At the beginning of May, the government of Sri Lanka announced it was restricting and banning the import of chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals, including insecticides and herbicides. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa claims the action will help control rising health care costs that have been attributed to the overuse of chemicals in agricultural production. A full list of licenced and banned products is available in a USDA FAS briefing document, which also includes specialty fertilizer calcium nitrate. The consequences are still playing out for Sri Lanka, and whether this will be ‘sustainable’ in a different sense of the word will become apparent as the year progresses. As a fertilizer analyst, I have often covered fertilizer tenders for Sri Lanka. They are not huge volumes compared to nearby India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, but are a regular fixture of the tender season. Meanwhile in Kenya, Maire Tecnimont announced that its subsidiaries MET Development, Stamicarbon and NextChem, are set to build a fertilizer plant based on renewable energy. This is essentially ammonia from electrolysis, partly powered by long-established geothermal power in the country. The renewable power-to-fertilizer project is expected to produce 550 metric tonnes/day of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) and/or NPK. Assuming 330 operational days per year, this would equate to 180,000 metric tonnes/year (full story here). And in a final example, and bringing things back to this issue, another route to more sustainable agriculture can be seen with a new programme initiated in Brazil. New AG International spoke to Alessandro Cruvinel from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) to find out about the creation of the National Bio-inputs Program (PNB), with the objective of boosting the use and market of biological fertilizers and pesticides in the country.
So which way to go – ban things or innovate, or a bit of both? Incidentally, very recently, Switzerland voted against a ban on chemical pesticides in one of the country’s policy referenda. Ideas about sustainability in agriculture, particularly in the context of biostimulants and ‘next gen food generation’ will be discussed at Farm to Fork Europe, 22-24 June, organized by New AG International and the European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC). New AG International spoke with Tradecorp’s José Alfredo García, COO Bionutrition, to find out a little more what the company will be presenting at the conference. It’s not too late to sign up to be a delegate. Here.
Farm to Fork Europe was scheduled to be held in Athens, Greece. Although the event is now online only, we have still managed to bring Greece to you, with our special regional report on the country. We touch on fertilizers (you might be surprised by the amount of inhibitor used on urea). We visit Greek islands, including Crete, which has a large greenhouse sector. And we have some great company contributions, including those from Teofert, Gavriel and Compo Expert Hellas. When speaking with Teofert, I found out that they have a drone that applies liquid fertilizer with a biostimulant added to it. We also hear from Professor Dimitrios Savvas– Dean of the Faculty of Crop Sciences, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. There’s a nice piece of continuity here - Professor Savvas contributed to our New AG International regional report on Greece in 2005. And once again, he provides valuable insight on the greenhouse sector.
Our biostimulants feature this issue focuses on mergers and acquisitions in the sector. This is particularly timely given interest shown by Syngenta and Valagro in SICIT Group in early May, although it was later withdrawn. Mark Trimmer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, DunhamTrimmer says: “Over the last eight years, 2BMonthly has reported on an average of 24 M&A or joint venture deals per annum. We saw that pace slow by 10-20 percent during late 2019 and 2020, most likely a reflection of travel restrictions and other pandemic-related challenges on negotiating these deals. Conversely, distribution and R&D deals continued at historical averages during this same period.” Our leader profile this issue highlights Delta-T Devices, a company that specializes in plant and soil science instruments and is creator of the world’s first automatic leaf porometer. New AG International asked Dr. John Newstead of Delta-T Devices what technological advances have helped to develop sensor technology. He cites high performance, low cost/low power microprocessors as having made a prominent impact, as well as digital communications protocols like SDI-12. SDIs – serial digital interface – have enabled sensor networks to be ‘daisy chained’ and no longer require each sensor to be individually connected directly to a master device (such as an irrigation controller) via its own
separate cable. And linking to the opening comments, low power sensors – another route to sustainable agriculture? In irrigation technical developments, we have a returning author to New AG International: Jeremy Stroud writes about irrigation technologies and their associated users, policies and businesses. He notes new irrigation developments have become a central focus in pursuing the ever-growing need for environmental, economic and social sustainability outcomes in the agri-food sector. And finally, New AG International editor Janet Kanters delves into the invasive emerald ash borer. Before the pest was found in North America, very little was known about the insect in its native range (temperate north-eastern Asia, including Russia, Mongolia, northern China, Japan and Korea) aside from a short description of life-history traits and taxonomic descriptions. Since 2003, emerald ash borer has spread west towards Europe at up to 40 kilometres per year and is expected to reach central Europe between 2031 and 2036. Today, scientists in Michigan and Minnesota continue working on possible paths forward in controlling emerald ash borer in North America, including the use of different species of fungi that attack the pest. ●
Luke Hutson, Editor in Chief
Cover: Kastraki village near Meteora monasteries in Greece
