

Vesnit Complete delivers effective and broad-spectrum control of post-emergent grasses & broadleaf weeds in Sugarcane

BASF India has launched new herbicide, “Vesnit Complete” for Sugarcane & Corn which empowers farmers with a whole new level of post-emergent weed control ensuring better yield for their crop.

BASF’s, Vesnit Complete herbicide will be of great help to Farmers. Sugarcane farmers in India now have a new option for grasses & broadleaf weed control with an innovative herbicide, Vesnit Complete by BASF. The new solution empowers farmers with a whole new level of post-emergent weed control ensuring better yield for their crop.

Vesnit Complete delivers effective and broad-spectrum control of post-emergent grasses & broadleaf weeds in Sugarcane. It has a convenient formulation for long-duration control & excellent crop safety.

“Keeping Sugarcane & Cornfields weed-free early in the season can have a major impact on crop yield. Using Vesnit® Complete as a post-emergent herbicide will help Indian farmers keep their fields weed-free during that critical period,” said Rajendra Velagala, Business Director, Agricultural Solutions, South Asia, BASF.

“Farming is the biggest job on earth. At BASF, we are dedicated to listening and working with farmers to understand their needs. In addition to our innovations, our Agricultural Solutions team offer professional and technical support to farmers to help them increase yields.” said Narayan Krishnamohan, Managing Director, BASF India Limited.

Vesnit Complete delivers effective and broad-spectrum control