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HomePosts Tagged "supply chain" (Page 2)
Supply Chain

Superplum employs science and technology to increase the shelf life of litchis through a proprietary multi-faceted approach

Superplum, an Indian Agritech company, has built the country’s first modern supply chain to deliver fresh litchis from farms in Muzzafarpur to all over the country. For the first time in India, litchis are being chilled, trimmed, cleaned and packed at the farm level to retain freshness. They are then transported using Superplum’s Fresherator, a proprietary IoT-based transport system that keeps the fruits fresh in an environment that can be remotely monitored and controlled.   

In the past, some litchis would go through a sulphitation process to increase their shelf life but this process made the fruit unfit to consume, due to which it has been banned in several countries. With a promise to deliver safe-to-eat fruits, Superplum employs science and technology to increase the shelf life of litchis through a proprietary multi-faceted approach. 

While these Muzzafarpur Litchis are currently being delivered to stores and homes in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Bengaluru, the company plans to expand their delivery across the country and the world.

Superplum employs science and technology to increase

Agrotech, Cold Storage, R&D

ICAR-DOGR, Maharashtra has signed the Technology License Agreement of “Controlled Onion Storage Structure Technology” with Kala Biotech Private Limited through AgrInnovate India Limited

The ICAR-Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research, Pune, Maharashtra has signed the Technology License Agreement of “Controlled Onion Storage Structure Technology” with Kala Biotech Private Limited through AgrInnovate India Limited, New Delhi on June 2, 2022.

The Tripartite Technology License Agreement was signed by ICAR-DOGR, Pune, with M/s. Kala Biotech Private Limited and Agrinnovate India, New Delhi.

Dr Major Singh, Director, ICAR-DOGR, Pune and Manoj Phutane, Managing Director, M/s. Kala Biotech Private Limited signed the Agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

Dr Singh stated that the innovative storage technology will prove as an important intervention for the Onion price stabilisation. He underlined the development of the technology in the Public Private Partnership Mode between the ICAR-DOGR, Pune and Kala Biotech Private Limited.

Dr Singh accentuated that the traditional Onion Storage Technologies are naturally ventilated, small scale and unable to control the losses during the adverse climatic conditions. The modern Controlled Onion Storage Structure will be worthy to store the Onion in bulk quantities and with minimum losses for the storage period of 4 to 6 Months.

ICAR-DOGR, Maharashtra has signed the Technology License Agreement of “Controlled

People

Sunil Arora is a retired civil servant (IAS) with a rich leadership experience spanning over 36 years

Gram Unnati, India’s 1st full stack agricultural value chain services, has announced the appointment of Sunil Arora, former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, as its board’s new Chairman (Non-Executive).

Sunil Arora is a retired civil servant (IAS) with a rich leadership experience spanning over 36 years. He has headed strategic departments while driving governance and policy reform initiatives both at the central and state government levels. He has served as Secretary to two key ministries – The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) and the then newly set up Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

Aneesh Jain, CEO and Founder, Gram Unnati said “We are delighted to have Sunil Arora joined us. It is an honour to work under his esteemed guidance and supervision. His rich experience, insights and direction will enable Gram Unnati to further improve its market-linked solution for farmers and sustainably enhance their incomes.”

Arora has served as Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to the Government of Rajasthan and aside from being a key proponent for the Rajasthan State Industrial Policy, he has been on the board of various corporate entities, such as Barmer Mining and Lignite Company, Mahindra SEZ, and Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals Limited.

Arora has led administrative and policy reforms to revitalise the then Indian Airlines as its Chairman & Managing Director from 2000-2005. Under his leadership, the airline turned profitable after years of incurring losses. He also served as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation during 2000-2002 wherein he played a key role in operationalising the deployment of CISF for security purposes at airports.

Sunil Arora is a retired civil servant

AgroPolicy, Supply Chain

A panel discussion was organised for the effective and holistic promotion of herbal sector in the country

Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change and Labour and Employment, Bhupender Yadav attended a programme for the “Buyer-Seller Meet among Farmer Bodies, Industries and State/UT Government on challenges faced and way” which included discussion on medicinal plant cultivation and supply chain management held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Minister of State, Ministry of Ayush and Ministry of Women & Child Development, Dr Munjpara Mahendrabhai Kalubhai also attended the event. The ministers released region-specific medicinal plants booklet, poster on R&D achievements and poster on supply chain management at the event.

Yadav appreciated the views of all the experts and efforts of NMPB to bring the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) on one platform to discuss and deliberate the issues of medicinal plants.

“A training module may be prepared to educate the local people residing in the adjoining forest areas for sustainably collecting the minor forest produce,” he insisted.

The minister stressed that our ancient literature, time and method of collection and part of collection etc. of medicinal plants should be well documented in order to benefit the humanity.

Bhupender Yadav highlighted that an important issue is to know about the active component/ingredient of medicinal plants to maintain the quality which should be addressed. Since, demand and supply of medicinal plants depends on market, a meeting may be organised with the officials of State Forest Departments for effectively development of medicinal plant resources and make them available in sustainable manner, he added.

The minister also informed that an amendment on Biological Diversity Act is under process and it would be beneficial for farmers and industries.
Panel discussion on faced and way forward on medicinal plants cultivation and supply chain management along with buyer-seller meet among farmer bodies, industries and State/UT Government was organised by NMPB at Mahatama Mandir, Gujarat.

Speakers from the concerned ministries especially from Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, APEDA and Industry participated in a panel discussion and shared their views for the effective and holistic promotion of herbal sector in the country. The panel discussion was chaired by the secretary DONER who appreciated the initiative of NMPB for bringing various stakeholders at one platform for the holistic development of the sector.
The event was attended by more than 500 delegates.

To facilitate marketing of medicinal plants, more than 50 MoUs were signed between industry and farmer bodies with the concerted efforts of SMPBs and RCFCs under the guidance from NMPB.

A panel discussion was organised for the

Supply Chain

GIV will connect at least one million farmers to the digital ecosystem of GKC by leveraging the network of digitally connected grassroots women entrepreneurs called ‘Grameen Mittras’

Grameen Impact Ventures (GIV), in collaboration with MasterCard Technologies, recently announced the launch of Grameen Kisan Connect (GKC), a significant initiative toward the digitalisation of agriculture value chains in India. Agriculture and allied services account for 18 per cent of India’s GDP and over half of all the employment in the country. Yet, the smallholder farmers, accounting for three-fourths of all the farmers, suffer due to inefficiencies in the agricultural supply chain, resulting in lack of market access, barriers in access to quality inputs at competitive prices and low return on investment on them.

The Grameen Kisan Connect (GKC) platform is a complete digital ecosystem powered by MasterCard Technologies. It brings together primary producers of agricultural commodities, input suppliers, commodity buyers, agro-processors, logistics providers, agricultural credit providers, farmer producer organizations and digital agricultural advisory service providers.

GIV will connect at least one million farmers to the digital ecosystem of GKC by leveraging the network of digitally connected grassroots women entrepreneurs called ‘Grameen Mittras’. This network of over 1,600 women entrepreneurs is spread across 16 districts in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Central Bihar.

Speaking on the occasion of launch of this platform, Prabhat Labh, Founder and CEO of Grameen Impact Ventures said, “Launch of the GKC platform in collaboration with MasterCard Technologies will help in fulfilling an important goal of GIV, which is, to make farming more profitable for the smallholder farmers. By leveraging this digital ecosystem, the farmers will reduce their input costs by benefiting from transparency in input supply, fetch a better price for their produce by having access to a much larger range of buyers on the digital platform and access high-quality crop advisory services.”

GIV will connect at least one million

Agrotech, Allied Industry

Both companies have partnered to create sustainable change through unique drip irrigation technology

PepsiCo India and N-Drip, manufacturer of an innovative gravity-powered micro-irrigation system, have announced a partnership, as a lead-up to World Water Day 2022, to help farmers in India adopt game-changing technology in water efficiency. The technology has already been introduced in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan with an aim to improve water efficiency levels across thousands of hectares in the country by 2025. This is part of a global partnership between PepsiCo and N-Drip aimed at increasing water efficiency across 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) around the world by 2025.

N-Drip’s high-efficiency irrigation system is powered by gravity and harnesses the water-saving benefits of high-pressure drip irrigation, but with low energy, operating and maintenance demands—making it more accessible to all types of farmers and nearly all types of crops. Farmers using N-Drip routinely achieve significant water savings, see larger crop yields, and reduce the need for expensive fertilizess. In addition, by converting from flood irrigation to N-Drip’s drip irrigation system, carbon (CO2) emissions are reduced by as much as 83 per cent and methane emissions by as much as 78 per cent.

Speaking about this development, Pratap Bose, Agro Director, Supply Chain, PepsiCo India, said, “Being an agri centric company at heart, PepsiCo India over the last 30+ years has been working towards increasing efficiency across its agri supply chain to reduce water usage by providing alternates to flood irrigation practices. The collaboration with N-Drip is another step in that direction. We are excited to partner with them as they are committed to solving the problem of water shortage by providing a robust alternative to flood irrigation. The initial response to the pilot project has been quite encouraging. We are already seeing improved crop yields, reduced fertiliser usage, and an average reduction of 39 per cent water consumption compared to flood irrigation in states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan.”

This new innovative technology not only applies to potato cultivation but also to other crops such as vegetables or maize.

Both companies have partnered to create sustainable

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

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

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

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

The meeting followed directions from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to scale up shipments in order to alleviate any global supply chain disruptions in view of the geopolitical situation

Amidst a record surge in wheat exports in the current fiscal, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) recently organised a meeting of key stakeholders in the value chain for promoting exports to those countries which have a huge shipment potential.

The meeting, held on March 17, 2022, followed directions from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to scale up shipments in order to alleviate any global supply chain disruptions in view of the geopolitical situation.

The meeting was chaired by APEDA chairman Dr M Angamuthu and had participation of key stakeholders such as traders, exporters, port officials, policy influencers from the Ministries of Food & Consumer Affairs, Railways and officials from various State Governments.

The export of wheat recorded a huge surge at $1742 million during April-January 2021-22, growing 387 per cent over the corresponding period in 2020-21 when it touched $340.17 million.

India has reported a wheat export worth of $2352.22 million in the last three years, including the first ten months of current fiscal 2021-22. In 2019-20, the wheat export was worth $61.84 million which rose to $549.67 million in 2020-21.

India is in final talks to start wheat export to Egypt, while discussions are going on with countries like Turkey, China, Bosnia, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran, etc to start wheat export.

The meeting followed directions from the Ministry

Supply Chain

Cargill’s ranking reflects the company’s leadership and innovation on animal welfare

Cargill has announced that it has received a Tier 2 ranking in the newly released Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) report, the leading global measure of company performance on farm animal welfare.

This is the sixth year in a row that the annual BBFAW report ranked Cargill in Tier 2 out of six tiers total. Only 16 of the 150 global companies rated in BBFAW’s report are in Tiers 1 or 2, which BBFAW defines as reserved for companies that have made animal welfare integral to business strategy.

“We are proud of our continued high ranking in this year’s BBFAW report, as well as the work we’re doing every day to advance animal welfare within our operations, with our customers, along our supply chains and across the industry,” said Nick Wolfenden, Cargill’s global sustainable animal welfare director.

Animal welfare is a crucial issue for consumers, food manufacturers, protein producers, and farmers and ranchers worldwide. Cargill collaborates with numerous organisations to help advance animal welfare across all species in its business and incorporates these advances through continuous improvement efforts both internally and with supply chain partners.

Cargill’s ranking reflects the company’s leadership and innovation on animal welfare, as well as a data-driven approach to comprehensive reporting across its animal protein operations and supply chains worldwide.

Cargill’s ranking reflects the company’s leadership and

Interaction, Sustainability

UPL has received the More Integrity Award’s ‘yellow seal,’ valid for a further two years

UPL was first recognised with the award in 2020, receiving a ‘green seal’ valid for the duration of 2021. This year, UPL has received the More Integrity Award’s ‘yellow seal,’ valid for a further two years.

Rogerio Castro, CEO of UPL Brazil, said: “UPL is honoured to receive the More Integrity Seal, reflecting not just our immediate successes in sustainability, social responsibility, and ethics, but our long-term commitment to these ideals across our businesses. For us, sustainability is at the core of our work, it is reflected in the products we bring to market now, in the products we’re developing as we seek to ‘re-imagine sustainability,’ and in the way we do business with our customers, our distributors, and our partners in both the public and private sectors. We look forward to continuing to reflect and promote these ideals in Brazil and everywhere we work, raising the bar for agribusinesses around the world.”

The More Integrity Seal was instituted in 2018 to foster, recognise and reward integrity practices by agribusiness companies and cooperatives under the perspective of social responsibility, sustainability and ethics.

Recipients of the seal underwent a rigorous evaluation process by an esteemed panel of private and public sector members of the Seal Management Committee. The committee consisted of members from Alliance for Integrity, the Brazilian Stock Exchange (B3), National Confederation of Industries (CNI), Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA), Ethos Institute of Business and Social Responsibility (ETHOS), Organisation of Brazilian Cooperatives (OCB), Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), Brazilian Company of Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA Stock), and the Federal Inspector General Office (GCU).

UPL has received the More Integrity Award’s

Environment

Summit Carbon Solutions will primarily capture CO2 from ethanol plants and other industrial sources in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota

Summit Carbon Solutions has recently announced a strategic investment from Continental Resources, to create the largest carbon capture and sequestration project of its kind in the world.

Continental Resources will commit $250 million over the next two years to help fund the development and construction of the project’s associated capture, transportation, and sequestration infrastructure, while also leveraging its operational and geologic expertise to help ensure the safe and secure storage of CO2.

Summit Carbon Solutions will primarily capture CO2 from ethanol plants and other industrial sources in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. The CO2 will be aggregated and transported to North Dakota via pipeline, where it will be safely and permanently sequestered in extensively researched subsurface geologic formations.

The project has commitments from 31 partner ethanol facilities to deliver more than 8.0 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of CO2, with initial pipeline capacity of 12.0 MMtpa, and expansion capabilities to handle up to 20.0 MMtpa.

Recognising the significant growth in demand for low carbon fuels, Summit began developing plans for the project and its partnerships with ethanol producers in 2019. By leveraging decades of experience and relationships across the biofuels and agriculture industries, Summit Carbon Solutions was launched in early 2021, and is on track to achieve its target of being operational in the first half of 2024.

“Summit and Continental have a shared vision to produce clean and cost-effective energy for all Americans. This project will be transformational for the ethanol and agriculture industries and will have a substantial economic impact across the Midwest,” said Bruce Rastetter, CEO of Summit Agricultural Group.

Summit Carbon Solutions will primarily capture CO2