Benvenuti in Italia! New AG International hosts the Biostimulants World Congress 28 November to 1 December in Milan, and in this issue we invite you to learn a little bit more about Italian agriculture. Freelance writers Luca Rossi and Eleonora Mariano focus specifically on bio-based inputs, while touching on precision agriculture practices inthe country.
In other news, MTU, a new active compound, became available to farmers in the UK in 2022 and in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in the spring of 2023. The compound MTU belongs to the biostimulant group of active ingredients, as it stimulates natural plant processes at very low dose rates. Jaroslav Nisler, from the Institute of Experimental Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, says MTU could reduce input costs and increase or protect yields of individual crops, particularly as levels of abiotic stress increase with climate change. Read more about it in this issue.
The geopolitical future of agri-food production is in Africa. So says Professor Michael Tanchum, who teaches at the Universidad de Navarra and who is also CEO of Nexus Foresight. Agriculture already contributes 30 percent of Africa's GDP and employs 55 percent of the continent’s workforce, notes Tanchum. In this issue he explores the mapping of the market opportunities for biostimulants and fertigation on the continent.
Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Company) and the agricultural equipment company Netafim recently opened the Water Management Reference Unit (URMA) in Brazil. Installed in experimental fields located in the central region of the country, the experimental area extends over two hectares and is irrigated by an automated underground drip system. The objective will be to explore the potential of fertigation. Freelance writer Leonardo Gottems explores more on this topic.
Also in this issue, we list the winners of the Bernard Blum awards, handed out 22 October at ABIM in Basel, Switzerland. ●
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