The Overview
Let’s begin this overview with a return to one of the long-term trends we follow here at New AG International – the entry of fertilizer companies into the biologicals market.
In November 2022, Anuvia Plant Nutrients announced an agreement with Malaysian major Petronas Chemicals Group (PCG) to market and produce Anuvia’s bio-based granular fertilizer in the Asia-Pacific region.
Those familiar with the bulk fertilizer market will more than be aware of Petronas. With a capacity of around 2.5 million tonnes/year of urea, Petronas is a major exporter in the region to local markets such as Thailand, Australia and Philippines. The partnership aims to assist PCG's venture into the sustainable fertilizer segment. For Anuvia, it opens its technology to a new region, providing an outlet for its capacity expansion at its Plant City, Florida (U.S.) facility. Current capacity is 400,000 tonnes and this is scheduled to increase to 800,000 tonnes by 2024.
Indorama and Adfert was another that caught the eye. Like Petronas, Indorama’s main fertilizer activity is in urea production, with production in Nigeria. Indorama has completed the acquisition of Adfert (Adfert Aditivos Industria e Comercio Ltda). Founded in 2009, and based in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, Adfert is a pioneer and one of the largest manufacturers of special fertilizer additives and crop nutrition solutions in the Brazilian market. Its products include additives for micronutrients, such as Residex, a micronutrient binding agent developed for urea, which might have been one of the attractionsfor Indorama.
In the wider agricultural markets, there has been some relief with grain shipments leaving the Black Sea. The UN’s Food Price Index had declined for a fifth consecutive month in September, and container freight prices have also come down.
There’s one ag sector that has found life difficult in the past year, and that’s vertical farming. In this issue, we have a feature, ‘Seeing the Light’, written by Lindi Botha who in June won the IFAJ-Alltech International Award for Leadership in Agricultural Journalism. Her feature looks at the expansion in vertical farming. However, there have been some high-profile casualties this year, namely Fifth Season in the U.S., Agrocool in France, and Dutch start-up GlowFarms which ceased trading when it reportedly failed to secure additional funding. Vertical farming has high upfront capital requirements and high running costs for the LEDs.
One article quoted a vertical farm CEO citing the technology had its advantage in being “decoupled from nature.” Unfortunately, no sector can be decoupled from economic reality, and high energy prices will have an impact on not only vertical farms but also greenhouses that use natural gas for heating. Some greenhouses in parts of Western Europe are not expected to run this winter owing to the high European natural gas prices. The shutdowns in vertical farming need to be put into perspective: these things happen with fledgling industries. Early entrants are often still refining their business model, and this year they would have run into an economic storm. No doubt the closures will drive further innovation, moderate expectations, and make vertical farming more resilient in theyears ahead.
One article quoted a vertical farm CEO citing thetechnology had its advantage in being ‘decoupledfrom nature’. Unfortunately, no sector can be decoupled from economic reality…
Regulation updateInnovation and regulation often go hand-in-hand, and in this issue, we hear an update from lawyer Keith Matthews on the regulation situation in the U.S. Matthews provides some insight on the proposed Biostimulant Act, which he sees as unlikely to pass. In this update, Matthews describes how such an act would
– in theory at least – bring biostimulants outside of the purview of the FIFRA legislation.
At ABIM 2022, there was a presentation on RNAi that received plenty of questions regarding regulation, a sign of interest in this topic. Oluwatobi E. Oni, managing scientist – regulatory strategy (plant protection products), Exponent International Limited, UK gave the presentation. The point was made that RNA interference technology (RNAi) is not currently under the IBMA list of biocontrol categories, currently showing on its website as macrobials, semiochemicals, natural substances and microbials.
The RNA molecule is likened to a factory, converting information stored in DNA into proteins. Biocontrol products based on RNAi disrupt this process and stop the production of a critical protein in the target pest. RNAi products tend to be insecticides, requiring the pest to ingest the product, enabling this disruption to occur. Among the many questions was one regarding insect adaptation against the RNAi biocontrol. There is currently no guidance in the EU for RNA technology, said Oluwatobi E. Oni. The observation here would be if biostimulants are finding slow progress in regulation, RNAi might be even longer.
First macro to control pestand diseaseCongratulations to Biobest for winning the Bernard Blum award for the most innovative biocontrol product, at ABIM 2022, which took place in Basel, Switzerland.
The award was for a new category of commercial mite, Pronematus ubiquitus, that concurrently targetsa key pest – russet mite – and problem fungal disease powdery mildew.
Felix Wackers, Biobest R&D director: “Pronemite is representative of a new family of beneficial mites; it’s the first effective biocontrol solution for russet mite control; the first commercialized fungal disease control using a mite; and uniquely the first commercialized biological control organism shown to simultaneously control a key pest and a problem pathogen in a protected crop. As such, it represents a whole new categoryof biocontrol.”
Before receiving the award, Wackers said Pronemite could be used preventatively by building up large populations of the arthropod using a feed supplement.
In other highlights, Ukrainian company BTU Center reported on a trial result using its adhesive adjuvant Liposam and combining with a biocontrol product. Liposam means ‘stick itself’ in Ukrainian, Dmytro Yakovenko, head of international department, BTU Center, told New AG International. In his presentation, his research team applied a foliar application of Liposam with Bacillus subtilis. Yakovenko reported that the laboratory trial on corn and sunflower showed the combination improved the crop’s ability to combat fusarium wilt.
Speaking on the sidelines, Patrice Sellès of Biotalys confirmed the company is looking to launch its protein-based biocontrol product Evoca in the U.S. next year.
The Bernard Blum silver award for an innovative biocontrol product went to Andermatt Group AG for its product Plutex, a highly selective baculovirus to control diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, and a threat to the cauliflower and broccoli family, Brassicaceae. The company noted Plutex has a new and unique mode of action. Andermatt’s Dr. Heidi Widmer told New AG International: “Plutex contains the
active ingredient PlxyGV. PlxyGV is used against diamondback moth only in a few selected markets so far. Therefore, we are the first to bring a PlxyGV product to the market through our global distribution network of the Andermatt Group. Growers use many different active ingredients with different mode of actions to control diamondback moth. Diamondback moth has developed resistance to most of these active ingredients. This is the reason why growers need new active ingredients with new mode of actions. In general, baculoviruses have a unique mode of action as they do not only have a direct effect on larval mortality but can also stabilize the pest population in the long run.”
The story behind a new product is always interesting. Widmer explained: “Our R&D researchers started a feasibility study to develop a baculovirus product against diamondback moth back in 2008. First attempts did not meet our high product standards. We restarted the project in 2017 because there is a big customer need for new active ingredients to combat diamondback moth. One of our breakthrough moments was when the first test batch in bottle met the specification and quality. At that point we reached one of many important milestones of the product development journey.”
We restarted the project in 2017 because there is a big customer need for new active ingredients to combat diamondback moth.
Dr Heidi Widmer, Andermatt product manager
A regular speaker at ABIM, Mark Trimmer, managing partner at DunhamTrimmer, gave a market update on the global biocontrol market. The high level of adoption in the U.S. and Western Europe for the fruit and vegetables markets, as high as 25 percent of crop protection market in some cases, means that growth might start to slow and remain in single digits, explained Trimmer.
At a global level, bioinsecticides is the leading product type, followed by biofungicides. Combined, these two sectors form around 80 percent of the global market. Trimmer told New AG International that bionematicides have been growing rapidly, but since they start from a small base, it takes a long time for them to gain ground. Bioherbicides are still the missing piece, he told the audience, with a very small participation in that market. Brazil was highlighted as the growth market, largely because of the use of biocontrol in row crops. A lot of the growth in bionematicide market down to Brazil, said Trimmer.
Multifunctional biocontrolAnd staying with Brazil, we take a look at a multifunctional biocontrol product in this issue. A report on recent research to select and validate bacterial strains with triple action (plant growth promoter, phosphate solubilizer, biocontrol agent) in maize and soybean could be developed into a multifunctional microbial inoculant for Brazilian agriculture.
Going across to another continent, pawpaw farmers in the Kayunga District of Uganda are facing the wrath of a stubborn insect pest, the papaya mealybug (Paracoccus marginatus), a small polyphagous sap sucking insect that attacks leaves and stems to suck on the sap. How is biocontrol helping? NAI Editor Janet Kanters reports.
Among our contributors we have Karl Wyant, Ph.D., Nutrien director of agronomy. He discusses nutrient uptake considerations under drought and how drought can have a negative impact on specific nutrients due to the nature of their uptake mechanism, known as mass flow.
And of course, precision agriculture continues to grow and expand. In this issue, we profile Solinftec, a company that develops digital ag solutions for the largest agricultural operations in the world. Guilherme Ferreira, Solinftec’s chief sustainability officer, explains how Solinftec continues to seek new ways to reimagine agriculture.
There’s also plenty more, so havea browse. ●
References
www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/pesticides-alternative-safer-honeybees-harm-protect-crops-1.860769
RNA-Based Biocontrols—A New Paradigm in Crop Protection, Matthew Bramlett (a), Geert Plaetinck (a), Peter Maienfisch (b), a Syngenta Ghent Innovation Center, Gent 9052, Belgium, b Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Basel CH-4002, Switzerland, Engineering, Volume 6, Issue 5, May 2020, Pages 522-527
Luke Hutson, Chief Analyst & Portfolio Publisher
African farmers see value of biocontrol
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Upward Farms – Microgreens
