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Agrotech, India, IT, Opinions, Supply Chain

 By Ananda Verma, Founder, Fasal

The Indian agriculture sector is facing various challenges such as land fragmentation, climate change, declining soil fertility, low productivity, limited access to markets, high input costs and more. Open-source technology can be a game-changer in dealing with these issues and the government has already started setting up the foundation.

According to a report by Allied Market Research, the global precision agriculture market size was valued at $6,457 million in 2020 and is projected to reach $23,056 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 13.4 per cent from 2020 to 2030. Incorporating technology into agriculture has no doubt been transformative empirically but has also enabled farmers to easily connect with other farmers, researchers, and industry professionals for knowledge-sharing and promoting collaborative work within the industry. As the saying goes, “Many hands make light work” and agritech has been a key catalyst in facilitating this shift.

What is open-source technology?

Within the tech ecosystem, there is a specific approach to software development called open source which has been taking root in the agriculture sector lately. It refers to any software or technology whose source code is made available to the public, allowing anyone to view, use, modify, and distribute it freely. It typically involves a collaborative and transparent development process, with a community of developers working together to improve and maintain the technology.

Open source can be used for a wide range of applications, from software development tools and operating systems to databases and web frameworks. It is often favoured by developers and organisations because of its flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and community-driven development model. We are already surrounded by open-source tech and most likely use them in our daily lives. WordPress is a perfect example and is an open-source content management system used to create websites and blogs. The classification extends to tools like Python, MySQL, Git and many more.

Opening up doors in agriculture

Open-source technology is playing a significant role in revolutionising agriculture by providing farmers with access to new tools, data, and knowledge, and enabling them to make more informed decisions about their farming practices. The interoperability and openness that come with the territory make it very valuable to many stakeholders in the agriculture supply chain.

Within the agritech segment, hardware is as important as the supporting software. Open-source hardware is a growing field, with developers and farmers collaborating to create low-cost, easy-to-use sensors, drones, and other farming tools that can be customised to meet specific needs. It is enabling farmers to collect data on crop and soil conditions, monitor weather patterns, and optimise irrigation and fertilisation, among other things.

Parallely, open-source software is being used to develop a wide range of applications for agriculture, including crop-modelling, yield-forecasting, farm-management software etc. This type of software enables farmers to optimise their farming practices, reduce waste, and increase efficiency.

As part of any agritech solution, data plays a significant role in providing actionable insights to farmers. Open data initiatives are providing farmers with access to large amounts of data on weather patterns, soil conditions, crop yields, and more. This data can be used to inform decisions about planting and harvesting and to improve overall farm-management practices. The Open Data Kit is a popular example of an open-source tool used for data collection in agriculture.

To read more click on : https://agrospectrumindia.com/e-magazine

 By Ananda Verma, Founder, FasalThe Indian agriculture

Agrotech, Finance, Foodgrains, India, Interaction, Supply Chain, Warehousing

Sandeep Sabharwal, Group CEO of SLCM, spoke with AgroSpectrum about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the agri supply chain industry in India. Edited excerpts;

Founded in 2009, Sohan Lal Commodity Management Pvt. Ltd. (SLCM) Group is one of India’s leading comprehensive service providers in the global post-harvest space for agricultural commodities. It currently operates a network of over 10,255 warehouses and has disbursed loans worth more than Rs 2600 crore over the last three years through its wholly-owned subsidiary Kissandhan business unit. It recently received the accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for its ground-breaking AI ML QC application, which falls under its patented process management system, “Agri Reach”. This marks the first time in NABL’s history that a mobile app has received certification. Sandeep Sabharwal, Group CEO of SLCM, spoke with AgroSpectrum about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the agri supply chain industry in India. Edited excerpts;

How do you perceive the transformation of the agriculture value chain with the adoption of new technology solutions?

We have come a long way in the agriculture sector since independence. Over the past two decades the agriculture sector has experienced major disruptions with the introduction of innovative products and solutions that utilise new-age technology applications. Embracing new-age technology platforms or a combination of them like AI, Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, RFIDs, Edge, Drones, etc., is the key to improving efficiencies and optimising operations while reducing costs. The deployment of these new-age technology applications has paved the way for new service models such as ‘Farm-To-Fork’, ‘Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS)’, etc.

How is SLCM’s AI-based Quality Check mobile App ‘Agri Reach’ helping farmers and traders get better prices for their products?

Using this AI ML QC module smartphone application to conduct a quality check of agricultural products is as simple as taking a picture. A simple click and submission through the app will analyse the image for a variety of quality metrics. The user will then receive a detailed quality report based on evidence in the photograph, that covers specifications such as damaged, shrunken, shrivelled or immature grains, foreign matter and a host of other physical parameters like height, length, grid, colour and pattern of the commodity. The results are compared with pre-fed data in the back-end system, which updates itself regularly using a combination of technologies including AI and ML with Python programming language.

The quality check mobile app currently covers wheat, guar, soya beans, chana, rice and maize. It enables farmers, agri traders, and arhtiyas to get an ‘on-the-spot assessment’ of the commodity’s sample within minutes, without having to use any equipment or lab tests. In just two months since its launch, the mobile app has been used to inspect 21.59 lakh metric tonnes of crops at 303 locations in 17 states. The app helps farmers and traders get better prices for their products by providing objective quality reports, which helps them negotiate a fair price in the market.

Recently, the company has received NABL accreditation for the QC App, how will this help in the adoption of ‘Agri Reach’ by farmers and traders, etc.?

We had the vision for ‘phygitalising’ (physical + digital infrastructure) the warehouse management system over a decade ago. With a dedicated team of professionals, SLCM created ‘Agri Reach’ – a system that enables effective warehousing solutions agnostic of infrastructure, geography, and crops. We are the only company in the Indian agriculture sector that has registered a technology patent in the Agri-Logistics (warehousing) segment spanning 75 years post-Independence. And now I am proud to state that the company has reinforced its leadership status by being the first and only company in this space to receive the coveted NABL accreditation for an app that will transform the way the agri industry assesses the quality of its commodities. It is a matter of credibility which will reinforce the trust among end-users.

To read more click on :https://agrospectrumindia.com/e-magazine

Sandeep Sabharwal, Group CEO of SLCM, spoke

Agri Genomics, India, R&D

Prof. K C Bansal, Secretary, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, and Former Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR), New Delhi

For a country like India, ensuring sustainable food security in a rapidly changing climate is a significant concern today. With the slow pace of yield increase, it is crucial to accelerate the genetic improvement of crops for enhancing food production and achieving self-sufficiency. The rapid adoption of science-based technologies for crop improvement, such as GM crops and gene-edited crops are likely to play major roles.

Science-based advancements of breeding technologies continue to dominate global agriculture, playing a crucial role in increasing food production. While conventional plant breeding has historically made significant contributions and continues to do so, plant genetic engineering has emerged as a powerful modern tool for crop improvement. Since 1996, several genetically modified (GM) crops with improved traits have been developed, and they have been widely adopted globally. Currently, they are grown in over 190 million hectares across 30 countries, including India. This makes plant genetic engineering the fastest-adopted technology in the history of modern agriculture. Furthermore, GM crops and their derived products have been used as food or feed in more than 70 countries over the last 25 years, demonstrating their safety to humans, animals and the environment.

In India, Bt cotton was the first GM crop to be commercialised in 2002, and its impact has been viewed as a great success story globally. Two decades later, in 2022, GM mustard hybrid DMH-11 and its parental lines were environmentally released in India, and genome editing was exempted in plants from biosafety assessment for crop improvement. These two modern science-based developments occurred in the interest of farmers and the national economy.

GM Mustard

In the mid-1960s, India experienced a Green Revolution that resulted in a significant increase in food production, from 50 million tonnes in 1950-51 to over 300 million tonnes in 2020-21. However, this progress was not replicated with any oilseed crop, which is urgently needed to meet our growing demands. Due to a serious deficit in domestic edible oil production, we heavily rely on imported edible oils.  In 2020-21, India imported 13.35 million tonnes of edible oils at a cost of around Rs 117,000 crore. Nevertheless, the approval for the environmental release of GM mustard hybrid DMH 11, developed by a public sector institution in India, with approximately 28-30 per cent higher yield, is a significant step towards reducing our dependence on imports. 

Mustard is predominantly a self-pollinating crop, making it difficult to develop high-yielding hybrids by crossing two diverse parental lines. To facilitate cross-pollination, a robust system has been developed in India using two transgenes: the barnase gene for male sterility (MS) and the barstar gene for the restoration of male fertility (RF). Hybrid seeds are produced by crossing the MS and RF lines. This two-gene system is also used worldwide in rapeseed, a sister crop of mustard, to develop GM hybrids that farmers grow on a large scale for higher yields.

To read more click on : https://agrospectrumindia.com/e-magazine

Prof. K C Bansal, Secretary, National Academy

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

This prestigious award is presented by Fortune and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider

Cargill has been recognised on the Fortune list of America’s Most Innovative Companies 2023. This prestigious award is presented by Fortune and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

Cargill is uniquely positioned to lead the transformation of the food and agriculture system, addressing many of the world’s most pressing needs – from supply chain continuity to climate action to nutrition and food security. The company’s teams around the world are driving this transformation, innovating with purpose and empowering its customers and communities.

“Our teams around the world are excited to receive this recognition. Cargill continues to prioritise investing in innovation and our people.  We attract the best global talent to collaborate on innovative, purpose-driven work that helps our customers and partners overcome their biggest challenges and seize their greatest opportunities,” said Florian Schattenmann, Cargill’s chief technology officer and vice president of Research & Development and Innovation.

This prestigious award is presented by Fortune

Agri Genomics, Agrotech, India, R&D

 By Dr Ratna Kumria, Director, Biotechnology Alliance for Agri Innovation (AAI)

Gene editing offers an accurate, predictable, quick, and economical method for crop improvement. Due to its precision, it offers the opportunity to increase nutrient levels, decrease anti-nutrients, and improve the shelf life of food to preserve quality and nutrition. This technology cannot provide solutions for all farming challenges or plant breeding bottlenecks, but it can certainly streamline the process towards greater efficiency. It provides an opportunity to address hunger and malnutrition regionally using traditional, local crops. It can also enable local solutions to conserve biodiversity and resources, moving towards better agriculture.

Gene editing refers to making changes in the genome of an organism using various nucleases with distinct specificities and modes of action. The nucleases are programmed to target particular sequences for cutting, although the repair mechanisms can either be random or designed with external templates. While traditional nucleases cut both strands of DNA, some have been adapted to cut a single strand and utilise RNA as a template for making alterations. The selection of the appropriate gene editing tool is based on the target’s cost and feasibility. As new nucleases are being discovered and editing tools developed, gene editing is finding diverse applications. Although currently used in therapeutics, it is expected to have far-reaching effects on crop improvement and agriculture.

Humans have been selectively breeding plants and animals for centuries, long before the field of genetics was established. Today’s cultivated crops, whether ornamental or used for food, as well as domesticated animals are very different from their wild counterparts. For example, maize was selected and bred from its ancestor teosinte and likewise the fibrous, blander version of ancient watermelon fruits, as also other food crops were bred for a better flavour and texture that is more palatable to humans. Domesticating plants and animals are a painstaking and repetitive process that has been ongoing for hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years.

Advancements in genetics have accelerated plant breeding and crop improvement over the past century. With the knowledge of genetics, breeders were able to identify variations and select for new genetic combinations that were better suited for cultivation and consumption. In addition to identifying variations, breeders have also been using chemicals or radiation to induce random mutations that result in beneficial genetic modifications. This mutation breeding has led to the creation of over 3000 new varieties of crops across the globe, during the last few decades. As a result of these plant breeding efforts, cereal crop production has tripled during this period, with only a 30 per cent increase in land under cultivation. India’s green revolution, which transformed it from a food-deficient nation to a food-surplus one, owes much of its success to plant breeding efforts.

However, the haphazard nature of mutation-generation makes selecting the relevant modifications an expensive, time-consuming, and laborious process. Conventional breeding is a lengthy process that depends on the number and duration of growing seasons per year, as well as the time it takes for plants to mature. This process can be even more prolonged when dealing with trees, perennials or assembling multiple traits through multi-stage crossing, selection, and testing. Additionally, the randomness of induced mutagenesis adds another dimension to the selection and testing required for large-scale screening. To make the breeding process more efficient over time, various technological interventions have been introduced, including molecular markers, double haploids, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and other prediction tools.

To read more click on: https://agrospectrumindia.com/e-magazine

 By Dr Ratna Kumria, Director, Biotechnology Alliance

Agrotech, India, Start ups, Supply Chain

By Sandeep Sabharwal, is Group CEO, Sohanlal Commodity Management Pvt. Ltd.

The biggest challenge in India with regard to agriculture is actually knowledge. A lot of people are not looking at the agriculture system with a holistic view. Mostly people are looking at the agriculture value chain in a fragmented manner. Some are looking from the trade perspective, some are looking from the warehousing activities, some are looking at the financing part and so on and so forth. Of late, few startups have started to deliver what we call ‘farm to fork’, but sustainability of such a business model has to be looked at from a ‘triple bottom-line’ perspective.

In agriculture particularly if one doesn’t address the entire value chain in a single platform, then it does not make any sense financially. Agri is actually a game of sum of parts. So, if someone usually takes one part out and says that this is going to denote enough return on capital employed or enough return on equity then it would be a misleading statement.

So, for tangible results one has to look from an entire agriculture value chain and say that he or she is going to address all parts and each part is going to denote a bigger progressive value to the entire value chain. The most important thing is that agriculture is a game of patience. Agriculture is not for the faint hearted. It’s for people who have patience.

As in case of 3 Ps of marketing needs, the 3 Ps of agriculture is patience, perseverance and persistence. If one doesn’t have these three qualities, he or she will not be able to survive on the agriculture value chain even if in parts. It will not be possible to make it happen because it’s a very difficult terrain to manoeuvre.

There are many dependency factors in the agriculture value chain as it is mostly weather dependent. A good or a bad crop season can make or mar the crop output. Two or three continuous bad crop seasons due to weather conditions like flood, drought, etc. is the real test of patience for a farmer. If one has to stay in the business, he or she should continue to rise up to the challenges while working hard. Hence perseverance and persistence as a quality are very much important for a farmer to remain stable in the entire agriculture value chain.

Let us take the severe impact of Covid-19 pandemic as an example here. The effect has been witnessed by businesses across sectors globally and India is no less behind as a country in terms of the overall socioeconomic factors. 

Dip in economic activity coupled with rising unemployment primarily in the core sectors has negatively impacted GDP growth, thereby raising alarm bells for policy makers, think-tanks and the government machinery. Businesses of late have been forced to relook at their boardroom strategies and realigning accordingly with the prevailing circumstances while focusing on reviving the growth momentum. 

Nevertheless, it is noteworthy to review the contribution of the agriculture sector in particular during the overall economic downturn. As necessity remains to be the mother of inventions, new business models have emerged that are primarily driven by new age technology applications. Agri Tech startups backed up by PE and VC funding have taken center stage over the last decade and have already disrupted the agribusiness space in a significant manner. Businesses in the agriculture value chain that have survived the downturn have been able to make it all possible due to the 3 Ps – patience, perseverance and persistence.

By Sandeep Sabharwal, is Group CEO, Sohanlal