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HomePosts Tagged "agriculture" (Page 5)
Company News, Environment, R&D, Sustainability

Aleph Farms, the first cultivated meat company to grow steaks directly from non-genetically engineered animal cells, has nnounced that it has been officially recognized by the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) as an Innovation Sprint Partner. As part of this innovation sprint, $40 million is being invested in cellular agriculture R&D over the next five years through Aleph Farms. 

It will introduce its products into global markets as soon as regulatory processes conclude and approvals are finalized. 

Cultivated meat is also far more efficient than cows at converting feed into meat. By requiring 95% less land, cultivated meat opens up new opportunities for land use, including producing more food and re-wilding habitats for biodiversity, the latter of which further reduces emissions.

“Enhancing food security via cellular agriculture empowers communities and fosters regional cooperation, spurring economic growth in the process. This is why we are especially proud to be allocating these R&D funds as an AIM for Climate Innovation Sprint Partner,” said Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms. “With cellular agriculture, humanity is better equipped to overcome significant food-related challenges and bring agricultural systems back into balance.”

Aleph Farms, the first cultivated meat company to

Uncategorized

A series of pre-launch events and initiatives were organised recently by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on the MyGov platform to create awareness and a sense of participation in the country around the ancient and forgotten golden grains.

The MyGov platform has become a very important and successful medium for raising awareness through organisations of various competitions. The engagement on MyGov will play an important role in helping to make it a people’s movement. 

A series of pre-launch events and initiatives

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Climate, Environment, India, Sustainability

ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal under the All India Network Programme on Organic Farming Centre, held a Mass awareness campaign on “Cow-Compost-Carbon and Climate under Theme: Organic/Natural Farming” as a commemoration of 75 years of India’s Independence.

The  aim of the Mass Awareness Campaign was to create awareness and  importance of cow and composting to enrich the soil with carbon, which links to mitigate climate change.

An interactive session with farmers was also held during the programme and more than 250 participants including farmers, scientists, students, extension workers, and other officials, participated in the virtual platform program.

ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal under

Uncategorized

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah recently addressed the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of major cooperatives in Gujarat at Amreli. The mutual coordination and collective development of the cooperative sector in Gujarat is a model for all cooperatives across the country.
Shah said that the Centre plans to make primary agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) multi-purpose and model by-laws for the same are ready.

He further added, “The Government also aims to raise the number of PACs from the existing 65,000 to three lakh during the next five years. The Centre is planning to form a multi-state cooperative society for seed culture and marketing as well as certification of organic products across the country.

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah

Uncategorized

India’s pioneering plant protein brand GREENEST has announced pre-seed funding from Asia’s leading alt protein VC, Better Bite Ventures, and India’s Food & Agri industry veteran, Sachid Madan. The funds will aid to expand team, product portfolio and distribution footprint. 

GREENEST, known for its Indianised and affordable range of plant protein products is the country’s first to have executed an array of B2B partnerships with leading food service players like Burgrill, Wat a Burger, Chocolate Room, Biggies Burger, Freshmenu, Eatfit et al.

The fund focuses on harnessing plant-based and cellular agriculture technologies to create climate-friendly meat, dairy, egg, and seafood alternatives that are better for people, animals, and planet.

According to Future Market Insights market report “The Plant Based Revolution: Growth Opportunities and Winning Strategies in the Global and Indian Plant based food market“, the Indian plant-based market is likely to reach US$ 400-450 Million in the next 5 years.

India's pioneering plant protein brand GREENEST has

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, IT

The Agriculture Ministry had setup a specialised organisation ‘Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC)’ in 2012 as an attached Office of Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), focusing on enhancing satellite remote sensing and GIS technologies in crop estimation. Considering the recent advancements in the geospatial technology, DA&FW has recognised the need to scaleup the technology solutions in agriculture decision support.

In this direction, the first meeting of Technical Advisory Committee for strengthening and transforming MNCFC into a Centre of excellence in the field of geospatial technology applications, was held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, DA&FW. Experts from ISRO Centres, International Rice Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Studies and senior officials from DA&FW participated in the meeting.

Ahuja highlighted the need to scale up utilisation of satellites, drones, smart phones, AI/ML techniques to develop scientific information products and services for informed decision making by multiple stakeholders in the agriculture sector.

Dr Shailesh Naik Director National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru and former Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, praised the current initiative of upgrading the MNCFC as a major technology hub and advised to take part in global initiatives on crop surveillance.

After deliberations, major recommendation of the committee included adoption of new technologies and data products, utilisation of recently launched Indian microwave satellite RISAT- 1 Adata, use of bio-physical products, better use of AI & ML techniques for automated crop mapping, crop health monitoring and crop yield estimation, collaborations with national, international, private and Start-up organisations. The Committee also discussed developing National framework at MNCFC for all scalable technology solutions to standardize the methodologies and to enable mainstreaming of these solutions into the decision-making processes. The major themes for developing such national initiatives include Crop surveillance and estimations, Disaster risk reduction in Agriculture, Farmer centric services – weather, pest/disease surveillance advisory, Nutrient management advisory and Agro-forestry decision support and Environment & Energy.

Additional Secretary, Abhilaksh Likhi, emphasised that satellite-based assessments be extended to Horticulture sector by pooling the data and expertise currently available in the existing projects and schemes in the Ministry and ICAR.

JS (Digital Agriculture), Pramod Kumar Meherda, expressed the hope that with the support of technology agencies like ISRO, MNCFC would be fully geared up to reap all possible benefits of digital technologies in a holistic manner in Agriculture sector.

The Agriculture Ministry had setup a specialised

Foodgrains, India, Interaction, Oilseeds, People, Pulses

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture Minister, inaugurated the National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign 2022-23 on September 7 at National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC), Pusa, New Delhi. Addressing the Conference, he said that as per the 4th Advance Estimates (2021-22), production of food grains in the country is estimated at 3157 lakh tonne which is higher by 50 lakh tonne than the production of food grain during 2020-21, and the total pulses and oilseeds production during 2021-22 is estimated at record 277 and 377 lakh tonne respectively.

Tomar said that all the farmers will be brought under the ambit of this scheme which will make them feel secure. He said that the productivity of the soil is decreasing due to the use of chemical fertilisers, hence organic and natural farming is being promoted.

Tomar also said that the Central Government has started working on Digital Agriculture to bridge the gap between the farmers and the Government so that the farmers get the benefits of the government schemes transparently. 

The objective of this Conference is to review and assess the crop performance during the preceding crop seasons and to ensure supply of critical inputs and facilitate adoption of innovative technologies with a view to enhance production and productivity of the crops.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture Minister, inaugurated

Dairy

GRAS status indicates that Remilk protein is considered safe for consumption in food and beverages

Remilk, a global leader in the development and production of animal-free dairy, has obtained self-affirmed GRAS (generally recognised as safe) status, in accordance with US Food and Drug Administration requirements, paving the way for non-animal, real-dairy products in the US. 

“This is a key validation of the quality and safety of Remilk’s non-animal dairy protein and process,” said Aviv Wolff, CEO and co-founder of Remilk. “Regulatory approval in the US represents another major milestone for our team and great news for the dairy product manufacturers and consumers seeking non-animal real-dairy products. We are working diligently with regulators around the globe to be able to offer Remilk-made products to consumers in other countries. We strongly believe that the first regulators to adapt approval processes to alternative protein production systems will be those who benefit most from the availability of a stable, reliable supply of nutritious, affordable, sustainable foods in their countries.”

GRAS status indicates that Remilk protein is considered safe for consumption in food and beverages, which means it can be used by manufacturers to make non-animal varieties of popular consumer products such as ice cream, yogurt, and cream cheese. Unlike plant-based dairy alternatives, Remilk proteins are bio-equivalent to their traditional counterparts and dairy produced using them is indistinguishable in taste and function from traditional dairy.  With this regulatory clearance, the company can begin selling to US CPGs, with sales anticipated to begin in the coming quarters.

GRAS status indicates that Remilk protein is

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

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

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

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

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

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

Union agri minister applauds the concerted efforts

Acquaculture, Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Dairy, Live Stock

The institute has been able to bring in a revolutionary change in animal husbandry, fishery and food processing that has made a revolutionary change in the Goa

The Government of Goa felicitated the ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Goa on the occasion of 35th Statehood Day at Raj Bhavan, Goa.

Dr Parveen Kumar, Director, ICAR-CCARI received the award from Shripad Naik, Union Minister of State for Tourism, Shipyard and Waterways in the presence of PS Sreedharan Pillai, Governor of Goa; Dr Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister, Government of Goa and other dignitaries.

The institute has been bestowed with the Certificate of Appreciation and Citation for its outstanding contributions toward the progress and development of agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery and food processing that has made a revolutionary change in the Goa.

Since the institute’s establishment in 1989, 17 varieties of the different crops like rice, cashew, brinjal, okra, cowpea and red amaranthus have been developed for Goa which are grown in the state. Besides, the native breeds of cattle – Shweta Kapila and Agonda Goan Pig have also been characterised and registered.

The institute has also helped the Government of Goa in getting the GI of agricultural products like Khola Chilli and Myndoli Banana.

The institute has been able to bring

Agro Universities, Live Stock

The researchers found that combined and coordinated use of Forest Rangers and drones were a good way to protect wildlife from poaching

Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Harvard University researchers have developed a novel Machine Learning algorithm named ‘CombSGPO’ (Combined Security Game Policy Optimisation) that can help in saving wildlife from poaching.

The researchers found that combined and coordinated use of Forest Rangers and drones were a good way to protect wildlife from poaching. As the resources (Rangers and drones) are limited, the researchers developed this algorithm which provides a good strategy to protect wildlife with the resources available. This new algorithm provides highly efficient strategies that are more scalable than the earlier ones created for the same purpose.

The algorithm works by handling resource allocation and strategising patrolling after the extent of resources available had been identified. For this task, it utilises data on the animal population in the conserved area and assumes that poachers are aware about the patrolling being done at various sites.

Prof Balaraman Ravindran, Mindtree Faculty Fellow and Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras, and the Head of Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), IIT Madras, collaborated with Prof Milind Tambe’s Research Group – Teamcore – at Harvard University, US, to carry out this study.

The work has been peer-reviewed and was well received at the 20th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems. 

Prof Balaraman Ravindran, Head, Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), IIT Madras, said, “The work was motivated by the need to perform strategic resource allocation and patrolling in green security domains to prevent illegal activities such as wildlife poaching, illegal logging and illegal fishing. The resources we consider are human patrollers (forest rangers) and surveillance drones, which have object detectors mounted on them for animals and poachers and can perform strategic signalling and communicate with each other as well as the human patrollers.”

To extend this research for application in domains such as security, search and rescue and aerial mapping for agriculture among others, the team is trying to perform sample-efficient multi-agent reinforcement learning to learn with the least amount of data since data collection is costly in a real-world scenario.

The researchers found that combined and coordinated

AgroPolicy, Horticulture, Sustainability

The Rs 227-crore programme will benefit over nine lakh farming families

MK Stalin, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu launched the Kalaignarin All Village Integrated Agriculture Development Programme. The programme is to be implemented for Rs 227 crore and will benefit over nine lakh farming families in 1,997 village panchayats across the state.

The programme will be implemented in all 12,525 village panchayats across Tamil Nadu in five years. It will be implemented by the Agriculture Department in close coordination with the Rural Development Department.

According to an official release, under this scheme, coconut saplings, home farming saplings, horticultural saplings, sprays needed for farming and kit for the vegetable garden will be distributed and a 100 per cent subsidy would be provided to Adi Dravida farmers for sinking wells in drylands, employ drip irrigation, to dig farm ponds, among others.

The Rs 227-crore programme will benefit over

Agro Universities, Agrotech, R&D

The admission is currently open and will close in July 2022

SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) commenced admission for four years B.Sc. Agriculture (Hons.) undergraduate degree programme to impart education in agriculture and allied sectors from a wider perspective.

The programme offers various theoretical and practical sessions in several disciplines that include: agronomy, genetics and plant breeding, soil science and agricultural chemistry, agricultural entomology, agricultural economics and agribusiness management, plant physiology, plant biochemistry, plant pathology, agricultural extension, horticulture, agricultural statistics and information technology, plant molecular biology and biotechnology, environmental sciences, nutrition and food technology, humanities and animal sciences.

Students will get an insight into their day-to-day functioning and entrepreneurship. In the Experiential Learning modules, hands-on training is imparted on the production of agri-inputs and relevant commercialisation aspects.

The admission is currently open and will close in July 2022. For the batch commencing in August 2022, SAST’s total intake strength is 60 seats.

The admission is currently open and will

AgroPolicy, Finance

UNDP will provide responsive, demand-driven technical assistance for effective implementation of agriculture credit and crop insurance

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), Government of India and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) wherein UNDP will provide technical support for Centre’s aspirational Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) scheme & Kisan Credit Card – Modified Interest Subvention Scheme.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar by CEO-PMFBY Ritesh Chauhan and UNDP Resident Representative Shoko Noda. Under the MoU, UNDP will leverage its expertise in systems and global know-how for supporting the Ministry of Agriculture in the implementation of combined agriculture credit and crop insurance. Union Minister of Agriculture for State Kailash Chaudhary and Secretary, Agriculture, Manoj Ahuja also witnessed the signing ceremony.

As per the MoU, UNDP will provide responsive, demand-driven technical assistance for effective implementation of agriculture credit and crop insurance, as well as providing capacity development and Information, Education & Communication (IEC) support to existing national and state institutions, keeping in mind the interest of small and marginal farmers, women farmers, sharecroppers, tenant and non-loanee farmers.

On this strategic partnership with UNDP, Tomar said, “Technical assistance provided by UNDP in the last four years has yielded good results. I am sure that through this partnership, we will obtain even better results in the implementation of crop insurance and agricultural credit schemes.”

UNDP will provide responsive, demand-driven technical assistance