Sept/Oct 2017
Southeast Asia: Agriculture Facts & Figures Seed Treatments with Biologicals Sensing in Precision AG Greenhouse Technology and Agronomics update iles f o r P ’ s r e d a Le
News in Subsurface Drip Irrigation
Welcome to ABIM in Basel, Switzerland and to the Irrigation Show in Orlando, USA
SEPT/OCT 2017
NEW AG INTERNATIONAL
NEWS REVIEW
is a publication of New Ag International SARL au capital de 20,000 Euros 5 Rue Bertrand MONNET, 68000 COLMAR, France newag@newaginternational.com www.newaginternational.com
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Headline news: An exclusive interview with Gregory Hunter, President of the Irrigation Association.
THE PRECISION AG CORNER Gregory Hunter
LEADER’S PROFILE
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Plant Protection Corner: M. Loison Email: m.loison@wanadoo.fr Contributing Editor: Oded Achilea Email: od.achilea@gmail.com
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Precision Farming: Sensors at work! By Prof Alex Escola & Team, University of Lleida, Spain. AirScan: Soil testing from the sky. The Ravensdown experience in New Zealand.
Grabi Chemical: Intensifying R&D in chelates, biostimulants and Bioactive substances. An exclusive interview with Moreno Grasselli, President & CEO & Founder.
Advertising Enquiries: Email: advertising@newaginternational.com
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Biocontrol in ASIA: Report on the largest biopesticide event in Asia. Organized by New Ag International and 2B Monthly.
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Seed Treatments in biologicals: An increasingly popular technology and a main market driver by Bill Dunham & Mark Trimmer, Managing Partners Dunham & Trimmer and Editors 2B Monthly.
IRRIGATION LEADERS
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CropMetrics: A leader in Precision Irrigation Management. An exclusive interview with Nick Emanual, CEO and Founder, and Kylen Hunt, Chief Sales Officer.
IRRIGATION TECHNOLOGY
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Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI): Expanding, however not at a rapid pace by P. Trebilcock, Irrigation Editor.
REGIONAL REPORT
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South East Asia: Agriculture Facts & figures by O. Achilea, contributing Editor.
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AGRONOMICS & ECONOMICS
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Greenhouse Technology and Agronomics: A report from Greensys congress in Beijing by Dr Silke Hemming & Dr Ep Heuvelink, Wageningen University.
Designed in England Email: tony@alphaset.co.uk Printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Company www.magprint.co.uk New Ag International accepts no responsibility or liability for the validity or information supplied by contributors, vendors, advertisers or advertising agencies.
PEOPLE & EVENTS
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Front cover picture: main picture: Vegetable fields in South East Asia. courtesy of NAI. Small size picture: SDI in a corn field, courtesy of TORO. Editorial and photo acknowledgements: Special thanks to S Hemming & E. Heuvelink.
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NEWS REVIEW
NEW AG INTERNATIONAL
Dutch cooperation to boost horticulture in Morocco HORTICULTURE IN MOROCCO has room to become more sustainable and productive. Researchers of Wageningen University & Research have designed a demonstration greenhouse and are developing a research and education programme together with regional partners. In this project plant and economic researchers of Wageningen work together. There are some big tomato producers in Agadir who export tomatoes to Europe, and many small- and middle-sized producers who mainly produce for local markets,” say Marc Ruijs and Cecilia Stanghellini of Wageningen Economic Research. Stanghellini and Ruijs have recently designed a demonstration and research greenhouse and started working on a research and education programme. The plan will lay the foundation of a Centre of Excellence in Horticulture in Agadir and was made in cooperation with the Complex Horticole d’Agadir (CHA) in Agadir. The Association of vegetable and fruit producers and exporters in Morocco (APEFEL) is involved, as well as the agricultural counsellor of the Dutch embassy. The study is financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. “The productivity in Agadir can easily be doubled from 15 to 20 kilo tomatoes to 40 kilo per square meter,” says Stanghellini. A demonstration greenhouse will show farmers the differences between current local cultivation
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techniques and the effects of innovations and technologies that will increase production and sustainability. Not only do the technologists need to be brought up to a higher level, but also the farmers researchers, trainers and university teachers. Wageningen will be involved in designing courses that will take advantage of the new greenhouse facility to educate greenhouse staff at several levels. Four priorities were identified. These are climate management, water and fertilizer management, crop protection and crop management.
AkzoNobel to expand micronutrients capacity in Europe AKZONOBEL IS TO INVEST more than €10 million in Sweden to expand capacity for its chelated micronutrients. The project, at Kvarntorp, will help meet growing demand for micronutrients, particularly in regions with poor soil conditions. Due to be completed next year, the expansion will primarily add capacity for high performance iron chelates, in which AkzoNobel is the market leader. “High performance chelate demand is growing fast, and this expansion will ensure that we can meet our customers’ requirements going forward,” explained Wout Neleman, Director of Micronutrients at AkzoNobel. “Analysts estimate a global micronutrient demand growth of over 5% per year, partly driven by population growth and the increasing global issue of
water scarcity in many regions.” “This is an important strategic investment to support our customers and strengthen our leadership position in this market,” added Thierry Vanlancker, AkzoNobel’s Executive Committee member responsible for Specialty Chemicals. “It also underlines our commitment to sustainability and our Human Cities initiative by helping to increase agricultural yields in regions with poor soil conditions while also supporting the growing trend towards hydroponic agriculture and urban farming.” AkzoNobel has partnerships with global fertilizer companies Yara and SQM for worldwide distribution of its chelated micronutrients, which are also produced in Herkenbosch, the Netherlands, and in Lima, Ohio, USA.
Opening of the new production plant of Valagro Group in Brazil
VALAGRO, has officially inaugurated the Pirassununga plant, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. With two production lines for the production and packaging of biostimulants and water-soluble fertilisers, the new plant occupies an area of 30,000 m². Its maximum production capacity reaches
50,000 tons per year, coupled with a high storage capacity. Overall, in line with the quest for greater sustainability, the fundamental value for Valagro, the Pirassununga plant was built according to strict criteria which guarantee efficiency and eco-sustainability (reduction of energy consumption, reuse of rain-
water, recycled water, and the management and correct disposal of waste). Thanks to these features, the Pirassununga plant, built with an investment of 10 million euro, is now a strategic production and logistics base for Valagro solutions not only in Brazil, but in the South American market in general.
Biocontrol in Asia:
Rapid Growth Fuelled by Meeting Consumer Demands! Southeast Asia growers interest in biocontrol is on the rise as more consumers seek food with lower pesticide residues. “India, with a population of 1.3 billion, is an increasingly important market for biocontrol products,” said Mr. Pradip P. Dave, President of Pesticide Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) in his opening words of the second Biocontrol Asia Conference, sponsored by Koppert and GreenCorp. The organizers, 2BMonthly and New Ag International, in conjunction with IBMA, welcomed close to 150 delegates from more than 30 countries to the Biocontrol Asia conference in Bangkok on June 7-9 to join in discussions on the dynamic biocontrol market in southeast Asia. Speakers from both local Asian companies as well as high profile speakers from Europe and North America provided presentations on a wide range of topics to fuel the exchange of ideas. Mark Trimmer, Editor of 2BMonthly reports.
ASIA A STRONG CONTRIBUTOR TO GLOBAL GROWTH! “The global biocontrol market is growing at an annual rate of 17-20% with a total value of US$2.8 billion in 2016.”, said Mr. William Dunham, Managing Partner DunhamTrimmer & Editor 2BMonthly, in his opening presentation on global market trends. He projected the biocontrol market will reach US$11 billion in value by 2025. Contributing to this growth rate, which is three to five times faster than the conventional chemical crop protection market, are strong consumer demands for reduction in pesticide residues, a growing desire for more sustainable agricultural practices, increased safety to users and the environment, and increasing regulatory issues with many chemical pesticides. Mr. Dunham also noted that Asia is one of the fastest growing regions with many opportunities for biopesticide use. In his
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keynote address, Dr. Thomas Jaekel, GIZ-CIM Expert on Biological Plant Protection stressed the need for a holistic concept of agricultural production as opposed to purely mechanistic concepts, such as input-output calculations. The number of biocontrol products approved for use in southeast Asia is growing explosively, particularly in Indonesia (natural products and pheromones) and Thailand (microbials and botanicals), according to Dr. Jaekel, which suggests continued strong growth of the Asian biocontrol market. Dr. Jaekel noted that nearly every southeast Asian country has a National Action Plan regarding biocontrol and market opportunities for bio-based IPM strategies for various crops exist throughout the region. In Dr. Jaekel’s view, the primary hurdles to increased adoption of biocontrol in southeast Asia is improved knowledge (application protocols and technical support) and trust (consistent, high quality products) among users.
THE ASIAN BIOCONTROL MARKET: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES Mirroring global trends, large chemical companies have recently begun entering the Indian biopesticide market, noted Dr. B Saha, Director R&D for L.R. Research Laboratory of Nagarjuna Agrichem Ltd. He observed that “The future of biocontrol and biostimulant products in India looks bright as it is still in the nascent stage for the growth opportunity is huge. The Indian government is also strongly supportive of bio-products and India has the potential to become a major global supplier of biocontrol products in the future.” From a global perspective, Mr. Guy Elitzur, CEO of the Stockton Group, noted the mega trend impacting global agriculture is consumer demand for healthier food and production systems. This trend is not just present in Europe and North America, but also in Asia
where, for example, in China this demand has triggered regulatory reforms aimed at promoting the use of less toxic pesticides. This has led to IPM programmes which integrate chemical pesticides with biopesticides as well as hybrid products which combine chemical and biological products in a single formulation. Dr. Philip Kessler, Director International Market Development for Andermatt Biocontrol, commented on the need for more sustainable food production methods in Asia in light of increasing populations, climate change, change in diets, water limitations, and pollution. He reviewed a number of microbial biopesticide solutions that are available to critical pest control needs, but market access in many Asia countries is challenging due to regulatory hurdles. He stressed the need for more communication between regulatory authorities and the biocontrol industry to help overcome these barriers. Mr. Peter Maes, Director Corporate Marketing for Koppert Biological Systems commented on how new, high-tech solutions are being developed for use in conjunction with biocontrol. Examples cited included uses of sensors to collect data from multiple sources and integrate using complex models to analyze and optimize decisions on pest control and other crop management inputs. He discussed using this data in conjunction with drones to release beneficial insects and mites in precise locations where they can provide the greatest benefit.
MICROBIALS: THE RISING STARS IN BIOCONTROL Microbial biopesticides continue to be a fast growing and innovative segment of the industry. Many of the major company acquisitions have focused on microbial technology. Ms. Julie Versman, Senior Director of International Business Development for Marrone Bio
Innovations discussed their discovery, development and commercialization approach to microbial bioinsecticides. Using this approach, Marrone Bio has launched multiple unique proprietary microbial products in recent years which is helping to grow the biopesticide market. One of the most innovative areas of research involves searching the plant microbiome for useful new microbial strains to be developed as biocontrol agents. While several companies have been founded on basis of identifying each microbial strain individually, Mr. Joe Schmidt, Senior Vice President of Business Development & Strategy of BioConsotia Inc., discussed their unique approach, which involves using the plant to select from the soil the microbial teams, or consortia, which provide unique benefits based on the conditions under which the plant is growing. Employing a proprietary process, BioConsortia identifies effective microbial consortia utilizing high throughput DNA sequencing of the plant microbiome. The approach has proven to be an effective approach to screening large numbers of strains rapidly. Dr. Yingjie Zhou, Director of Global Marketing at Keyun Biocontrol provided a detailed review of the development of a viral microbial insecticide called Plutellavex for the control of diamondback moth. With more than 30 field trials completed in 14 countries since 2014, performance against this critical pest of crucifer vegetables has been comparable to leading chemical insecticide standard treatments.
NATURAL EXTRACTS: NOVEL SOURCES AND EXTRACTIONS Many novel biochemical approaches are being developed, as demonstrated by Mr. Jesus Yanez, CEO & Founder of GreenCorp Biorganiks de Mexico. He commented on the unique potential of desert plants, many of which have not been fully
explored for unique extracts with biocontrol activity. Mr. Yanez noted that his company has been able to extract excellent potential products for crop protection from Mexican plants. Mr. Christophe Zambaux from IAZ Development and Mr. Gabriele Mongiusti of Silvateam discussed the development of wood extracts consisting of polyphenols derived from selected tannins. The products are extracted only with water and are selected for performance improvement against key target pests, including nematodes and key soil and foliar diseases. The extracts provide contact activity against a range of pests and in a significant number of trials, provide yield and quality improvement. The first product based on these extracts is currently under development in the EU. Dr. T.R. Girish of Sea6Energy discussed the use of extracts from tropical red seaweed (Kappaphycus alvarezii) for the prevention of viral plant diseases. Field trials showed significant reduction of viral disease incidence and increased yield in a range of crops including chili peppers, cucumbers, papaya, and tomatoes. The extract achieves this effect by substantially upregulating multiple pathogen defense response genes shortly after application. The wide range of topics covered and the high quality of papers presented certainly reinforces the impression that the biocontrol market in Asia is on the upswing. 2BMonthly and New Ag International announced their plans to return to Asia in two years for another similar conference. In the meantime, plans are already moving forward to meet again in March 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya for our first Biocontrol Africa Conference & Exhibition followed by a return to Latin America (Colombia) in late 2018, both events again in cooperation with IBMA. ■
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Biocontrol and Biopesticides in Southeast Asia:
The Full picture! In the March/April 2015 issue of New Ag International on the occasion of the first Biocontrol Asia Conference and Exhibition in New Delhi, India, in 2015, Dr Thomas Jäkel & Sulaiman Ginting, from ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS), Department of Agriculture, in Bangkok, Thailand published an article about the situation of biocontrol in Southeast Asia. In this article that follows our Biocontrol Asia conference earlier in June this year, Jäkel reviews the updated current market situation of commercial biocontrol agents (BCA) in Southeast Asia from a regulatory perspective as well as on field experience in several countries. At this point in time, it is appropriate to highlight some major achievements of the ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) Project, which will be phase out by the end of 2017 with regard to its promotional program on BCA. The SAS team set out mid of 2011 to support ASEAN Member States (AMS) in developing better regulatory frameworks for BCA, which was accompanied by field testing, application training, and promotion of BCA among farmers and practitioners. Of course, this article, which will serve as a reference for the quality of the information it contains, would not have been possible without all the effort and valuable contributions of Jäkel’s colleagues in the SAS offices of Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and other AMS.
PLANT PROTECTION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA IN NEED OF CHANGE
For a definition of what BCA are please refer to the previous article and the recently published ‘ASEAN Guidelines on the Regulation, Use, and Trade of Biological Control Agents (BCA)’ (ISBN 978-616-423-596-0). Here, it may be sufficient to note that ASEAN’s experts included micro-organisms (microbials), macro-organisms (macrobials), semiochemicals, and natural products in the definition, which follows a more market-oriented rather than purely scientific description.
In 2005, two reports were published that discussed the local problems associated with overand misuse of synthetic pesticides in agriculture in Southeast Asia. The one from Thailand (Ratanasatien, Ketunuti, & Tantichodok, 2005) highlighted the potential of bio-pesticides to substitute for synthetic pesticides in agriculture, while the other related to the situation in the Philippines (Briones, 2005) brandishing the unsustainable use of pesticides and fertilizers to result in environmental degradation, decline of bio-diversity, and direct health risks to farmers and consumers. At that time, market share of the most dominant bio-pesticide product, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), amounted to a meager 1% or less of the total of imported pesticides (Jäkel, 2004). At that time Jäkel predicted that an increase in market share would highly depend on the engagement of the local private sector by offering high-quality products at affordable prices to farmers and growers. Today, more than a decade later, this percent-
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age hasn’t improved dramatically, although Asian countries like China have reached the 5% mark. However, growth rates of registrations and increases in market value are encouraging as we will see later. An outlook on the environmental problems is less optimistic: they have become even more aggravated. For instance, environmental pollution by pesticides has reached levels that pose substantial health risks to consumers (Chau et al.; 2015; Wanwimolruk et al., 2016). This already affects markets negatively. For instance, vegetable consumption in Thailand is on the decline (personal communication with AVRDC, Taiwan). Fortunately, we can observe gradual changes in attitudes, commitments, and policies among governments of ASEAN towards a more sustainable practice of crop protection and crop management in general, in which biocontrol and bio-pesticides could play an increasing role in the future. We will mention some examples below. How this will impact on the situation at the farmer’s level remains to be seen. Agriculture in Southeast Asia cer-
tainly needs a turnaround. Besides the unsustainable practices mentioned before, the consequences of climate change become increasingly visible. Some perspectives on land suitability for crops and the challenges that are lying ahead of us have been recently published. Unfortunately, those areas in Southeast Asia that show the lowest future land suitability overlap largely with the current centers of intensive rice production. These are located in peninsular countries like Thailand and Vietnam (mainly rain-fed rice) and in island countries like Indonesia and the Philippines (more use of irrigation). Recent maps of land degradation (e.g., by ISRIC – World Soil Information, Wageningen, Netherlands) indicate that the very same areas are already heavily affected by degraded soils; notably in Thailand with extreme levels of chemical degradation and in the Philippines, where soils exhibit high levels of wind and physical degradation. Hence, if Southeast Asia wants to succeed in countering climate change, increase food production to guarantee food security and
Sensing in Precision Ag:
What sensors tell about the crop environment Our great-grandparents and their ancestors did not use any sensor but knew their fields perfectly. The reason is that they had their feet on the ground, literally. They had to walk throughout their fields either sowing, weeding or ploughing with mules. And they had time to know which areas in their fields were better than others. With the appearance of the tractor and agricultural mechanization in general, things started to go faster and fields started getting bigger, so much so, that sensors are now required to provide farmers with the information they once had. In this 4th Precision Ag Corner issue we will discover how different sensing systems can help farmers gather information on the surroundings of their crops. In the next issue of the magazine, we will cover the techniques allowing to sense the crops properties themselves. Jaume Arnó, José A. Martínez-Casasnovas and Alexandre Escolà, of the University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center in Catalonia, Spain have the story for our readers.
In the first Precision Ag corner we introduced the cycle of Precision Agriculture and in the second we described the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The first stage of the PA cycle is Data Acquisition. At this stage, the aim is to detect spatial and/or temporal variability by means of visual scouting or using sensors. Data will be subsequently analysed to be turned into information (2nd stage) to make informed management decisions (3rd stage) to be implemented in the field (4th stage). This issue reviews general aspects of sensing techniques and some of the most usual sensors and sensing techniques in Precision Agriculture to be used together with GNSS to obtain georeferenced soil data.
A NUMBER OF SENSING TECHNIQUES Regarding the distance between the sensor and the target, sensing techniques can be classified as proximal or remote sensing. Technically, a remote measure-
ment is any measurement obtained without contact with the element being measured. That would lead us to consider nearly all techniques used in PA as remote sensing. However, it is commonly accepted in PA that proximal sensing techniques are those used for ground-based measurements. Therefore, any measurement obtained from drones, aircrafts or satellites is to be considered remote sensing. Table 1 show the pros and cons of both sensing techniques. As far as the spatial resolution of the measurements is concerned, some proximal sensing systems (sensor and data loggers) are only able to take single site measurements. The reason may be either the sensor needs a special setup or it needs to be manually triggered. Other sensors are able to obtain continuous measurements over time without special sensing requirements so they only need to be moved throughout the fields while recording its output signal and the coordinates of a GNSS receiver to georeference the
measurements. The latter are usually called on-the-go sensing techniques. When sensors are to be stationary in the field, e.g. buried soil moisture sensors, or sensors attached to fruits, they can provide farmers with high temporal resolution data. The spatial resolution, though, is usually very low since it directly depends on the number of sensors deployed in the field. Frequently, there are only one or few sensors per hectare and that makes sensor location a very important issue to be considered in advance. These kind of sensors are usually connected by wireless communications in what is called wireless sensor networks (WSN). Alternatively, on-the-go sensing systems may provide farmers with very high spatial resolution data. In those cases, the temporal resolution will depend on the times the system is taken to the field, commonly resulting in low temporal resolution data series. Finally, hand operated sensors will generally provide with low spatiotemporal resolution data.
Table 1. Pros and cons of proximal and remote sensing techniques
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PROXIMAL SENSING
REMOTE SENSING
+ Usually very high spatial resolution
+ No contact with the crop or soil
+ Simpler technologies
+ Large scale measurements (field, farm or region)
+ Possibility of using multiple sensors at a time
+ Instantaneous (single-shot) measurements keeping environmental conditions all the same
+ On-the-go derived operation capabilities - Need to step on the field
- Usually lower spatial resolution
- Small scale measurements
- Usually more expensive techniques
- Longer acquisition times (resulting in different environmental conditions)
- Need for atmospheric corrections when using satellites
- More meteorology dependent
Regarding the type of measurement, sensors can directly measure properties or parameters of the crop and its environment or estimate them indirectly. According to the former, some sensors can measure canopy height and width or even grain production, for instance. Indirect sensing techniques need to previously establish correlations between simple observations and complex estimations. Such is the case of remote sensing techniques, where light reflectance in different spectral bands is used to calculate radiometric indices which are correlated with physiological phenomena in the crop.
SENSING OF SOIL PROPERTIES: ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY A KEY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GOING ON IN A FIELD! Crop production and growth are undoubtedly affected by the soil where the plants are rooted given the plant-soil interaction. But the most interesting is the nonhomogeneity of the soil that can occur in many plots, with a composition and physical and chemical properties that may vary spatially and in depth. These variations can be found at different spatial scales. The result is often a variable harvest depending on the location and, as many well-known researchers say, the knowledge of these spatial patterns could help farmers make better management decisions based on the delimitation within the plots of different areas with different soil conditions and agronomic needs. Soil sensors for mapping the apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa, in mS/m) are increasingly used to understand and evaluate how soil varies spatially to delineate ECa-based management
zones. Some interesting applications can be referenced in arable crops and, at present, it begins to be applied as a key sensing system in the framework of precision
the variation of soil properties within the plots. Two soil sensing systems are commonly used to measure the ECa, that is, the ease with which electric current passes
Figure 1: Veris 3100 on-the-go soil sensor for ECa surveying in a peach orchard Voltage electrodes for deep signal
Current electrodes
horticulture and viticulture. ECa varies on a similar spatial scale to many soil physico-chemical properties, and is usually well correlated with soil salinity, soil water content and soil texture. Other soil properties affecting conductivity may be the organic C, the cation exchange capacity and the calcium carbonate content. Under non-saline conditions, soil texture (more specifically clay content and low concentrations of dissolved electrolytes) and soil water content are probably the two predominant factors influencing ECa. Therefore, obtaining a map of the ECa is a way to indirectly evaluate
through the soil. On-the-go sensors based on galvanic contact with the soil (Fig. 1) directly introduce an electric current into the soil by means of adequate rolling coulters acting as electrodes. The current flow occurs between a pair of rolling coulters normally located on the inner part of the implement wheels (injecting electrodes). Other pairs of coulters (two in some cases) act as voltage electrodes providing two electrical signals corresponding to two different depths. The central rolling coulters supply the so-called shallow signal corresponding to the topsoil. The second signal (deep
signal) is achieved with the rolling coulters located outside the wheels because, as they are farther apart, the soil electric field allows for a greater depth to be explored. Farmers and advisors can benefit from this information by obtaining maps of both signals (shallow and deep) to evaluate the ECa spatial variation, and, indirectly, the spatial patterns of related soil properties. Moreover, by overlapping maps they can also assess whether the soil is uniform or not in depth for a better management of irrigation and/or fertilizer application. Alternatively to galvanic contact resistivity (GCR) sensors, ECa can also be measured using methods based on electromagnetic induction (EMI). In this case, EMI sensors introduce into the soil a primary magnetic field and the electric current is created by moving the system just above the ground, with any contact with the soil. This induced electric current in turn creates a secondary magnetic field whose intensity is detected by the sensor and depends on the properties of the soil. Among the GCR sensors, the Veris 3100 (Veris Technologies Inc., Salina KS, USA) (Fig. 1) and the ARP03 system (Geocarta Ltd., France) (Fig. 2) are well known in Precision
Figure 2: Galvanic coupled resistivity ARP03 sensor by Geocarta (left), and electromagnetic induction EM38-DD sensor by Geonics (right) with horizontal and vertical orientation (courtesy of Gebbers, 2016)
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Interview with Dr. Raj Khosla, Colorado State University
Prof. Raj Khosla is a Robert E. Gardner Professor of Precision Agriculture at the Colorado State University. He is the Founder and Past-President of the International Society of Precision Agriculture. You are one of the most influential researchers in Precision Agriculture and you have followed its evolution since the very beginning. What has been the evolution and the lessons learned in crop and soil sensing since you started? Yes. Precision Ag has come a long way since its inception. I would say in the last couple of decades since precision ag has been around, initially a huge amount of time, money and resources were spent on quantifying spatial variability primarily in soils and then later on in crops as well. In the last decade, there is a whole suite of sensors that became commercially available, and we have made significant progress in terms of characterizing soils using soil electrical conductivity, likewise characterizing variability in crop canopy using a suite of reflectance-based crop sensors. However, I think that we still have a long way to go. Let me
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elaborate. For example, if you look at any reflectance sensor and the associated vegetative index, it primarily gives you a flavor of biotic or abiotic stress, it doesn’t really tell you which particular stress or the cause of that stress. For example, we use NDVI, a lot of times we use that to make nitrogen decisions, when, in reality NDVI only tells you that there is an anomaly, which we intelligently assume (using algorithms) that it is related to nitrogen but we don’t necessarily know that nitrogen deficiency is really the cause, because it could be iron chlorosis, it could be insect, pest infestation that made the plant look pale or many other factors that could result in a low NDVI value. So I think what we have in place right now in terms of sensing, I would classify that as the 1st generation sensors. As we go forward, hopefully we’ll have sensors that would enable accurate classification of the problem that we detect in the fields. In the last few years many crop vigour sensors and sensing techniques have appeared in the market but there seems not to be an accepted standard in vegetation indices, spectral bands, methodology, etc. How do you think this is affecting the application of Precision Agriculture solutions, the inter-season comparison and the decision making? I think you bring up a very good point. The reason that farmers are reacting slow to adopt these new ways of sensor based recommendations is because, as I mentioned earlier, we don’t precisely know what is causing the plant stress. Is it truly driven by nitrogen deficiency or there’s a whole suite of crop response
that can be captured by vegetative indices currently available to farmers. I would say, NDVI has been one of the most widely used vegetative index. More recently, as research dollars are being invested into this space, we are developing newer indices such as red edge based vegetative indices that are providing us with a better spectral response to aberrations. And so, until we have the sensing capability that can accurately inform us about the prevailing deficiencies in crop, we’re going to tweak and try and continue to learn this process until we get there. In many devices, such as soil sensors, the sensor output may give an idea of the signal spatial variability. However, the sensor signal is usually related to many soil properties and a single/simple diagnosis cannot be derived. Do you think this is still useful? You’re exactly right. The sensor signal is a culmination of a number of properties that are captured collectively in the sensor response. And one may argue that it has limited value because it does not pinpoint the exact cause. Having said that, one of the abilities of existing sensors is the ability to map large swaths of land in relatively short period of time without having to take very many destructive soil samples, without necessarily spending too much money, labour and time. And so what it does, it allows you to capture patterns of spatial variability out in the field. And I think there is tremendous value in knowing where the changes are in the soil because one can then go out in the field and can do some ground truthing in figuring out what is the cause that you see a change
as you go from one part of the field to the next part. So yes, there is value in the current sensing systems. How do you think sensing techniques will evolve in the coming years? What will make farmers around the world use them? You are asking me a two pronged question. One related to research, the other related to adoption of a particular technique or technology by farmers. Precision agriculture is only about 20-25 years old but agriculture is more than 1,000 years old so we need to keep that in mind. I know we are using information technologies these days to help advance our agriculture, and such IT technologies advance quickly. But I think we need to put some realistic expectation in terms of what these new technologies can do for us. Until we are trying to figure out and improve our existing understanding of soils and crops based on what is commercially available in the sensing world, and develop scientifically proven and reproducible techniques and technologies, I think it would be unfair for us to expect that farmers are going to abandon their generations of time tested way of doing agriculture and jump on board and say we are now going to use sensing based agricultural decisions. I think it’s an issue where we are building something and trying to use it at the same time. So there will be a learning curve, there will be growing pains. Slowly and surely we are making progress, and farmers are picking and choosing aspects of sensing, aspects of precision agriculture that currently fit into their operations. I think this will be a long journey before we actually get there, and I think we will!
Grabi Chemical:
22 years of success for an alternative business model Grabi Chemical is an Italian and family-owned company. The company is born in 1995 from the intuition of Moreno Grasselli, President, CEO & Founder. After years spent in multinational chemical companies all over Europe, his vision was to establish a company (B2B) that could supply all the agrochemical industries worldwide, producing high-standard quality products for plant nutrition in the total respect of the environment. For 22 years this mission has always been applied and this seems to be the company’s commitment for the future. Grabi Chemical has now 50 employees whose average age is 35 years old. In 22 years of existence the company has never laid off anyone, the people are the best resource and Grabi Chemical will keep investing in this value. New Ag International went to have a closer look to a somewhat “special” company!
A 35 MILLION TURNOVER GENERATED IN 40 COUNTRIES Today Grabi Chemical Group is present in about 40 countries around the world with a turnover that exceeds 35 million Euro distributed in Europe, Asia, North Africa, North America and Australia. An extremely professional and competent sales network covers all these countries in order to guarantee to the partners the best service and help in the total privacy and discretion which is essential in the B2B world. Grabi Chemical’s target is to supply only and exclusively the agrochemical industry (B2B). The company’s strategy all over the world is to work with partners to develop its range of products or its projects. A partnership is all Grabi looks for in order to grow together in synergy or in symbiosis. In the B2B commercial proposal the company is able
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to give specific services: private label, ad-hoc formulas, full service customized packaging, logistics and educational service.
THE BUSINESS MODEL: ONLY SUPPLYING THE PARTNER SUPPLIERS, NOT THE DISTRIBUTORS The private label is the only one method to sell for Grabi Chemical. Grabi Chemical does not want to distribute its own brand but only the brand of the customer. This way Grabi protects its partners who can speak to their own customers in full confidence. Moreover the partner will get all the technology coming from Grabi research with their own name to develop their brand. Grabi Chemical is able to supply its partners with customized formulas. Whatever the product asks for, the company analyses the possibility to make it, suggesting what would be the best way to develop it on the base of the laws in force or in cooperation with a dedicated regulatory department. Another service that completes the partneroriented strategy is
the full-service customized packaging. Grabi Chemical supplies its customers with a packaging that can be fully customizable by the partner. The company offers 135 kinds of packaging both for solid and liquid products with the possibility to have own artwork or label or just blank packaging. Every product and material is registered in a specific software that tells workers every piece of information about the management of this product. Following the industry 4.0 model, automated and robotized machines are able to identify and get the products and make them ready in the fastest way. The transport of the products is a really strong point of the company. Grabi Chemical is able to manage all the transport from the factory to the customer's warehouse or to the partner's customer's warehouse through a dynamic process achieving 50% to 300% faster transport compared to the standard ones! The last service that the company shares with its partners is the educational service. The technical support is really important to explain the technology to a sales network or to the management of a compa-
An interview with Moreno Grasselli, President and CEO, Grabi Chemical
MORENO GRASSELLI
When you founded the company in 1995, what made you think that the business model that you chose, namely Grabi not going to market but manufacturing raw materials, intermediates and finished products for other manufacturers, would be superior to the classic business model manufacturer to distributor to farm gate? The agricultural world is really heterogeneous. Especially in the distribution of products we can notice incoherent scenarios which are hostile one to another. Personally I have always worked with a sensibility that has always tended to give an increased coherence to the B2B system. For this reason I have always imagined that a clear division between production and distribution could be a better guarantee for the agrochemical industries. Since the beginning, to become not only suppliers but partners in the strategic choices has been Grabi’s strategic model to the B2B market. The absence of disputes generated by brands has always achieved an increased trust to create operative synergies. Who are your main customers: medium size companies who do not have manufacturing facilities even for standard products or large companies who
contract you for specific products where you have the IP or at least a far superior knowledge? Our partners are multinational companies, PPPs producers and fertilizer companies that distribute with their own brand. Normally they do not have the production of our portfolio or they have decided to outsource projects to obtain a better technology in compliance with the latest laws and trends. Very often, the B2B organisations are focused on the commercial developments of their own core business, for this reason Grabi tries to generate complementarity to their catalogue enclosing scenarios on special fertilizers (biostimulants and chelates) with more accuracy in the details, orienting the strategic marketing. Your portfolio consists of chelates, biostimulants at large, microorganisms and water soluble NPKs. Do they all have the same importance today in your portfolio or do you see some categories clearly taking the lead? Each category of products offered by us has the same relevance. However, Grabi has a specific focus on the development of chelates, biostimulants and microorganisms. Especially we have focused on these 3 categories in the last 5 years to give stronger answers to a market that is heavily changing. An increased know-how is needed in an extremely selective market. For this reason we have started to develop many products with the genomic approach using the most sophisticated technologies to better promote unexplored high performance raw materials. Genomics will lead us to a better managed fertilisation.
Your chelates technologies, in particular WOW IRON EDDHA iron chelate but also a few others is the only product that you clearly advertise. Why do you want to give it a specific treatment? Is it a sign that for such product lines consisting of finished products, you may want to go to market and sell at least some quantities to distributors on top of your existing B2B customer base? The environmental impact is significant for the agrochemical industries worldwide. Residues, permanent sustainability and best technologies are the topics. WOW IRON represents what has always been searched for in the chelates industry without finding a real answer. Half dosages, increased reactivity and low environmental impact. For all these advantages, an effort is needed to protect the product with the collaboration of our partners. This is the reason why we trust agrochemical industries (B2B) that are able to support the product in their markets. Following our Code of Ethics, Grabi has no desire to evade the B2B organizations by selling directly. The interest for micro-organisms is booming. Is Grabi having a specific added value knowledge on fermentation? We have spent 20 years studying through collaborations the microorganisms even when these ones were not considered as efficient sources. Today we are aware that microorganisms represent an adequate answer to soil fertilisation problems, crops’ biostimulation, abiotic and biotic defence proactiveness. About our 50 strains in our production we are concerned about knowing every action that determines differences with the surrounding
world. We are clearly aware that we have some advantage thanks to 20 years of study that we are applying in our products, but we are also aware that this technology race has just started. Constant investments and new technologies are needed. You have certainly heard recently some polemics about the rejection by certain categories of consumers of some ag produce (e.g. flour) because it originated from wheat treated with amino-acids from animal origin. Beyond this specific polemic that is damageable to a number of European manufacturers, do you believe that from a scientific view point amino-acids from vegetal origin are superior in terms of product performance when used as biostimulant? Conflicts with the standard laws that regulate the nutritional world are debates that clearly hurt the authority of the fertilizer industry. Grabi’s choice is to produce chemical, enzymatic, etc hydrolysates from vegetal origin because in our R&D we have always given more emphasis to vegetal amino acids since in these ones we look for different metabolites that positively influence the targets claimed by products. We have always realised that raw materials as seaweeds, leguminosae, cereals, etc have more adequate performances according to our desires. The biostimulant activity of these raw materials creates an increased up regulation compared to other sources and a very powerful activity of secondary metabolites. You are a member of EBIC, you even co-founded the organization in 2011. continues on next page....
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Biopesticides for Seed Treatment:
Still a small market but accelerated Growth The global crop protection seed treatment market is valued at USD$4 billion today. While biocontrol represents only 5% to 10% of this total, it is growing at more than double the rate of the chemical based seed treatment market. With many companies, both global crop protection and traditional biopesticide manufacturers, investing heavily in discovery and development of microbial solutions, the future for biocontrol in seed treatment looks promising. Market consolidation in the crop protection and seed industry has led to only four companies representing over 80% of global revenues for seed treatment. With several global crop protection megamergers in process, this situation may be exacerbated even further. The end result is that smaller companies must select partners carefully to gain market access for their biocontrol seed treatment solutions. They will need to bring a convincing story of the benefits their technology can offer and work closely with their partner on field development and testing of the products. Mark Trimmer, Managing Partner at DunhamTrimmer and Editor 2BMonthly has the story.
S
EED TREATMENT specifically refers to the application of chemical products and/or biological organisms to the seed prior to sowing in order to suppress, control or repel pathogens, insects and other pests that attack seeds, seedlings or plants. Seed treatment offers a highly precise mode of applying products in the field, and provides a high level of protection against insects and disease while reducing potential exposure of humans and the environment to crop protection products. With 90 percent of the world’s food coming from crops grown from seed, protection of seed from insect and disease pathogens is of critical importance to growers. The introduction of genetically modified seed dramatically increased the cost of seed, and as a result, growers expect a near perfect crop stand under most growing conditions. Seed treatments play a vital role in protecting the significant grower investment in high quality seed and helping to ensure the crop gets off to a good start.
A MODERN MARKET WITH CENTURIES OLD ROOTS! Seed treatments have been used for nearly 350 years, beginning in 1670 when a ship carrying wheat grain sank off the coast of England near the city of Bristol. When the farmers close to the coast collected and planted the seeds soaked in seawater, they found that the crop that resulted was free from “smut” whereas
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other farmers who planted with unsoaked grain experienced heavy smut infestation. As a result of this serendipitous discovery, early investigation of potential seed treatments included a range of chemicals and concoctions, including sea water, urine, lye, and a wide range of other creative solutions. The discovery of the value of organic mercury for seed treatment in 1912 accelerated the development of the first commercial seed treatment formulation called Panogen (mercury fungicide) developed in Sweden in 1938. Shortly thereafter, chemical compounds based on copper and mercury were developed and commercialized in Europe, USA, and elsewhere. In the 1950’s, the broad spectrum contact fungicide Captan was introduced and rapidly became a standard seed treatment for maize (field corn). Most of the early seed treatments controlled surface pathogens, but were not absorbed by the germinating seedling and did not move systemically in the developing
plant. By the 1960’s and 1970’s, systemic fungicides such as carboxin and thiram were introduced, just as many of the early mercury based products were being removed from the market due to concerns about their toxicity to humans and the environment. Modern seed treatments are highly selective and are effective at low doses, often combining both contact and systemic activity. Products like the fungicide fludioxonil and neonicotinoid insecticides revolutionized the seed treatment market in the 1990’s due to their low use rates and high level of performance. Improved water based formulations have also greatly improved the uniformity of seed coverage and boosted performance. However, the neonicotinoid insecticides have recently come under scrutiny for a potential link to honeybee colony collapse. Most recently, biological based seed treatments have become a big research focus at nearly all companies. They offer opportunity
Table 1: Key Microbial Biocontrol Agents Currently Used as Seed Treatments Agrobacterium radiobacter Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Bacillus firmus Bacillus subtilis Pseudomonas sp. Proradix Burkholderia spp. Pseudomonas trivialis Pasteuria nishizawae Pythium oligandrum Streptomyces griseoviridis Streptomyces lydicus Trichoderma sp.
Nursery & fruit trees Many crops Maize, cotton, sorghum, soybean, sugarbeet, others Many crops Potato Cereals, maize, cotton, soybean, many vegetables Lettuce, other salad plants Soybean, sugarbeet Broad range fruit, vegetable, ornamentals Ornamentals, vegetables, and tree seedlings Many crops Many crops
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Because biologicals are derived from living organisms or natural extracts (including bacteria and fungi as well as beneficial insects) the properties of each biological can be very different with unique challenges and opportunities. For example, some biological products are extremely stable while others require some special handling, such as temperature-controlled environments for storage and transport. On-seed survival is an important aspect of the development and commercialization of biological seed treatments. BASF offers a market leading 225 days on-seed survival with our NodulatorÂŽ Pro 225 giving seed companies more flexibility between application and the grower planting window. Compatibility with other products is another important aspect for biological seed treatments. It is important to make sure biologicals are not mixed with products that might impede or eliminate their effectiveness.
As with any of our products, we continuously work to improve formulations, which includes ways to extend the shelf life and performance of our seed-applied biological products in order to extract their full potential. BASF has a new state-of-the-art R&D Center for Biologicals and Seed Solutions in Limburgerhof, Germany that has laboratories for product application tests including on-seed survival, shelf-life and compatibility. Over the next five years, we see increasing use of biologicals to complement chemistry-based products, and indeed in some row crops they are already important. One example: seed-applied, rhizobia inoculants that help the plant form effective nitrogen fixing nodules, are already well-established for legume crops in many countries. Chemistry will always be more relied upon due to the typically wider spectrum of control and efficacy under most environmental conditions, but biologicals are already a contributor in row crops creating more integrated programmes for growers with evolving needs. BASF has a strong biologicals pipeline for row crops including IntegralŽ Pro, a seed-applied biofungicide for oilseed rape, in the final stages of regulatory approval in France and Germany. We also recently submitted applications with the U.S. EPA to register the seed-applied biofungicides Velondis™ Flex, Velondis™ Extra and Velondis™ Plus for use on soybeans, wheat and corn.
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NAIROBI, Kenya
Monday 19th - FRIDAY 23rd March, 2018 Regist r opens ation 26 Sep t!
BIOCONTROL AFRIC
The Largest International Event covering Biocontrol in AFRICA
NAIROBI, Kenya, Monday 19th - TUESDAY 20th March 2018
Regist r opens ation 26 Sep t!
(venue to be announced) Organised by:
In conjunction with:
The 16 t h Suppoting organisation:
THE WORLD’S LEADING EVENT ON HIGH-TECH AGRICULTURE
NAIROBI, KENYA Wednesday 21st - Friday 23rd MARCH 2018 (venue to be announced) Organised by:
Host Sponsor:
Supporting Organisation:
SPONSORSHIP, EXHIBITION STANDS AND PRIVATE MEETING ROOM BOOKING NOW OPEN!
Contact us for details of the opportunities available - newag@newaginternational.com
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CropMetrics
A Successful Combination: Virtual Profile of the Soil with Variable Rate Irrigation CropMetrics (Nebraska, USA) is a precision agriculture company focused on advanced agronomic solutions while specializing in precision irrigation management. Since its foundation in 2009 the company has evolved from being the pioneers in variable rate irrigation prescription services into an integral precision irrigation company that provides farmers with complete cloud crop modelling services, irrigation scheduling, virtual profiles of the soil, variable rate irrigation and soil probes. All of it, under a continuous agronomic support offered by partners all around USA and in the near future, in international markets. New Ag International went to have to closer eye at a company who has international ambitions.
“NICK EMANUEL, the CEO and founder of the company is a farmer in Nebraska. In his 2,000 acres farm he started looking at soil variability, aiming at developing variable rate seeding and fertilizer. But he soon discovered that fertilizer and seeds are most affected by water. Managing water was critical and that was the origin of CropMetrics: a precision agriculture company focused on advanced agronomic solutions while specializing in precision irrigation management”, says Kylen Hunt, Chief Sales Officer. In these few years, CropMetrics has transformed into a leading company in precision irrigation management with the introduction of the first commercially available full service Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) programme. The company currently has more than 500,000 acres under complete water management, primarily in USA but it is already starting to expand internationally. The company provides three differentiated lines of products: Virtual
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Optimizer, Variable Rate Irrigation and Soil Moisture Probes.
VIRTUAL OPTIMIZER: THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL THE PRODUCTS “Virtual optimizer integrates all of the company’s offerings. It integrates each of the water management technologies into one powerful, centralized analytical irrigation system. In Virtual Optimizer farmers can see plant growth stage, weather, predictive weather, rain events and irrigation events. Farmers can also see how each probe is acting. “Virtual Optimizer is designed for all irrigation acres. Not only for farmers using variable rate irrigation. Because this software allows farmers to determine irrigation scheduling frequency. Using our crop models and irrigation forecasting they can determine when to start irrigating”, says Hunt. “We have created an adjustable crop modelling software. It is dynamic, so if, for instance, there is a cool spring, the model adapts.
“Most businesses think that product is the most important thing, but without great leadership, mission and a team that deliver results at a high level, even the best product won't make a company successful. This is why our favourite inspirational quote comes from Steve Jobs saying: “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” NICK EMANUEL FOUNDER & CEO
We just need to feed the model with inputs such as grower knowledge, planting date, weather forecast, rain gauges, weather networks data, local stations, etc..”
A VIRTUAL PROFILE FOR VARIABLE RATE IRRIGATION VRI begins with accurately identifying and understanding each field’s variability factors – soil, topography, yield, or other influences. CropMetrics offering for variable rate irrigation has evolved with time. At the beginning it was more connected to variable rate irrigation using speed control, whereas now is a complete cloud service that takes account topography, elevation and what is happening at the root zone, in order to prescribe precipitation for any given sector of a pivot irrigated field. “Our new VRI is a more enhanced model platform. We call it a Virtual profile of the field, that combines EC data with elevation data, runoff models and rain events. All of this is combined into one prescription map”. “In partnership
“The company’s next step is to go international, and first to explore the Brazilian market.” KYLEN HUNT CHIEF SALES OFFICER
system will kick out irrigation prescriptions. “We can work with any pivot or controller. And for variable rate irrigation we can work with speed and zone control, even with individual sprinklers. However, we have obtained better results using speed control. Because with our system we can average water demand and effectively irrigate different zones just using pivot
Virtual field profile from the data integration of elevation, EC and runoff models
with our dealers, we look into the root zones of the fields, we identify restrictive layers, we determine the water holding capacity of each soil, all of this enables us to have a clear picture of what the soil looks like beyond the surface”. With all of this information, the
speed control. With speed control management system we can manage water variability under soil with excellent results.”, says Hunt. "By varying the percent rate or applied water amount every few degrees, based on the position of the pivot and the underlying soil
type, we can start to think in terms of water per bushel rather than water per field. Our aim is to push yields by site, specifically optimizing irrigation as opposed to uniformly over-irrigating”, added Nick Emanuel in a recent interview. CropMetrics VRI is compatible with the farmers current precision ag software programmes to utilize the same management zones and match water applications to other important inputs such as seed and nitrogen to improve overall efficiency for a true agronomic systems approach.
PROBES: WHERE PRECISION IRRIGATION BEGINS The third pillar of CropMetrics offering is soil probes. Advanced soil moisture probe technology is combined with CropMetrics Precision Data Specialists to provide complete in-season local agronomy support and recommendations to optimize water use efficiency and maximize profit. Soil type, texture, topography, slope, yield and the grower’s own knowledge are a few of the important aspects affecting variability that are analyzed when CropMetrics starts working with the farmers. Once that variability has been profiled and mapped, a local CropMetrics Certified Precision Data Specialist will go to the field and install the probes in the optimum field location to maximize productivity in the determined majority soil type. Moisture probe data drives irrigation scheduling. Combined with Virtual Optimizer crop modelling and weather data, farmers will receive the most informed irrigation recommendation. Powered by the Virtual Optimizer Pro precision irrigation cloud portal, soil moisture data is delivered
wirelessly to an easy to use website or mobile app with optional text and email alerts.
NEXT STEP: INTERNATIONAL MARKETS AND A SIMPLER VRI SERVICE “We currently have 500,000 acres under complete irrigation management”, says Emanuel, CEO of the Company. The company operates with dealers who resell the products. Most of the services are charged or an annual fee/acre. And the company's next step is to explore international markets. “We will start in Brazil and we also have a project in Portugal”, Hunt tells New Ag International. The company has decided to fully specialize on water. “Our purpose is to provide information to farmers so that they could precisely seed, fertilize and irrigate their farm. But we are going to heavily specialize in water. In the next 18 to 24 months we will be releasing new Variable Rate Irrigation technology that will be simpler, more dynamic and lower costs. We encourage farmers to start getting connected today with variable rate irrigation technologies. Our experience is that it takes some adoption time in order to make a seamless transition of management style. Variable rate irrigation is going to get much simpler and is already extremely profitable once implemented, so don’t miss out”, concludes Hunt. Precision agricultural management is a systems approach and CropMetrics believes that one of the most integral pieces to the overall solution is local agronomy support. Reading this statement that puts agronomy at the center, nobody will be surprised to hear that the founder of the company is ….a farmer, not a data maniac!!!! And this is THE winning bid! ■
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Southeast Asia:
The tiger is about to leap
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Not too long ago, Warren E. Buffett stated that "By 2025, Asia's economies will be larger than those of Europe and the U.S. combined". Even if this takes a bit longer, we are going to witness shortly no less than a revolution in everything connected with East Asia. Slowly, Far Eastern countries have started embarking on a series of huge projects of building roads, constructing railway lines, ports and crossings, connecting entire countries to wide communication bands, and more. "At the end of this process, in just about twenty years," says a McKenzie report, "East Asia is expected to dominate over 50% of the global economy. The current Great Mekong River Regional Investment Framework includes 123 investment projects and 92 technical assistance projects, covering the Mekong countries of Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and China. The projects are designed to radically promote all sectors of the economy including agriculture. All in all, this region is about to become the center of the world economy. The Tiger is for sure about to leap but is this also fully true for agriculture? Dr O Achilea explored the latest developments in Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste (East Timor). He has the story.
ALL THESE PROJECTS WILL STEEPLY ELEVATE the living standards of the region's populations, who will sharply increase their demand for locally produced quality foods, thanks to highly improved production methods, involving advanced inputs like localized irrigation, specialty fertilizers, biocontrol and biostimulants, precision horticulture, locally adapted types of controlled environment agriculture, and most importantly – high investment in the human capital. As we will see following, meeting the region's food requirements over the upcoming decades will command very significant improvements in productivity, diversity and risk reduction, implying widespread adoption of agricultural water
management concepts, in both irrigated and rain-fed systems. Thailand and Vietnam have already embarked on this trend of sig nificant adoption of intensive smallscale irrigation technologies, like drip irrigation, protected cultivation, plastic mulches, and more, for producing cash crops. Laos, Cambodia and Timor-Leste are at much earlier stages in this transition. A very critical issue that must be radically improved is the very inefficient use of water in agriculture, manifested by the almost absolute prevalence of surface irrigation. Water withdrawal from agriculture features 65-70% in Vietnam, but as much as 95% in Cambodia. Two striking phenomena common to all countries is that all areas equipped for irrigation are
really irrigated, and surface water is the source of 90-98% of total irrigated lands.
SE ASIAN COUNTRIES PLAY IN THE SUPERIOR LEAGUE OF MAIN CROPS' PRODUCERS It's Indonesia that by far leads these countries, area- and population- wise (see table 1). The Philippines is the second most populated country, and with the highest population density, except Singapore. And, it is Singapore again that together with Brunei are leading by-far the list, in terms of GDP/capita (gross domestic product per inhabitant) with figures that are over 20-fold higher than the rest of the countries reviewed. This immediately shows that the last three are clear 'outsiders' regarding
Table 1: Southeast Asia, main geographic figures for 2014/15 Capital city
Indonesia Myanmar Thailand Vietnam Malaysia Philippines Laos Cambodia Timor-Leste Brunei Singapore
Jakarta Naypiydaw Bangkok Hanoi Kuala Lumpur Manila Vientiane Phnom Penh Dili Bandar Seri Begawan Singapore
Area (*000 km^2) 1,910 654 511 310 329 298 231 177 14.9 5.27 0.69
Population (mio) 256 54 67 93 31 102 7 15 1.2 0.4 5.6
Population density (inhab./km^2) 134 80 131 296 93 339 30 83 80 79 7,800
Currency
GDP/cap. ($US)
IND Rupiah (IDR) Kyat (MMK) Baht (THB) Dong (VND) Ringgit (RM) Peso (PHP) Kip (LAK) Riel (KHR) US $ Bru Dollar (BND) Sing Dollar (SGD)
3,630 1,270 5,780 2,111 9,766 3,500 1,660 1,020 2,680 67,320 80,150
References: World Bank, Atlas Mundi, FAO
Table 2: Agricultural areas (Mio ha) and their shares in total countries' areas in largest agricultural countries of Southeast Asia in 2014 (ha).
Indonesia Thailand Myanmar Philippines Vietnam Malaysia Cambodia Laos
Agricultural area (mio ha) 57 22.1 12.6 12.5 10.2 7.6 5.4 1.7
Arable area (mio ha) 23.5 16.8 10.8 5.6 6.4 1.0 3.8 1.5
Permanent crops (mio ha) 33.5 4.5 1.8 6.9 3.8 6.6 1.6 0.17
Share of Ag-Land area in total area (%) 30 43 18.6 41.7 30.7 23.0 3.0 7.4
Share of Rural population (%)
Precipitation (mm/year)
46.3 49.6 66 55.6 66.4 25.3 79.3 61.4
2,700 1,622 2,300 2,350 1,820 2,875 1,400 1,834 References: FAO, 2017
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Greensys2017:
Dr EP HEUVELINK
The International Symposium on New Technologies for Environmental Control, Energy-saving and Crop Production in Greenhouse and Plant Factory (Greensys2017) was held August 20-24, 2017 in Beijing, China, under the hospice of ISHS. It was the first worldwide international symposium on protected horticulture held in China. The three convenors Prof. Qichang Yang, Prof. Weijie Jiang, both Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS) and Prof. Weihong Luo, Nanjing Agricultural University, organised a very fruitful scientific event where 511 participants from 27 countries exchanged the newest insights in the field of greenhouse systems engineering, newest technologies, different crop production aspects and plant physiological insights. More than 300 participants from China were present. Topics ranged from greenhouse system design, covering materials, climate control and modelling, plant factory technology, lighting technologies up to crop production and management, crop modelling, product quality, fertigation & growing medium management. Dr Silke Hemming (captioned picture in other article in this agronomics section) and Dr Ep Heuvelink, both from Wageningen University in The Netherlands, were there and bring an exclusive expert report for New Ag International readers.
For the first time in China PROTECTED CULTIVATION IN CHINA: THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD The Chinese greenhouse sector is by far the largest area of protected cultivation in the world. 3.7 million ha of protected structures were found in China in 2016. The total vegetable production was 22 million ha in 2015, the total yield of vegetables was 785 million tons (from which 260 million tons from protected cultivation) with a gross value of 2,170 billion RMB. The total vegetable consumption in China is 561kg per year per person. The major protected cultivation areas are Bohai Bay and HuangHuai-Hair region (Beijing area, 56%), mid-low region of the Yangtze river (18%), Northwest region (11%). More than 20 different crops are cultivated, however, tomato, cucumber, sweet pepper, eggplant and celery take 53% of the area. The predominant production system is plastic tunnels (ca. 73% from which about 1/3 are low tunnels), followed by the Chinese Solar Greenhouse (ca. 26%) and some multi-span greenhouses (ca. 1%). Typical tomato yields are up to 12kg/m2, with highest yields currently reported in multi-span greenhouses of 40 kg/m2. Main challenges for protected cultivation in China can be summarised as: low yields by poor production environment, low quality, low land use efficiency, high labour intensity and low labour productivity, production fluctuations and easy affection of natural disasters, low water, fertilizer and chemical use efficiency. However, since the CO2 emissions
of China need to be reduced to less than 10 Mt in 2020, energy use for greenhouse production has full attention. During the introduction of Chinese greenhouse sector the following key problems for protected cultivation were mentioned: simple production facilities and equipment, low environmental control capacity, low standards for seedling production, lack of standards for cultivation methods and technologies, lack of prevention and sufficient control of pests and diseases, insufficient knowledge on modern crop management and low mechanization level. Future development has therefore to focus on increasing yield and quality and resource use efficiency, increase labour productivity, reducing costs, realizing large scale production and production modernisation. This can be reached by improvement of crop management in existing production areas (Chinese Solar Greenhouse) and adding technologies on these production areas (e.g. higher transparency for increased collection of solar energy, improvement of passive solar heat collection, active heat storage and release systems) and on designing completely new production systems (e.g. multi-tunnel greenhouses or plant factories).
ECONOMIC RETURN AND RESOURCE USE EFFICIENCY: NEW DRIVERS OF GREENHOUSE BUSINESS During the symposium, we observed the following trends: shift from simple protected cultivation towards more high-tech greenhouse production, development of
production systems with more intelligent environmental control, use of more ICT, big data and machine learning technologies, a shift towards plant factories for green leafy vegetables especially in cities. The reasons for that are diverse. Worldwide the population is growing, we need to provide people with enough vegetables giving a varied diet and vitamin rich food. Worldwide climate change increases the need for more protected cultivation. More technology in greenhouses and plant factories allow for better control of production factors and therefore better control of yield, quality and product value. Several countries in Asia are lacking young and efficient labour. Smart farming with the use of sensors, computers and data might attract more young labour to agriculture and particular protected horticulture. However, currently most countries lack qualified and skilled labour with good system knowledge and 24/7 attitude for efficient production in the future. It became clear from several speakers that the focus should not only be on optimising yield and quality, but that the focus should also be on economic feasibility and more and more on resource use efficiency. High resource use efficiency can be reached by adding more control by more technology (simple and advanced) and a deeper understanding of crop physiology. However, it can potentially also be reached by integrating greenhouse production in buildings and cities. Several speakers point on the integration of food production with
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social aspects e.g. production by handicapped people or urban farming as a means to improve social cohesion.
PLANT FACTORIES: STILL MANY CHALLENGES AHEAD Prof. Kozai, Japan Plant Factory Association, gave a keynote speech in which he explained the details, advantages and future challenges of plant factories. PFAL (Plant factories with only artificial light) are defined as fully controlled environments without natural light in which crops, mainly green leafy vegetables are produced, often in multiple layers. The advantages are: high controllability, high productivity, high resource use efficiency and value-added produce. As current disadvantages, he points out that high operation skills are needed, sophisticated technology, high investment and that sustainable production is not yet reached. Prof. Kozai mentioned the following main challenges: increase light use efficiency, decrease electricity use, find new produce types. A new type of smart plant factory should be developed the next years. Light use efficiency could be improved by distributing artificial light evenly in the plant canopy in order to increase total photosynthesis. Control of light intensity with increase of crop leaf area index could save energy. The importance of green light should not be underestimated, recently more knowledge is gained on the importance of green light, e.g. in penetration into a dense
plant canopy and increasing photosynthesis, for control of flowering, secondary metabolite production, disease resistance. In order to optimise PPFD the interaction with other growth factors such as CO2 and temperature should be considered. The physiological status, species, cultivars, canopy structure and growth stage are important, next to the rhythmic movement of plants. Online plant phenotyping measurements, online photosynthesis or secondary metabolite content measurements, IoT and big data could accelerate optimisation of plant factory in the near future. Prof. Kozai points out the high resource use efficiency in plant factories. He shows that water-, C02-, and fertilizer efficiency are higher than for greenhouse production and suggests to control crop growth on online measured resource use in the future. Another speaker shows first comparable figures of resource use efficiencies of plant factories and greenhouses for lettuce production for three locations (Northern Sweden, The Netherlands, The Emirates) and concludes that indeed resource use efficiency per kg lettuce produced is highest in a plant factory. However, the speaker also shows that e.g. the water and CO2 use efficiency in a closed greenhouse in The Emirates is almost comparable to that in a plant factory and that, even though the energy use efficiency in a plant factory is higher, a large part has to be paid for by the grower in terms of electricity, while
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greenhouses benefit from “free” solar energy. Many speakers point out that the economic feasibility of plant factories is still a challenge. Prof. Kozai comments that we should not think of the cost prices of today, but extrapolate to 2025. However, nobody gives full quantitative economic figures. Some rules for estimation of system performance is given by some speakers. So, a maximum light use efficiency of 30-35 g/mol for lettuce can be reached. Plant factories are evolving worldwide, in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore, US and The Netherlands. Speakers point out that new markets with new produces have to be created. Also mobile plant factories (multi-layer production in a shipping container) were presented and discussed.
NEWEST GREENHOUSE TECHNOLOGIES AT AFFORDABLE PRICE Speakers point out that it is important to adapt greenhouse systems to climatic and socio-economic conditions in different regions in the world. Here, the improvement of existing systems and also the design of new systems has to be considered. In the Mediterranean areas, optimisation of natural ventilation, covering materials and simple passive heat storage and release systems are most important in order to improve temperature and humidity management. During the symposium, clearly the focus had been on developing and
presenting more high-tech solutions. Closed greenhouse technology has been shown to work in arid climates such as The Emirates. Research results presented show that fully closed greenhouses with cooling technology are able to reduce the use of water from 400 l/kg for outside production to 2.5 l/kg. New technologies are becoming available for an affordable price and with faster computational time. Sensors or cameras (e.g. 3D or thermal) from the gaming industry (e.g. Kinect, Flier or Seek thermal camera for iPhone) can potentially be used for greenhouse applications. With that 3D crop modelling, 3D scans of crops for virtual reality modelling of greenhouses will come in sight. That will help to build more detailed models of the reality and help to predict and optimise our crop production systems. Online sensing of crops by cameras helps to observe the crop canopy structure (visible morphology changes, LAI, leaf angle, colour, spectral absorbance), photosynthetic activity (chlorophyll fluorescence, stomatal conductance), water status, secondary metabolites (N, vitamin C, lycopene) or diseases (hyperspectral imaging). Currently online sensing gives more information to growers. In the future, it might help to use IoT, big data and artificial intelligence technologies to automatically control the crop production systems. Different speakers present new sensor developments and their usage.
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