Newsletter AgriBrasilis - May 7th
Bezos Earth Fund Is Interested in Livestock Farming in Brazil
Andy Jarvis is the director for the Future of Food of Bezos Earth Fund, with a bachelor of science in geography and a Ph.D. by the King’s College London, former associate director of the Alliance of Biodiversity International.
AgriBrasilis – Why is the Bezos Earth Fund interested in Brazilian cattle farming?
Andy Jarvis – Brazil has the biggest herd on the planet, and it is also the most biodiverse country on the planet. What happens with Brazilian cattle production has global impacts. We are interested in supporting Brazil to produce beef and dairy sustainably — free from illegal deforestation and low in emissions.
(Access the full article on the AgriBrasilis website)
Media Partner Event: Biostimulants World Congress (November 12th to 15th, 2024 – Miami, USA)
"With past editions welcoming 1500+ professionals from 70+ countries, representing 600+ companies. 2024 is set to deliver another remarkable edition, offering a broad spectrum of keynote speeches, expert panels, scientific presentations, company showcases, awards ceremonies, poster tours, a gala reception and plenty of networking breaks over the course of the event."
Overview by AgriBrasilis (04/27/24 - 05/03/24)
China lost its position as Argentina’s second most important trading partner in March. According to the latest report on Argentine commercial exchange, released by the National Institute of Statistics and Census, the second place is now held by the European Union, while China became the third largest trading partner. Sales to China fell 24.2% year-on-year, while purchases fell 34.9% in the period. (INDEC Argentina)
Colombia began to restrict imports of US beef and beef products from regions where dairy cows tested positive for avian influenza after April 15th. According to Joe Schuele, spokesman for the US Beef Export Federation, Colombia is the only country that has officially imposed restrictions on US beef exports due to the H5N1 outbreak. (U.S. Meat Export Federation)
Grupo GreenLand, from Colombia, has announced investments of US$ 3 million in trucks to transport fruit. Furthermore, the group announced that it will expand its activities, and should start producing Tahiti lemon in the department of Caldas, where it should plant 400 hectares. In 2023, the group exported more than 14 million boxes of bananas. (Greenland)
More than 40 tonnes of deforestation-free Rainforest Alliance coffee were exported to the EU. “The National Federation of Coffee Farmers – FNC works to guarantee access to the best coffee in the world to all markets, demonstrating that it is possible to achieve a balance between coffee production and environmental conservation”, said German Bahamon J., manager of Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia. (FNC)
Pagaruayian corn exports in the 1Q/2024 fell by 34%, reaching 290 thousand tonnes, compared to 442 thousand tonnes in the same period in 2023. (Capeco)
Argentina Still Fears the Return of Foot-and-Mouth Disease
Víctor Tonelli is a member of the Advisory Board of ADBlick Ganadería, and technical coordinator of the Argentine Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. He was the CEO of Comega S.A. and vice-president of Estancia y Cabaña Las Lilas S.A.
AgriBrasilis – Why did you warn about the risks of importing vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease?
Victor Tonelli – I am in no way opposed to importing vaccines, I just mentioned that it is necessary to have scientific certainty that it is safe to import vaccines that cover 2 strains (bivalent), in contrast to the national vaccine, which covers 4 strains (tetravalent), including A2001, which was the strain responsible for breaking immunity and is not present in the bivalent vaccine.
In fact, the debate regarding vaccine imports was partially positive, causing a 23% reduction in the cost of the vaccine by the two laboratories that manufacture and distribute it in our country.
(Access the full article on the AgriBrasilis website)
Crop Protection and Nutrition – Weekly Update Brazil & Latin America (04/25/24 – 05/01/24)
Organizations in Latin America denounce Bayer to the OECD for “environmental damage caused by glyphosate in regions in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia and for lack of risk assessment and damage prevention regarding the sale and use of GMO soybean seeds”. In a statement, Bayer said that it is “not aware of the alleged incidents in Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil… the description of the case does not correspond to the product and to the safety profile of glyphosate, which is one of the most researched pesticides in the world… we monitor the use of our products with extensive responsible management”. Among the organizations filing the complaints are Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, from Argentina; Terra de Direitos, from Brazil; Base Investigaciones Sociales, from Paraguay; Fundación Tierra, from Bolivia; and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, from Germany. (Terra de Direitos; Bayer)
According to researcher Fernando Oreja, there are “43 populations of herbicide-resistant weeds in Argentina, belonging to 24 different species. Of these 43 populations, there are 9 populations with multiple resistance”. The herbicide with the most cases is glyphosate, with 92% of resistant populations, followed by ALS inhibitors (29%), and auxin inhibitors (17%). (Oregon State University)
National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service from Argentina – Senasa has announced a new procedure for fertilizer registration, through Resolution No. 431/2024, aiming to simplify and provide more efficiency to registration processes. The Resolution details the requirements for registration, the quality parameters for commercialization, as well as a description of procedures, such as cases of product transfer between companies, changing the product’s commercial name, etc. The president of Senasa, Pablo Cortese, points out that “this is a big change in the registration process… the registrations no longer need to be renewed annually, nor will it be necessary to present samples as part of the registration process”. (Senasa)
Gowan Colombia has inaugurated a bioinputs plant based on botanical extracts in Rionegro, Antioquia, to export and also to supply the local market. According to the company’s manager, José Joaquín Vieda, an investment of US$ 8 million was made to develop new fungicides, insecticides and nematicides. (Gowan Colombia; Gowan Company)
Pesticide particles have been detected in honey in Mexico. Particles of glyphosate, malathion, organochlorines, among others, were found. According to Jovani Ruiz Toledo, researcher at the National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies, the problem is caused by the excessive use of agrochemicals by the country’s farmers. Toledo said that bees become contaminated when consuming nectar or pollen from the plants, and this contamination can be taken to the hives, and, consequently, affect humans. (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores CONAHCYT)
Effects of El Niño, Boll Weevil and Forecasts for the Cotton Harvest in Brazil
Eleusio Curvelo Freire is a consultant at Cotton Consultoria, with a degree in agronomic engineering from the Federal University of Paraíba, a M.Sc. in argronomy from the Federal University of Ceará, and Ph.D. in genetics and plant breeding from Esalq. Freire was a researche at Embrapa for 34 years in the area of cotton breeding ande general head of Embrapa Cotton.
AgriBrasilis - Cepea has estimated a 2.5% drop in cotton crop yields this season. What are the main enemies of cotton yields?
Eleusio Freire - The agricultural year was climatically governed by El Niño, which caused episodes of drought and high heat in te States of São Paulo and Paraná. In the Northeast (Matopiba region, which are the States of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia) and in the State of Mato Grosso, El Niño forced farmers to carry out several replantings, causing crop to develop unevenly. This low "plantability", associated with the high temperatures recorded in November ande December, should result in yield losses.
(Access the full article on the AgriBrasilis website)