Newsletter AgriBrasilis - March 12th
Neusa Lopes is the CEO of Girassol Agrícola, a specialist in business management from Fundação Dom Cabral , and a postgraduate in finance from FGV - Fundação Getulio Vargas .
Eurico Santos is the Seeds Production Unit manager at Girassol Agrícola, graduated in agronomy from the State University of Mato Grosso.
How is the market for high quality seeds behaving?
Seed quality has become a basic item for the market in which we operate. When purchasing seeds from a reputable company that is a reference in the market, the farmer already expects a differentiated product, which meets all production and storage standards, both in physical and physiological quality.
Today, what has been competitive in the market, in addition to quality, is the experience offered to the customer, such as on-time delivery, material and volume purchased in the order, monitoring and technical support.
(Access the full article on the AgriBrasilis website)
Media Partner Event: Fruit Attraction São Paulo (April 16th to 18th, 2024 – São Paulo Expo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil)
"Organized by IFEMA MADRID and Fiera Milano Brasil , Fruit Attraction São Paulo will hold its first edition from April 16 to 18, 2024, at the São Paulo Expo & Convention Center, where it will bring together the entire fruit and vegetable community."
Argentina: This week a lot of rainfall in a large part of the country, benefiting summer crops under development in the main productive regions. In the North, rainfall was significant, particularly in the province of Corrientes, where it reached 290 mm. Corn is between the flowering and grain filling stage in the province of Buenos Aires, while in other provinces it is between vegetative growth (late crops) and grain filling (early crops). First soybean crop is between the flowering and grain filling stages, while the second crop is mostly in the flowering phase. ( INTA )
Possibility of new locust clouds in Argentina is causing alarm. National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service declared a state of phytosanitary alert to perform preventive measures to detect and control the insects. “The alert aims to avoid critical situations like the ones that happened in previous years, highlighting that, so far, there are no waves of [locust] migration, but conditions are in place for this to occur in the short term. This is the reason why it is necessary to act quickly and efficiently to contain the insect”, said the general coordinator of Contingencies and Emergencies at Senasa, Héctor Medina. (Senasa)
Brazil: Sugarcane mills will increase sugar production capacity by up to 10% during the new season, which begins in April, in order to take advantage of higher sugar prices and the supply of corn, which makes the grain a cheap input for ethanol production. “All the mills that can do this [increase sugar production capacity] are doing it,” according to Julio Maria Borges, managing partner of the consulting firm JOB Economia e Planejamento. “The difference in financial returns between sugar and ethanol is simply too big”. ( JOB Economia e Planejamento Ltda )
Paulo Souza , CEO of Cargill in Brazil, said that the recent increase of judicial reorganization requests [court-supervised process that allows insolvent companies to suspend debts and negotiate new terms, similar to Chapter 11 Law] by farmers is a concern. “There is an increase of judicial recoveries, a legal novelty that brings a lot of concern”, according to Sousa, who assesses that this situation puts the cost of credit in agriculture at risk. “This brings insecurity for the financier. There was a lot of new money entering Brazilian agriculture in recent years and it is a risk. We have to be very careful regarding credit”. ( Cargill )
According to consultant Carlos Cogo , from the consulting firm Cogo Assessoria em Agronegócio, despite crop failure in some regions due to the weather, mainly in the States of Mato Grosso and Paraná, Brazil is still expected to achieve the second largest soybean harvest in history. (Cogo Assessoria em Agronegócio)
State of Mato Grosso do Sul’s agribusiness GDP showed the highest growth among Brazilian States in 2023, with a rate of 32%. State is followed by Tocantins (25.6%), Mato Grosso (23.5%) and Paraná (22.9%). ( Banco do Brasil )
Chile: Lower House of Congress has approved the “Fire Law” Project, which now goes to the Senate for review. Project aims to regulate prevention of forest and rural fires. Objective is to strengthen fire prevention strategies through creation of State instruments and institutions, mainly seeking to identify areas with higher probability of fires, according to maps prepared by the National Forest Service – Conaf. The Executive Director of Conaf, Christian Little, said that “what happened today is great news because this is not a ‘patched-up’ law. This is a structural law, which gets to the root of problems and works on them in a short, medium and long term perspective”. (Ministry of Agriculture)
Colombia: Coffee production in February reached 961 thousand bags, a drop of 6% compared to the same period in 2023. 2023/24 harvest reached 5.5 million tonnes, 16% more than in 2022/23, when production reached 4.8 million tonnes. (FNC)
Mexico: Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, Minister of Agriculture, said that Mexico’s agricultural production has managed to conquer the most demanding markets, such as Japan. Mexico exports more than US$ 1.3 billion in food and beverages to Japan, the second most important destination in Mexican agricultural exports, second only to the USA. (Ministry of Agriculture)
Paraguay: Paraguay finished the 2023/24 soybean harvest with an estimated 10 million tonnes and a lot of variation in yields, with regions of low productivity compensated by very productive locations. Sales are at a standstill in the face of low prices and tight margins: farmers are delaying sales as much as possible, while they are moving forward with off-season crops, be it soybeans, which saw an increase in planting in the off-season, or corn. (APS)
Gustavo Bastide Horbach is the director-president of EuroChem for Latin America, CEO and board member of Fertilizantes Heringer S.A. Horbach has a degree in civil engineering from Pontifical Catholic University of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, a postgraduate degree in engineering and a M.Sc. from the Federal University of the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
Will the industrial complex of Serra do Salitre, in the State of Minas Gerais, make it possible to reduce dependence on fertilizer imports? At what magnitude?
Yes. The Serra do Salitre Mining and Industrial Complex will add 1 million tonnes of phosphate fertilizers per year to EuroChem’s production and distribution. This amount represents 15% of the national production of the input. In line with the National Fertilizer Plan, the new production plant strengthens the competitiveness of Brazilian agribusiness and reaffirms the company’s commitment to the country.
(Access the full article on the AgriBrasilis website)
ANVISA rejects the toxicological evaluation of three new formulated products – with an active ingredient not yet registered in Brazil – from Gowan: a product based on cyproconazole + prothioconazole + fluindapyr, and two products based on fluindapyr + mancozeb + prothioconazole. (Anvisa)
Agricultural Defense Agency from the State of Goiás – AGRODEFESA advises farmers about Ibama’s restrictions on pesticides based on thiamethoxam and fipronil. “It is necessary for farmers to follow the new label and leaflet recommendations, as defined by Ibama, and described in the agronomic recommendation”, said the agricultural inputs coordinator of the Plant Health Management at Agrodefesa, Márcio de Oliveira e Silva. President of Agrodefesa, José Caixeta Ramos, said that it is the Agency’s role to “promote actions that encourage responsible use, especially in relation to pollinating insects. Therefore, in addition to maintaining a coordination of agricultural inputs, we also have a state health program for bees with the aim of strengthening the beekeeping chain in the State of Goiás”. (Agrodefesa)
Bill No. 5080 of 2023 bans use of pesticides containing atrazine in Brazil. Proposal is under analysis at the Lower House of Congress. “Atrazine can cause illness even at very low doses, making the stated safety limits ineffective in protecting workers. In addition, inspection and monitoring are difficult to promote…”, said the author of the bill, congressman João Carlos Siqueira, also known as Father João. (Agência Câmara de Notícias)
ICL Group announced acquisition of Nitro 1000 Inoculantes Biológicos , manufacturer and supplier of bioinputs, with an investment of US$ 30 million. Objective is to expand the portfolio of biological products in Brazil and increase mineral manufacturing capacity. Company predicts that new biological products will be launched soon, in 2024: “Those will be inoculants mainly focused on soybean, corn and sugarcane crops, which replace or optimize the use of fertilizers…”, says Ithamar Prada , vice president of Marketing & Innovation at ICL. (ICL)
Petrobras and Yara Brasil signed an agreement to evaluate business deals, which includes studying potential partnerships in fertilizers, production of industrial products and decarbonization of production processes. The established Memorandum of Understanding is “non-binding in nature and is aligned with the strategic elements of the Strategic Plan 2024-28+, which aim to prepare Petrobras for a more sustainable future, contributing to the success of energy transition”, according to a note from Petrobras. (Petrobras; Yara Brasil)
Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, held a meeting with the board of directors of the Brazilian Association of Bioinput Industries – Abinbio. “This is a very important subject. It is a path towards the sustainable advancement of Brazilian agriculture. Bioinputs will certainly play a big role in our future development and you can count on the support of the Ministry of Agriculture”, said the minister. “The meeting was very important for the Brazilian bioinput industry. We are very aligned. We want to encourage bioinputs to grow in Brazil and increasingly make up the farmer’s portfolio of technologies”, according to the president of Abinbio, Marcelo Godoy. ( Abinbio | Associação Brasileira das Indústrias de Bioinsumos )
According to Ibama, the decision to “restrict the use of thiamethoxam-based pesticides, announced on February 22, is an example of how the reevaluation process carried out by the Institute can result in the protection of millions of bees and other pollinating insects. Restriction of the use of a certain substance occurs when, upon re-examination of an active ingredient or component present in pesticides registered in Brazil, signs of risks are found that advise against its use, or when there is a warning to the country in this regard. The new Pesticides Law No. 14785/2023 called this process reanalysis”. ( Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis - Ibama )
National Health and Agro-Food Quality Service of Argentina has launched a digital system for managing the registration of phytosanitary products, which seeks to eliminate bottlenecks in registration procedures. There are currently around 6,000 pending cases, with delays of up to five years. “There is still a lot to deregulate,” said Pablo Lafuente, marketing manager at Spraytec, a company specializing in application technology and foliar fertilizers. “The system needs to be remade. This no longer works”, said Lafuente. ( Spraytec ; Senasa)
Ministry of Health, together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica are developing a new protocol to guide public officials on the appropriate risk management, registration, use and control of pesticides. “We are happy to have an ideal mechanism to manage risks associated with the registration, use and control of agricultural pesticides in the country. The main objective is to educate our employees in the identification, analysis, evaluation and management of these risks, ensuring food safety, health and care for the environment”, said vice-president and Minister of Health, Mary Munive. (Ministry of Health)
Glyphosate ban reduced corn production by 1.6 million tonnes in just one year in Mexico. Mexican Union of Agrochemical Manufacturers and Formulators has warned that the ban on the pesticide will cause great difficulties for farmers, reducing yields, increasing production costs, and raising food prices. (UMFFAAC)
Luis Carlos Ribeiro is executive director of the National Association of Phytosanitary Products Companies – Aenda, an agronomist from the Federal and Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, M.Sc. in plant health defense, and specialist in plant protection from the Federal University of Viçosa.
Why did the State of São Paulo decide not to register pesticides anymore?
According to the Agricultural Defense Coordination of the State of São Paulo (CDA), this determination was based on a legal opinion from the legal department of the Department of Agriculture. The CDA will continue to perform the registration of pesticide companies.
(Access the full article on the AgriBrasilis website)