LUÍS EDUARDO MAGALHÃES, Brazil – The 20th edition of Bahia Farm Show concluded with strong growth across key indicators, reinforcing its position as one of Brazil’s leading agricultural exhibitions despite a challenging economic environment for the sector.

Organized by the Association of Farmers and Irrigators of Bahia (Aiba), the event attracted 172,328 visitors, a 6% increase compared to the previous edition. The exhibition also recorded significant expansion in industry participation, hosting 554 exhibitors, up 28% year-over-year, and 1,421 represented brands, a 26% increase. Organizers have already confirmed that the next edition will take place from June 7-12, 2027.

The results were presented during a closing press conference attended by Moisés Schmidt, President of Aiba and Bahia Farm Show; Alessandra Zanotto Costa, President of the Bahia Cotton Producers Association (Abapa); Maicon Crestani, President of the Association of Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Dealers of Bahia (Assomiba); Jarbas Bergamaschi, President of Fundação Bahia; and Alan Malinski, General Coordinator of Bahia Farm Show.

According to Schmidt, the event exceeded expectations at a time when many agricultural segments continue to face financial pressure.

“The agricultural sector remains optimistic by nature, and this fair demonstrates that confidence. Farmers, exhibitors, and sponsors believed in the event, and producers attended in large numbers to evaluate technologies, conduct business, and strengthen relationships,” said Schmidt.

Government participation also contributed to the positive atmosphere. Brazil’s Vice President Geraldo Alckmin attended the opening ceremony alongside federal ministers and state authorities, announcing new financing initiatives, including the Move Brasil program, which will allocate approximately R$14 billion in credit for agricultural machinery purchases.

Demand Diversifies Beyond Grain Production

While machinery sales remained an important focus, exhibitors reported increasing interest in solutions beyond traditional row-crop production.

According to Maicon Crestani, President of Assomiba, demand expanded toward livestock equipment, soil preparation technologies, and diversified production systems.

“Given high interest rates, limited credit availability, and market uncertainty, expectations were initially cautious. However, we observed strong visitor traffic and a broader range of purchasing interests, reflecting producers’ efforts to improve efficiency and diversify operations,” Crestani noted.

Cotton and Soybean Performance Support Optimism

For Alessandra Zanotto Costa, President of Abapa, strong soybean yields and favorable expectations for cotton production helped encourage producer participation.

She highlighted the inauguration of Abapa’s new Fiber Analysis Center during the fair and the success of the Cotton Village exhibition area, which showcased the importance of cotton production to western Bahia and the broader Matopiba region.

Innovation and Knowledge Transfer

Organizers emphasized that Bahia Farm Show has evolved beyond a commercial exhibition into a platform for technology transfer and professional development.

General Coordinator Alan Malinski noted that investments in educational activities, technical tours, and student participation continue to strengthen the event’s role as a hub for agricultural innovation.

Similarly, Jarbas Bergamaschi, President of Fundação Bahia, said the fair served as an important venue for researchers, producers, industry representatives, and institutions to exchange knowledge and discuss future challenges and opportunities for Brazilian agriculture.

Family Farming and Technical Outreach Expand

The event also increased visibility for family farming operations. A dedicated pavilion hosted 34 exhibitors, representing a 21% increase compared to 2025.

Meanwhile, organized visitor groups remained a key feature of the exhibition. Bahia Farm Show welcomed 265 technical caravans, bringing more than 10,000 producers, students, consultants, and industry professionals from different regions of Brazil.

Media participation also expanded, with 201 accredited journalists and a 40% increase in digital content creators, including international media representatives.

Among the highlights of this year’s edition were the Startup Space, the Vozes do Agro discussion platform, the fair’s first livestock auction, expanded food facilities, and new infrastructure improvements.

The inaugural BFS auction, organized through a partnership between Aiba and Agro Antônio Balbino, generated approximately R$3 million in transactions.

With record attendance, increased exhibitor participation, and strong engagement from both producers and policymakers, organizers believe the 20th edition further strengthened Bahia Farm Show’s position as one of Latin America’s most influential agricultural events.

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For decades, the use of biologicals in commercial agriculture has been a story of tremendous promise, and oftentimes, equally tremendous frustration. The microorganisms are remarkable. The modes of action are elegant. The science is rife with possibilities. And yet, for all of that potentiality, biologicals have remained in the margins of modern production agriculture, often viewed as too unstable, too inconsistent, or too difficult to manufacture at scale.

Now, that is changing. Not because the underlying biology has suddenly gotten better, but because three innovative companies have each independently solved a manufacturing problem that once seemed insurmountable. NewLeaf Symbiotics, CXC-AG, and GreenLight Biosciences work with entirely different biological platforms and achieved their respective breakthroughs through equally distinct scientific journeys. But their stories share an undeniable common thread: each succeeded by understanding biology deeply enough to stop fighting against it — and start working with it.

Together, these companies are helping to reshape what the biologicals industry can offer farmers while accelerating one of the most consequential shifts in modern production agriculture.

NewLeaf Symbiotics: Teaching a Microbe to Run a Marathon

Of all the age-old challenges in biological manufacturing, few are more stubborn than the problem of live gram-negative bacteria. Unlike well established gram-positive microbes such as Bacillus thuringiensis spp. kurstaki, which form naturally durable spores that can withstand spray-drying, storage, and handling with relative ease, non-spore-forming gram-negative microorganisms are notoriously fragile. Getting them from the fermentation tank to the farmer’s field in a living, active state has historically been so difficult that most of the industry simply avoided them altogether.

Enter NewLeaf Symbiotics, the St. Louis-based biologicals company that built its entire business around one such group: pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophs (PPFMs). These microorganisms are metabolically versatile, physiologically interesting, and (as NewLeaf has demonstrated) are capable of driving meaningful outcomes across biostimulant, biocontrol, and nitrogen-use efficiency applications. The challenge has always been making these microbes an accessible technology farmers can easily use.

“A grower wants to be able to use something just as easily as they do all the chemistries that are currently in the shed and on the shelf that they’ve been using for decades,” says Michael Frodyma, NewLeaf’s head of manufacturing and product development. “They want products where the application compatibility, the shelf stability, all those things are exactly like what they’re accustomed to using.”

While that sounds like a straightforward aspiration, achieving it with live gram-negative microorganisms is anything but. Frodyma says NewLeaf’s breakthrough came from a counterintuitive insight: the key to a stable end product was not going to be found in the downstream formulation steps — the drying, the excipients, the packaging — but in what happened to the cells before any of that began.

Frodyma describes the concept using a simple analogy. A person who is sick and exhausted cannot run a marathon, at least not very well. But that same person — if they have trained hard, rested well, and prepared properly — absolutely can. The organism is identical in both cases. What differs is physiological readiness. NewLeaf spent years learning exactly how to create “marathon-ready” cells: manipulating what the microbe receives during fermentation, when it receives it, and adapting the range of other fermentation variables that determine whether the living cell can survive spray drying, endure two years of shelf storage, survive tank mixing, and then perform in the field.

NewLeaf says the results speak for themselves. The company now reports two-year ambient shelf stability across its entire technology portfolio — a remarkable achievement for live, non-spore-forming gram-negative organisms. With its practical experience and advanced analytical tools, Frodyma says the company has moved from a roughly 50% manufacturing success rate from its early production days to close to 98% success at commercial scale. That is the kind of manufacturing reliability that is a prerequisite for mainstream agricultural adoption.

Given its success and the company’s intent focus on a defined class of organisms, NewLeaf believes it has also built a powerful pipeline advantage. When a new strain is identified from the company’s collection of nearly 13,000 unique isolates, the team has shown it can typically develop a commercially scalable manufacturing process in three to six months. That speed is only possible because NewLeaf’s underlying process knowledge in transferable across strains. It is a direct dividend of the company’s disciplined focus on PPFMs.

These advancements offer NewLeaf a broad range of exciting possibilities. The company launched its first bioinsecticide (TS201) in March 2024 and first biofungicide (TS601) in February 2026. By positioning these technologies alongside their existing biostimulants, NewLeaf has enabled the stacking of crop-specific biostimulant, bioinsecticide, and biofungicide solutions into a coordinated biological program, a program that growers can apply with the same ease and compatibility they expect from conventional chemistry. Mission accomplished.

CXC-AG: Intercepting a Conversation

The story of CXC-AG begins not in a boardroom or a startup incubator, but in the chilly soybean fields of southwestern Quebec in the mid-1980s. Dr. Don Smith had recently arrived at McGill University as an Assistant Professor when researchers there introduced the first soybean varieties capable of maturing in Canada’s short growing season. Smith watched those young plants emerge from the ground looking healthy, then fade to an unsettling pale yellow before finally, mysteriously, greening back up.

Cold soils were the culprit, he suspected. Optimal soil temperature for soybean nodulation (25° – 35° C) had been known for nearly a century, and Quebec’s spring planting soils were barely above 10. What Smith would discover was that the cold was disrupting the crucial first 12 hours of chemical signaling between soybean roots and their specialized symbiotic partners Bradyrhizobium japonicum, the nitrogen-fixing bacteria that form nodules on soybean roots.

That early signal exchange involves the plant releasing isoflavonoides such as genistein, and the bacteria responding by producing lipo-chitooligosaccharides, or LCOs — compounds that trigger the plant to accept the symbiosis. While this process had already been known to science, Smith was able to watch what happened when soil temperatures slowed the process enough to for him to clearly observe the interactions. He found that by preexposing the bacteria to genistein in the lab the night before they were applied in the field, the microbes generated LCOs in advance.

The finding was that treated plants didn’t just nodulate faster. They came out of the ground faster, too. Soon, with two years of statistically significant data in hand from multiple field sites around Quebec, Smith was confident in the implications. LCOs weren’t only signals for soybean nodulation they were helping the plants manage stress as well.

The discovery grew stranger and more interesting from there. A graduate student, at Smith’s offhand suggestion, tested LCOs on corn — a crop with no connection to the soybean-Bradyrhizobium symbiosis whatsoever. “Neither of us expected it to work,” Smith recalls, “but lo and behold, it worked on corn, too.”

That moment brought forth an entirely new scientific understanding: LCOs were not merely nodulation signals. They were something older and broader — stress-response molecules that may have originated billions of years ago as signals between root-associated bacteria and plants. Four decades of research later, Smith’s lab at McGill remains the only group in the world singularly focused on plant-microbe signaling at this depth.

LCOs work. That much is proven. LCO technology became the foundation of the Optimize (2003) and Jumpstart (2013) product lines that have since been sold commercially around the world. The problem CXC set out to solve was deeper than just proving efficacy. As François Lamoureux, CXC’s President and CEO, puts it bluntly, “LCOs are notoriously hard to make. The challenge for CXC was figuring out how we can make LCOs more accessible to the farmer.”

Lamoureux says the early manufacturing of LCOs was done using a pharma-style approach: porting the production mechanism into genetically modified E. coli bacteria to achieve meaningful yields. That route works, says Lamoureux, but it introduces a GMO organism into production, which carries its own regulatory and market-perception complications that CXC wanted to avoid, so they took a different approach.

Working alongside Smith and a team that includes several of his former students, now CXC’s chief scientists, the company has developed methods to coax meaningful yields of high-purity LCOs from the original producing organism — Bradyrhizobium japonicum — without any genetic modification. Smith says the process exploits 40 years of accumulated knowledge about the organism’s nutritional requirements, culturing conditions, and the subtle variables that most researchers would not think to manipulate.

The commercial stakes for this breakthrough are significant. LCOs function at extraordinarily low concentrations — on the order of 10 to the minus 11th molar, well within the range of the most sensitive hormonal signals in any biological system on Earth. The practical implication is that a single gram of properly produced LCO can treat an enormous number of acres, making cost-per-acre economics potentially transformational.

The Smith Lab and CXC have also identified a second molecule (product name Abio) — a bacteriocin-derived signal from Bacillus thuringiensis found inside the soybean nodule. Abio further boosts LCO efficacy when the two are combined, creating what CXC describes as a supercharged LCO platform.

Lamoureux says the Abio platform is at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9. Developed by NASA the TRL readiness scale was used to characterize the maturity of technologies during the acquisition phase of a program. TRL9 signifies a technology that is fully mature, fieldproven, and commercially operational in its final form. As such, CXC is in the process of identifying the right commercial partner with the scale and market access to bring its supercharged LCO (+Abio) platform technology to growers globally.

GreenLight Biosciences: An Answer from the Bottom of the Ocean

RNA interference (RNAi) — the mechanism by which double-stranded RNA molecules can silence specific genes in target organisms — has been one of the most exciting ideas in biological crop protection for more than two decades. The science, which won a Nobel Prize in 2006, offers something that conventional chemistry cannot: a mode of action so precisely targeted that a properly designed RNA molecule can silence a gene in a Colorado potato beetle without with an almost unprecedented level of specificity.

The obstacle for RNAi was never the science. It was the manufacturing economics.

Dr. Andrey Zarur, CEO of GreenLight Biosciences, describes the three historical routes to RNA production with the precision of someone who spent years eliminating each of them. Chemical synthesis — the approach used for therapeutic RNAs in treatments of some genetic disorders (such as amyloidosis), cardiovascular disease, and cancer — produces high-fidelity product but at costs ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars per gram. The process of enzymatic polymerization utilizes purchased nucleotide triphosphates as catalysts to synthesize RNA polymers in vitro, the method behind mRNA COVID vaccines. This method brings manufacturing costs down to thousands of dollars per gram, still a long way from viability for agricultural applications, where effective use might require use rates of ten grams per hectare.

The third route — fermentation using engineered bacteria — attracted enormous investment from heavy-hitters like Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, and others during the 1990s and 2000s. These companies theorized that if you could engineer E. coli to produce foreign RNA in a high-density fermentation, the economics should be favorable. In practice, however, biology refused to cooperate.

Zarur says the problem is fundamental and evolutionary. Every living organism on Earth has developed systems to recognize and destroy foreign RNA — because foreign RNA is the signature of infection. In E. coli-based fermentation, as foreign RNA accumulates, the bacteria respond by dramatically upregulating the production of nucleases that degrade the RNA. The result is a broad distribution of molecular fragments in the broth, only 1-2% of which is high purity product. When sprayed on crops, the mixture largely failed, and the major companies eventually walked away.

GreenLight’s conclusion was at once simple, complicated and unambiguous. They needed to eliminate the living cell entirely from the manufacturing process. But this created what seemed like an impossible engineering problem. RNA synthesis requires energy, specifically ATP, the universal energy currency of life, to phosphorylate the nucleotide building blocks needed for RNA polymerization. Organisms make ATP either through respiration, photosynthesis, glycolysis, or anaerobic metabolism. Once living cells were removed from the process, where would the ATP come from?

“The key to this whole problem became: can we supply energy to the system so that it can phosphorylate those nucleotides and drive this reaction forward?” Zarur says. “Simply elucidating that took a couple of years. But then figuring out how to make that energy took another eight years, because it had never been done before.”

The breakthrough came from an unexpected source. In the alkaline volcanic vents at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean — in a place called the Atlantis Massif — live organisms have thrived for 4.2 billion years with neither oxygen nor sunlight. These extremophiles produce ATP by extracting phosphate from inorganic molecules like calcium phosphate and iron phosphate in their surroundings, using a set of ancient enzymes that likely predate every other energy metabolism on Earth.

GreenLight surmised it could adapt those enzymes for industrial use. The original organisms worked in cold, high-pressure marine environments, drawing on insoluble phosphate sources that would simply precipitate out of a bioreactor. Researchers spent years engineering the system to function at room temperature, ambient pressure, with soluble phosphate sources, and at speeds sufficient for industrial production. When the first version of GreenLight’s cell-free enzyme system worked, the resultant RNA cost about $100 per gram — 10 times cheaper than anything else available at the time. Within a year of hitting that milestone, however, iterative improvements drove the cost below $1 per gram, an astonishing reduction stemming from the high purity of the resulting product.

A mass spectrometry analysis of GreenLight’s RNA shows essentially a single peak — approximately 99% of the product is the correct molecule at the correct molecular weight. That means that every molecule sprayed in the field is capable of affecting its target. That purity also proved critical for regulatory approval: GreenLight had to help the EPA develop an entirely new framework for evaluating RNA insecticides, including sequence analytics, bioinformatics demonstrating non-target organism safety, and environmental fate studies. That framework now exists and has been adopted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Today, GreenLight has two commercial RNA biopesticide products on the market — Calantha, targeting the Colorado potato beetle, and Norroa — and is expanding rapidly. “We’re sold out of everything,” Zarur says. “We can’t keep it on the shelves, and it’s only May.” Current production is running at approximately 5.5 metric tons of RNA per year, with the company aiming for 30 metric tons by year end — more RNA than was previously thought possible to manufacture. According to Zarur, the GreenLight pipeline is extensive.

Common Denominators

Three companies. Three entirely different biological platforms. Three very different manufacturing breakthroughs. And yet the underlying similarities are striking.

In each case, the biology was ready long before the manufacturing was. PPFMs have been known and studied for decades. LCOs were commercialized by a global agricultural company. RNA interference won a Nobel Prize. The science was not the bottleneck. Manufacturability was. Initially, NewLeaf could not stabilize living gram-negative cells. At the outset, CXC could not produce LCOs from non-GMO organisms at commercial purity and yield. In the beginning, GreenLight could not make RNA cheaply enough for field use. Biology becomes agriculture only when manufacturing catches up.

In each case, the companies’ respective solutions required working with biology rather than against it. NewLeaf didn’t depend upon formulation gymnastics to protect cells that weren’t ready; it learned how to make cells that were ready before processing began. CXC didn’t try to force a faster GMO production route; it leaned into 40 years of knowledge about the original organism’s biology. GreenLight didn’t try to suppress the E. coli nuclease response; it removed the living cell from the process entirely and rebuilt biological energy chemistry from its most ancient roots. Likewise, across all three innovations, purity and consistency emerge as strategic advantages rather than technical footnotes. These innovations are not rooted in brute-force engineering solutions. They are solutions that stem from deep biological understanding.

The long-term implications of these manufacturing breakthroughs extend well beyond the individual products coming to market. They suggest a structural leap forward in how the biologicals industry will compete and how farmers eventually think about their input programs. If biological products can be manufactured with the stability, cost, purity, and performance consistency that conventional chemistry has long offered, they can officially transition from nice-to-haves to need-to-haves. And in a world of increasingly erratic growing conditions, tools that help crops perform under variable stress conditions are precisely what farmers need most.

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With double-digit losses projected for the 2026/27 crop, the sector is seeking alternatives to mitigate the country’s most damaging citrus disease

Brazil’s citrus industry is facing one of the most critical moments in its recent history as greening (HLB – Huanglongbing), currently considered the world’s most serious phytosanitary threat to citrus orchards, continues to spread. The growing pressure from the disease is already compromising productivity, fruit quality, orchard longevity, and sharply increasing production costs across the country’s citrus value chain.

The impacts of HLB became evident in the new forecast for the 2026/27 citrus crop in the São Paulo and Triângulo/Southwest Minas Gerais citrus belt — the world’s leading orange juice-producing region. According to an announcement by Fundecitrus, production is expected to reach 255.20 million 40.8-kg boxes, a volume 12.9% lower than the previous crop, which totaled 292.94 million boxes, and also 14.7% below the average of the past decade.

According to Fundecitrus Executive Director Juliano Ayres, the combination of adverse weather conditions and increasing greening pressure has further worsened orchard conditions. “This crop has been impacted by climate variability and higher greening pressure, affecting fruit set, yield, and fruit drop. Despite improvements in average fruit weight and the technological level of orchards, the situation requires strict management and continuous monitoring,” he stated.

These figures and analyses were presented during Expocitros 2026 and Citrus Week 2026, which began this week at the Sylvio Moreira Citrus Center of the Agronomic Institute in Cordeirópolis, São Paulo state. The events bring together agribusiness leaders, researchers, growers, companies, and government representatives to discuss innovation, sustainability, biological inputs, technology, energy, and the main challenges facing Brazilian citriculture.

Incidence Near 50% Raises Alarm Across Citrus Belt

According to industry specialists, HLB has reached alarming levels. Citrus consultant Gilberto Tozatti, who has more than 40 years of experience in the sector and is founder of GCONCI (Citrus Consultants Group), says the average incidence of symptomatic trees in Brazil’s main citrus belt has already reached 47.6%, while average disease severity stands at 22.7%.

According to him, the problem goes beyond geographic spread. “Severity represents the level of plant impairment and is directly related to reduced production and increased fruit losses,” Tozatti explains. He also notes that greening has been gradually expanding into other citrus-producing regions throughout the country.

Consultant Hamilton Rocha recalls that HLB was first detected in the citrus belt in 2004 and has continued to spread ever since. “Today it is present in nearly 50% of citrus trees in the citrus belt and has already spread to Minas Gerais, Paraná, and other states,” he observes.

The economic consequences are severe. Tozatti estimates that more than 50% of premature fruit drop is currently associated with HLB. In addition, the disease significantly reduces industrial yields and compromises juice quality, directly impacting the competitiveness of Brazil’s citrus industry.

Hamilton Rocha emphasizes that losses have been accumulating for more than two decades. “Fruit production and quality have declined dramatically throughout these more than 20 years,” he says.

Integrated Management Remains the Main Strategy

With no definitive cure available on the market, greening control continues to rely on integrated management, intensive monitoring, and strict control of the psyllid Diaphorina citri, the insect vector responsible for transmitting the bacteria associated with HLB.

In regions with lower incidence levels, Tozatti highlights the importance of rapidly eradicating infected trees and maintaining rigorous vector control to prevent disease spread. In the most heavily affected areas, growers have concentrated efforts on preserving orchard productivity and longevity.

“In these regions, the focus has been on improving soil fertility, balanced nutrition, and preservation of the root system, one of the plant structures most severely affected by HLB,” the consultant says.

Hamilton Rocha points out that there is still no effective reversal of the disease in symptomatic plants. “What we can currently do is reduce the speed at which the disease advances within the orchard,” he explains.

Agronomist and PhD André Luis Teixeira Creste describes the situation as alarming. According to him, some regions already show symptomatic tree incidence levels above 70%, potentially leading to even greater losses depending on weather conditions.

Despite the disease pressure, Creste says Agro São José orchards have adopted rigorous management protocols based on Fundecitrus recommendations, including chemical and biological control, plant revitalization, and sustainable soil management practices.

“There is no silver bullet for disease control. Different tools must be combined, including soil management, vector control, chemical crop protection products, and biologicals,” he states.

He also highlights the use of solar reflectors as a complementary tool and points to new technologies currently under evaluation in the market as promising alternatives to reduce HLB-related damage.

New Technology Aims to Slow Disease Progression

Among the technologies attracting industry attention is the Trecise system, developed by Invaio Sciences. The solution uses a localized trunk injection system that allows the precise delivery of active ingredients, including bactericides such as oxytetracycline. The product is currently undergoing registration for commercial use in Brazil.

According to the company, because it is a high-precision application system in which the product is delivered directly into the plant’s vascular system, it is possible to reduce application rates by up to 90% compared to other methods, while also minimizing worker exposure and environmental impacts.

For Gilberto Tozatti, the solution represents “an extremely promising alternative” for the sector. “It brings hope for more efficient control of the bacteria inside the plant, reducing HLB-related losses and helping maintain orchards in production,” he says.

Hamilton Rocha also views the system positively. “The use of bactericides is one of the strategies that may help combat greening. Invaio’s technology is very effective because it performs localized application, avoiding exposure outside the citrus plant, and the results are highly promising,” he notes.

In trials conducted in partnership with Invaio, André Creste reports significant productivity gains. “We have observed recovery in trees with disease severity up to level 2 and productivity gains of up to 35% compared to untreated areas,” he states.

Citrus grower Tiago Davoglio considers HLB “the main problem in Brazilian citriculture” and says the sector has spent nearly 20 years attempting to control the disease without achieving a definitive solution.

“The losses are well established: fruit drop, poor flowering set, plant mortality, and compromised industrial yields,” he says. According to Davoglio, technology based on OTC application could represent an important shift in greening management strategies.

“Invaio’s technology directly attacks the disease within the HLB ‘tripod.’ We will continue controlling the vector, but with the possibility of reducing contaminated vectors spreading the bacteria to healthy plants,” he observes.

According to Alexandre Chaves, the Trecise technology, once commercially available, will represent a new strategic tool for Brazilian citrus growers. “The combination of an innovative application technology capable of delivering the product directly into the plant’s vascular system, together with a highly effective active ingredient for bacterial control, will bring an unprecedented and complementary approach to disease management. As a company, we are committed to expanding the arsenal of solutions available to Brazilian citrus growers in addressing what is currently the greatest challenge facing citriculture.”

Leonardo Gottems

Rimini, Italy – Macfrut 2026 officially opened its 43rd edition at the Rimini Expo Centre, reaffirming its position as one of Europe’s leading events for the fresh produce industry and a strategic meeting point for the global fruit and vegetable supply chain.

The opening ceremony was attended by Francesco Lollobrigida, Italy’s Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, alongside ministers from Cameroon, Lebanon, Senegal, and Syria, underscoring the international scope of the exhibition.

Describing the event as more than a trade fair, Lollobrigida said Macfrut has become a strategic platform for strengthening international relations and fostering agricultural development partnerships. He emphasized the importance of the fruit and vegetable sector to Italy’s economy, noting that the government has allocated over €2 billion in direct funding for the supply chain through national investment initiatives, including the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, generating nearly €3 billion in related investments.

Italian fruit and vegetable exports continue to expand

New figures presented during the opening by Nomisma highlighted the economic relevance of Italy’s horticultural sector. According to the study, the country’s fruit and vegetable industry includes more than 150,000 companies operating across 887,000 hectares, generating a production value of approximately €17 billion—equivalent to 26% of Italy’s total agri-food output.

Exports of fresh and processed fruit and vegetables reached €12.9 billion in 2025, accounting for 18% of the country’s total agri-food exports. Between 2020 and 2025, exports rose by 38.1% for vegetables and 37.1% for fruit, with the European Union remaining the main destination for fresh produce shipments.

The report also pointed to increasing pressure from geopolitical tensions, rising logistics costs, climate instability, and phytosanitary challenges—factors that continue to reshape the competitiveness of the European horticultural sector.

Internationalization drives the 2026 edition

According to Lorenzo Galanti, the 2026 edition marks a major step forward in international outreach. Agenzia ICE brought 920 international buyers from more than 80 countries, more than doubling last year’s participation.

More than 5,000 business meetings have already been scheduled between international buyers and Italian exhibitors, reinforcing Macfrut’s role as a business-oriented platform for export development.

This year’s international spotlight is on the Caribbean, with strong representation from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ecuador. South America also expanded its presence, with Brazil and Peru joining returning participants such as Chile and Argentina. More than 20 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa are participating as well.

Innovation and sustainability at the center

For Patrizio Neri, the fair’s strong international participation confirms the strategic role of the fruit and vegetable sector for Italy and global markets. The industry accounts for nearly one-quarter of Italian agricultural production, making Macfrut an important venue for identifying trends and accelerating innovation.

The 2026 edition features several thematic areas dedicated to critical industry challenges, including water management, nursery technologies, biological crop inputs, digital agriculture, berries, healthy minimally processed foods, medicinal plants, and agrivoltaic systems.

Among the featured attractions are two outdoor demonstration areas covering 2,500 square meters, where exhibitors present innovations in fruit production and horticulture. A dedicated startup area hosts 26 emerging companies from different regions, highlighting new technologies and solutions for the supply chain.

Over the course of the three-day event, around 100 conferences and technical sessions are scheduled, focusing on topics such as sustainability, logistics, plant health, and digital transformation.

Strategic platform for global horticulture

With exhibitors from five continents and a record number of international buyers, Macfrut 2026 consolidates its role as a global hub for the horticultural industry. At a time when supply chains face mounting economic and environmental pressures, the event is positioning itself as a strategic platform for promoting innovation, international trade, and collaborative growth.

By combining business opportunities with technological showcases and institutional dialogue, Macfrut continues to strengthen Italy’s role as a leading player in the international fruit and vegetable market while fostering stronger commercial links across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

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Manel Cervera, DunhamTrimmer Managing Partner and Chief Commercial Officer

DunhamTrimmer Managing Partner and Chief Commercial Officer Manel Cervera will speak at the 7th BioEx Summit (Biopesticides, Biostimulants and Biofertilizers) taking place March 12–13 in Shanghai, one of the leading international forums dedicated to agricultural biologicals.

During his presentation, Cervera will share updated market intelligence from DunhamTrimmer’s latest global research, including developments in the biostimulant market, Single Biostimulant Molecules (SBMs), and the expanding role of pheromone-based technologies in large-scale crop systems.

The session will explore regional market dynamics across the United States, Brazil, China, and Europe, highlighting the strategic implications for manufacturers, distributors, and investors in the rapidly evolving biological inputs sector.

More details about the event and presentation are available in the AgroPages announcement:

https://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail—56855.htm

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Just steps away from the European Parliament, at the headquarters of holding company Sofina, the first BioSolutions Forum brought together Brazilian and European agribusiness leaders in February 2026 to discuss the advancement of biological inputs across two profoundly different regulatory and production environments.

The meeting underscored both the maturity of the Brazilian market and the structural challenges Europe faces as it transitions toward more sustainable agricultural systems.

At the center of this movement is BioWorks Europe, the European arm of the BioFirst Group. The company is part of a global network that also includes BioWorks North America, BIOTROP and Real IPM Africa, sharing in-house research and development, proprietary biological production and field experience accumulated across multiple continents.

This integration enables the accelerated introduction of already-tested technologies, ensures consistent quality standards and reliable supply, and drives continuous improvement based on learnings from diverse climates, crops and production systems.

In practical terms, BioWorks Europe serves as both a commercial and technical platform to bring BIOTROP biosolutions to European growers, structuring market development, agronomic support and distribution partnerships across several countries in the region.

“At BioWorks Europe, our ambition is to bring premium, innovative solutions from Brazil to the European continent. As part of BioFirst Group and with BIOTROP’s strong innovation pipeline and production capability, we are well positioned to do that successfully and rapidly,” said Lara Ramaekers, Vice President of BioWorks (BioFirst Group).

“Our European team focuses on co-developing and marketing these biosolutions from BIOTROP with our customers in distribution and with European growers. With the rapid reduction of efficient, cost-effective tools for European growers, these new tools are essential to maintain reliable and high-quality food production in Europe”, she said.

According to Ramaekers, the combination of BioFirst Group’s global structure and BIOTROP’s robust innovation pipeline and manufacturing capabilities places the company in a strong position to deliver new solutions quickly and effectively.

She emphasized that the European team is dedicated to co-developing and commercializing these biosolutions alongside distribution partners and growers, particularly at a time when European farmers are facing a rapid reduction in efficient and economically viable crop protection tools.

During the event, Jonas Hipólito, President of BIOTROP and a member of the BioFirst Group leadership team, stressed that the forum’s primary objective was to connect two complementary realities. The event, he noted, was carefully designed to bring together leaders from both continents for a full day of technical and strategic exchange.

Hipólito highlighted that Brazil is experiencing large-scale adoption of biologicals driven primarily by economic criteria. In the Brazilian market, growers make decisions based on cost control, improved profitability and proven agronomic performance—particularly in situations where conventional solutions no longer deliver the same results.

This contrasts sharply with the European environment, where pressure to adopt sustainable technologies is intense, yet the availability of tools remains limited. Moreover, many existing solutions do not clearly offer the same profitability component that has underpinned the rapid expansion of biologicals in Brazil.

Representatives from major Brazilian groups such as Atvos, Coruripe, Cocal and Pedra Agroindustrial presented case studies showing biological adoption rates ranging from 35% to 100% of cultivated areas, particularly in sugarcane. What most captured the attention of the European audience was that this expansion has been driven primarily by economic performance and agronomic results—not by regulatory imposition.

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MKTPlace is a leading digital and social media platform for traders and investors. MKTPlace offers premiere resources for trading and investing education, digital resources for personal finance, news about IoT, AI, Blockchain, Business, market analysis and education resources and guides.

After nine years operating in Brazil and establishing itself as one of the leading digital platforms connecting buyers and sellers in agribusiness, Agronegociar is launching its first international operation: Portugal will serve as a base for conquering the European market.

The company has adapted its platform to European Portuguese, created its own domain—www.agronegociar.pt—and adjusted all infrastructure to comply with legal requirements, including conformity with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). An exclusive app (app.agronegociar.pt) has also been launched, with a clean database and settings tailored to local realities.

According to Product Manager Júnior Rodrigues, the presence in Portugal goes beyond simply replicating the Brazilian model: “We want to be a bridge between Brazil, Portugal, and the European market, respecting cultural, commercial, and production differences,” Rodrigues explains.

The project involved research on strategic value chains, marketplace usage habits, and business practices in the country, as well as meetings with rural associations and local producers to establish partnerships.

For project manager in Portugal, Raphaela Bordino, the choice of country is strategic: “Portugal is the gateway to the European market, especially for Brazilian companies, due to language and historical connections between the countries. There’s a natural exchange: Brazil demands Portuguese products, and Portugal also benefits from what Brazilian agribusiness offers.”

Key Product Categories

The launch prioritizes categories with high demand and added value, such as honey, fruits (orange, tangerine, strawberry, blueberry), and olive oil. There’s also special attention to gourmet items like wines, cheeses, and sustainable products.

Challenges and Opportunities

Despite cultural affinity, entering the market requires adjustments. Portuguese producers, in general, are more familiar with digital tools, but adopt new solutions cautiously. The country has smaller farms, a strong presence of cooperatives, and more formal negotiations, with an emphasis on safety and reliability.

Founded in 2016, Agronegociar is a digital hub that connects producers, buyers, technicians, researchers, and agribusiness companies, offering free solutions in commercialization, training, and logistical support.

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• Groundbreaking weed management solution made available to the professional landscaping market. Ideal for sidewalks, paths, parking lots, cemeteries or shopping areas.
• CE-certified; efficient and sustainable; ease of use and transport.
• Proprietary advanced power electronics, control and safety features patented by Zasso.
• Exclusive partnership with Wimmersson BV for distribution of the eWeeding® Roller, powered by Zasso, in the Benelux.

The solution offers a unique combination of efficiency, safety, sustainability and ease of use. The device will first be made available by Zasso’s exclusive distribution partner in the Benelux, Wimmersson BV. Wimmersson will market the device as the eWeeding® Roller, powered by Zasso. For the last year, Wimmersson’s team has intensely field tested the device with partners. The eWeeding® Roller will be launched officially on June 6th at Fort Gagel in Utrecht, Netherlands, and on June 11th at Oostdorp 42, Anzegem-Tiegem in Belgium. Traditional weed management methods in public spaces often lack systemic effect, require numerous treatments, or have a high impact on our environment. The eWeeding® Roller is the first effective method without these limitations, making it ideal for reducing weeds on pavements such as sidewalks, paths, parking lots, cemeteries or shopping areas.

“We’re thrilled to announce the European launch of our walk-in device. Our dedicated team has spent years perfecting this solution, making it compact without sacrificing safety or ease of use,” said Benjamin Ergas, co-CEO of Zasso. “We’re confident and excited about Wimmersson BV introducing the eWeeding Roller in the Benelux market.”

For more details, visit www.eWeeding.com or contact Wimmersson BV – eWeeding®, Michel Wimmers at +31 622 247 857.

About Zasso: Zasso, based in Switzerland, specializes in non-chemical weed management using advanced power electronics. Their patented technology effectively targets both sprouts and roots of unwanted plants. With adaptable applicators, their solutions are suitable for agriculture, the consumer market, and urban areas. Zasso’s mission is to provide efficient and sustainable weeding technologies, establishing a new global standard. They have offices in Zug, Switzerland; Indaiatuba, Brazil; Aachen, Germany; and Paris, France. Learn more at www.zasso.com.

About Wimmersson: With over 20 years of experience in weed control for urban professionals, Wimmersson is a leader in using electric solutions for effective and sustainable weed management. Their innovative approach targets roots and emphasizes eco-friendly practices. Strong partnerships with companies committed to innovation and sustainability keep Wimmersson at the forefront of weed control technology. 

Wimmersson is a proud member of several key industry associations, including Cumela, VHG, and VVOG, which underscores its dedication to maintaining high standards and staying connected with industry advancements. eWeeding® is a registered trademark of Wimmersson in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States, symbolizing its commitment to sustainable and effective weed control solutions.

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• Partnerschap gericht op de volledige lijn van XPower elektrische onkruidbestrijdingsproducten – XPU (Urban), XPA (Hydraulische Arm), XPS (wijngaarden/boomgaarden) – voor gemeenten, aannemers en landbouwers.
• Versterkte regionale klantervaring is de belangrijkste drijfveer achter het partnerschap.

Zasso, de wereldleider in elektrische onkruidbestrijdingsoplossingen, en Group Verschueren, een erkende specialist in werktuigbouwkunde en constructie van materiaal voor dienstverleners en gemeenten, kondigen met plezier hun strategisch partnerschap in de Benelux aan. Group Verschueren wordt een geautoriseerde distributeur van XPower-apparaten om de elektrische onkruidbestrijdingsoplossingen van Zasso in de regio verder op te schalen en naverkoopdiensten aan klanten te bieden.

De op tractor gebaseerde elektrische onkruidbestrijdingsoplossingen van Zasso bieden een efficiënt en duurzaam alternatief voor chemische, mechanische en thermische onkruidbestrijdingsmethoden. De samenwerking met Group Verschueren combineert de disruptieve aard van het productportfolio van Zasso met de regionale aanwezigheid en professionaliteit van Group Verschueren in de Benelux om een diepere marktpenetratie te garanderen en de klantervaring te versterken.

Beide bedrijven willen innovatie stimuleren en de toepassing van de technologieën van Zasso versnellen, met name door aannemers, dienstverleners en gemeenten in het bijzonder.

De overeenkomst richt zich met name op de distributie van de XPower XPU, ontworpen voor elektrische onkruidbestrijding in groene ruimtes, industrieterreinen, brede lanen, parken, sportterreinen en parkeerplaatsen, evenals de XPower XPS, ontworpen voor wijngaarden en boomgaarden, en toekomstige XPower-oplossingen die door Zasso zullen worden gelanceerd. Dit partnerschap bouwt voort op de bestaande distributie van de XPower XPA, die gebruikmaakt van een op maat gemaakte hydraulische arm die exclusief door Group Verschueren voor Zasso is ontwikkeld om moeilijk bereikbare onkruidgebieden te bereiken.

“We zijn erg enthousiast om met Zasso samen te werken aan de uitrol van deze baanbrekende technologieën. De markt vraagt om nieuwe oplossingen die disruptief en efficiënt zijn,” zei Carlos Verschueren, oprichter en CEO van Group Verschueren.

“Group Verschueren is een gevestigde naam in de regio. Ze staan bekend om hun toewijding aan hun klanten. We geloven dat dit partnerschap, dat een natuurlijke evolutie is van onze succesvolle gezamenlijke ontwikkeling de afgelopen twee jaar, zal bijdragen om de toepassing van onze op tractor gebaseerde elektrische onkruidbestrijdingsproducten in de Benelux te stimuleren. We kijken uit naar ons langdurige partnerschap,” zei Benjamin Ergas, mede-CEO van Zasso.

Over Zasso 

Zasso is een innovatief Zwitsers bedrijf dat gespecialiseerd is in chemievrije onkruidbeheeroplossingen met behulp van geavanceerde vermogenselektronica. De gepatenteerde technologie richt zich zowel op de spruiten als op de wortels van ongewenste planten. De flexibele en uitwisselbare applicatoren maken het mogelijk de oplossingen te gebruiken op verschillende oppervlakken en segmenten, waaronder landbouw, consumentenmarkt en stedelijke gebieden. De missie van Zasso is om efficiënte, levensvatbare en noodzakelijke technologieën te bieden voor een nieuw wereldwijd onkruidbeheerparadigma. Met kantoren in Zug (Zwitserland), Indaiatuba (Brazilië), Aken (Duitsland) en Parijs (Frankrijk), is Zasso de wereldwijde leider in elektrische onkruidbestrijding.

www.zasso.com 

 Over Group Verschueren 

Group Verschueren – subcompany van Maaiers Verschueren, opgericht in 2010 – is een Belgisch familiebedrijf gespecialiseerd in de bouw, verkoop en verhuur van machines voor dienstverleners, wegenonderhoud en gemeenten. We verbinden ons ertoe een kwaliteitsvolle aftermarket ondersteuning te bieden om de tevredenheid van onze klanten te garanderen. Group Verschueren is er ook trots op “out of the box” te denken en innovatieve oplossingen op maat te creëren die het best geschikt zijn voor zijn klanten.  Dit maakt Group Verschueren bij uitstek geschikt om het XPower gamma te verdelen vanuit hun hoofdkantoor in Lochristi, België.

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Is Blockchain the Solution for Agribusiness? In recent years, concerns about food security and ESG practices have increased, leading to a greater appreciation of product origin. Blockchain emerges as a solution for tracking agricultural supply chains. Studies indicate that global investments in blockchain in agriculture could reach $948 million by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 48.1% since 2020.

“The data points to growth in the agribusiness sector, mainly due to the security that blockchain technology brings and for creating certification and traceability systems that guarantee the sustainable origin of products, benefiting both consumers and producers. So, I can affirm that exploring and adopting this technology strategically ensures significant benefits that can further boost growth, competitiveness, and trust in the market,” says Diego Guareschi, CMO of Hathor.

Blockchain offers advantages to the market, promoting transparency, efficiency, and sustainability in production. It functions as a decentralized, fraud-proof database, recording operations in chained and immutable blocks, allowing for subsequent analysis of stored information through verifiers.

“A good example of this is the use of QR Codes on product packaging, which when scanned provide data such as water, fertilizer, and energy use in cultivation, as well as the amount of carbon emitted in the process. At the same time, the tool also helps the producer to have better control of their operations, optimizing time and resources by unifying everything in one platform,” he indicates.

He concludes by saying that “by spreading transparency and traceability, blockchain is able to substantially contribute to ensuring a greater commitment to the ESG agenda of one of the important sectors of the Brazilian economy, promoting security and trust among all involved. In the coming years, we can expect its use to continue to grow in the country, driving innovation in agribusiness and increasing competitiveness in the market at the national and international levels.”

Leonardo Gottems

Photo by Anton Atanasov on Unsplash

Nortox, a Brazilian agrochemical company headquartered in the state of Paraná, has completed 70 years of operation, holding the position of the largest agricultural pesticide manufacturer in the tropical country. Additionally, it is the only Brazilian agribusiness company operating in three business platforms: pesticides, granulated micro-fertilizers, and hybrid corn and sorghum seeds.

‘Nortox‘s history is defined by its consistent presence alongside farmers, boasting a skilled field team and robust support system ensuring top-notch products and services.’ says Administrative Director Roberto Amaral.

Founded in 1954, when Brazil was not yet an agricultural powerhouse, Nortox began its journey focused on coffee cultivation – which at the time was the main source of wealth in the country. In this scenario, young entrepreneur Osmar Amaral founded Nortox on April 14th with just one product in the catalog, aimed at combating the coffee berry borer – one of the main threats to coffee plantations.

According to João Marcos Ferrari, Commercial Director of Nortox, the company’s DNA remains to produce cutting-edge agrochemicals, competitive and safe solutions for farmers. “The major contribution of the commercial area in recent years has been to develop a portfolio of exclusive products, such as the fungicide Scudeiro and the herbicide Arkeiro, recently launched and very well received by the market,” he says.

Both products have been proven effective in more than 20 research institutions in Brazil, in consultations and cooperative trials. “Nortox doesn’t merely sell active ingredients; it offers solutions to farmers. Adhering to this principle, we meticulously test various combinations to deliver the optimal product,” Ferrari explains.

INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

Nortox has become renowned in its 70-year history for innovation and sustainability. An example of this was when it began and dominated the synthesis of Trifluralin in Brazil in the 1970s. In the following decade, it broke the synthesis patent and produced the herbicide Glyphosate in the country, reducing costs and directly contributing to making no-tillage farming viable – the technique that turned Brazil into one of the world’s largest players in agribusiness.

Furthermore, Nortox has also become a reference in sustainability: Last year, the company saved 1,300 tons of BPF oil (derived from petroleum). Vapor production was made by replacing it with 11,500 cubic meters of reforested wood.

Nortox also sponsors socio-environmental projects such as Olho D’Água, a partnership with cooperatives for the preservation of aquifer water sources. With the motto “Nortox. Yesterday, today, and always in tomorrow’s agriculture,” the company aims to grow even further.

“It’s time to reflect on the paths that have brought us here and also on the new challenges and the role that Nortox plays in the market today,” says Lucas Morais, Marketing – Communication Coordinator.

Founder Osmar Amaral passed away four years ago, but before that, he summed up his journey at Nortox: “The feeling is one: that of duty fulfilled.” The Nortox team affirms that his legacy continues to be the great inspiration to persevere in the constant pursuit of improvement.

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Out of 168 registrations of Formulated Products based on Equivalent Technical Products, 60 resulted from legal action, meaning more than one-third of approvals.

This statement comes from Flavio Hirata, an agronomist and expert in pesticide registration, and a partner at the consulting firm AllierBrasil.

In Brazil, he notes, the largest and most attractive agrochemical market in the world, the product registration process is quite slow, taking over 12 years for the evaluation of generic or equivalent products (Formulated Product based on Equivalent Technical Product).

According to a survey by AllierBrasil (2023), of the 168 registrations of generic Formulated Products approved in 2022, 52.38% took 6 years or more for approval.

This approval time has remained stable for the past four years, being much longer in previous years.

For this reason, Hirata points out that the year 2022 saw a record number of pesticide registration evaluations through legal actions.

“Highlighting the companies Rainbow (13.4%), Iharabras (13.4%), Adama (7.5%), Perterra (7.5%), and Syncrom (7.5%), which together accounted for 49.3% of legal actions, or 33 processes out of a total of 67, including all Chemical Formulated Products,” notes the expert.

According to him, the registration of Equivalent Formulated Products represented 90% of legal actions, or 60 out of 67 actions, with 24 mixtures of active ingredients against 43 isolated products, totaling 27 active ingredients.

No legal action was found related to technical products registered in 2022.

“The majority of actions had Anvisa and Ibama as defendants, 71.79%, while for only Anvisa or Ibama, the percentage was 28.21% of actions. The survey did not investigate actions against the Ministry of Agriculture,” emphasizes Hirata.

According to the unpublished report “Judicial Action, Decision by Federal Court – 2022,” prepared by AllierBrasil and Mazza & Manente de Almeida Advogados, not all legal action requests are successful, especially in obtaining injunctions, by the Judiciary.

Some Courts have a higher number of approvals, while in others, the appeal to the second instance is more frequent.

“In the same survey conducted by AllierBrasil (2023), when comparing the time for approval of registrations ‘without legal action’ versus ‘with legal action,’ it is possible to demonstrate that legal action significantly reduces the approval time,” states the expert.

“In 2023, there was a continued rise in companies turning to the court system and an uptick in the number of lawsuits being filed. For 2024, Joint Ordinance No. 3 may expedite the evaluation of registration processes, but the procedures are still being discussed by the authorities. Regarding the much-discussed Pesticide Bill (PL No. 1,459/2022), it is still too early to predict whether the project will reduce the registration time, even if it is fully sanctioned without any veto,” he concludes.

Market Place

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Brazilian company Nortox has unveiled to MKTPlace its latest innovation for soybean disease control: Scudeiro, an exclusive and unprecedented fusion designed to combat rust and target spot. This fungicide, composed of Protioconazole and Tebuconazole, has been meticulously crafted to stand out as the primary choice for the initial soybean application.

Commercial Director João Marcos Ferrari emphasizes Nortox’s commitment to providing comprehensive solutions for farmers, extending beyond the mere sale of active ingredients. According to him, all possible combinations among fungicide groups were tested, leading to the conclusion of the mixture of two triazoles.

In turn, Célio Hiroyuki Fudo, Product Development Manager, stated that the synergy between Protioconazole and Tebuconazole ensured “efficacy in controlling Asian rust,” demonstrating “excellent performance in combating other soybean diseases.”

Thiago Polles, Market Development Leader, highlights that Scudeiro is a broad-spectrum systemic fungicide, registered for various crops such as cotton, corn, wheat, barley, and sorghum, eliminating the need for adjuvant oil.

The distinctive formulation of Scudeiro, developed in 27 research institutions in Brazil and Cooperative Trials, has proven effective in controlling diseases such as target spot and Asian rust, ensuring productivity and being selective for soybean cultivation.

Maicom Tumiate, Registration and Development Manager, emphasizes the prioritization of the product by the Ministry of Agriculture due to its exclusive and innovative composition, combined with the technical product synthesis and formulation in Brazil.

Lucas Morais, Marketing Coordinator – Communication, underscores that the launch of Scudeiro marks the continuation of the company’s new communication positioning in the market. Celebrating 70 years in April 2024, Nortox adopts a new marketing strategy for Scudeiro and upcoming innovations, moving away from the tradition of naming products after the predominant active ingredient.

Leonardo Gottems

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Agrotoken has partnered with Santander to launch “the world’s first experience” of providing resources through tokens based on agricultural commodities.

For each token, there is a ton of grains that the producer has sold and delivered to a grain trading and agricultural production company. Similarly, all tons are validated through a Proof of Grain Reserve (PoGR) – a transparent, secure, decentralized, and auditable system at all times through a modern security infrastructure.

Once producers have their digital assets, agro tokens can be used for various operations, taking into account three price indices defined in conjunction with the Matba Rofex Group (a market where financial and agricultural futures and options are traded), reflecting the real-time value of grains. Since the beginning of 2021, several operations have been conducted, demonstrating the usability of crypto assets in exchange for various types of inputs, trucks, machinery, and real estate, among other things.

Eduardo Novillo Astrada, CEO and co-founder of Agrotoken states that they are “creating, together with Santander, various financial products to offer agricultural producers a service through which they can easily and smoothly access a new credit system backed by the sale of their grains.”

“At Santander Argentina, we have technology and innovation to generate new business solutions that make life easier and expand opportunities for agricultural producers. This is the first time that a financial services platform using blockchain technology and crypto assets to expand the agricultural credit market and unleash the business potential of the producer,” said Fernando Bautista, Head of Agribusiness at Santander Argentina.

The bank announced that it “believes in technology” and will invest $225 million in this area in Argentina. According to them, it is the first time that a global financial services platform links tokens of agricultural products to financial products, using blockchain technology to generate new business and make the process more efficient.

Leonardo Gottems

Photo by James Baltz on Unsplash

Vegetable bioactivator-controlling nematodes can be associated with fertilizers.

Derived from plant sources, the Organic Bloom vegetable bioactivator has been drawing the attention of technicians and farmers as an efficient organic alternative in combating the main species of nematodes that cause damage to crops such as soybeans, corn, beans, and cotton. In addition to being effective in controlling reniform nematodes, along with gall, cyst, and lesion nematodes, Organic Bloom has studies confirming its ability to solubilize phosphorus, induce resistance against nematodes in soybean plants, and synergize with biological products formulated with bacteria and fungi.

According to agronomist Cristiane dos Reis, Director of Research and Development (R&D) at Ingal Agrotechnology, studies were conducted in collaboration with nematologist Dr. Cristiano Bellé from the Phytus Institute, confirming the effectiveness of Organic Bloom against nematodes when incorporated into organomineral fertilizer formulations.

The research was conducted in greenhouse and field settings in soybean (Glycine max) cultivation. Various organomineral fertilizer formulations treated with Organic Bloom were compared to their standards and also to mineral fertilizers regarding plant productivity parameters and mitigation of the root-knot nematode, Meloidoyne javanica.

In the greenhouse trial, 30 days after the application of Organomineral treated with 2 Liters.Ton-1 of Organic Bloom, there was efficiency in controlling Meloidogyne javanica eggs and juveniles in 100 cm3 of soil, with reductions of 46.2% and 43.2% compared to the control treatment, respectively. At 60 days after the application of organomineral in the soil, the highest response was observed in juvenile control, with an efficiency of 35.6%.

Field trials were conducted in Júlio de Castilhos/RS and showed more significant results compared to the same dose used in the greenhouse. At 30 days, efficiency of 46.8% and 48.2% in controlling eggs and juveniles in the soil was observed, with a similar result found in nematode control in soybean roots.

“Unexpectedly, the efficiency levels for both young plants and soil-buried eggs, as well as soybean roots, were sustained at consistent levels even 60 days after the introduction of organomineral fertilizer into the soil. The results, however, went beyond nematode control, as during the trial, factors related to soybean plant physiology, such as fresh root and shoot mass, were benefited, resulting in a productivity increase of 6.54 sc/ha,” commented Cristiane dos Reis.

According to her, the result contributes to strengthening studies initiated in 2021 by Ingal Agrotechnology. Preliminary tests were conducted on the treatment of mineral fertilizers with Organic Bloom, and promising results led to the development of the first organomineral enriched with Organic Bloom in the state of Paraná.

Ingal Agrotechnology’s Commercial Leader for the Southern Region, Estevão Terra Caetano, also established the technology in the cassava market. It is important to note that results have already been obtained in wheat cultivation. The research will continue with various organomineral fertilizer formulations and will be presented at the 35th Symposium of the European Society of Nematologists in April 2024 in Spain.

The results reveal that the addition of Organic Bloom to mineral (NPK) and organomineral fertilizers promotes greater root development and soybean plant growth. In addition to the benefits related to the crop, the combat against the main nematodes in the soil was verified in the first 30 days after emergence.

Treatments with NPK + Organic Bloom (2 L per ton of NPK in the 5-20-20 formulation) and Organomineral + Organic Bloom (2 L per ton of organomineral) achieved control efficiencies of 38.6% and 43.2% on juveniles and 38.5% to 46.5% on Meloidogyne javanica eggs. In the roots, control efficiency ranged from 31.3% for NPK + Organic Bloom to 38.2% for Organomineral + Organic Bloom on juveniles and remained at a similar level on Meloidogyne javanica eggs.

In the 60-day evaluation after emergence, greater control efficiency of Meloidogyne javanica juveniles occurred in the soil, 30.1% and 35.6% for NPK and Organomineral treated with Organic Bloom, respectively. Regarding the roots, the highest percentage of control was observed on nematode eggs, 39.2% in the NPK + Organic Bloom treatment and 32.2% in the Organomineral + Organic Bloom treatment.

Leonardo Gottems