Crop Protection and Nutrition - Weekly Update Brazil & Latin America (08/29/24 – 09/04/24)

The Federal Public Ministry is requesting the creation of a public laboratory to monitor pesticides in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. Recently, a contamination was detected in waters in the city of Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul, in an area close to soybean and corn farms. “There is no State structure that performs systematic studies”, according to Public Prosecutor Marco Delfino. “We have many failures in monitoring. This makes it so that we have very fragmented data that ends up being contested because it often does not come from public sources”. (MPF)

According to a survey performed by AllierBrasil, 7 out of 79 companies were responsible for 38% of the 300 pesticide registrations approved until July 30th, 2024. Highlights include AllierBrasil, with 24 approvals, Nortox and Sumitomo, 19 registrations each, Adama 18, Rainbow 14, Cropchem 11, Biorisk 9. The average is 3.8 approvals per company. “The time for registration approval is still very long“, said Flavio Hirata, partner at AllierBrasil. (AllierBrasil Agro)

The Ministry of Agriculture has published Act No. 38, dated August 27^th of 2024, canceling 5 pesticide registration requests, 4 of which are in response to the request of the registrant companies. One registered product was also canceled in response to a request. (MAPA)

Logistics is a concern in the 2H 2024 for the fertilizer sector, according to the president of Eurochem, Gustavo Horbach. “Since the beginning of the year we have been seeing this trend of postponing fertilizer purchases due to lower grain prices, so our intention was to bring forward scheduled factory maintenance as much as possible and have the best logistics contracts to cover the 2H of the year, because we are sure that during this period the Brazilian production capacity and delivery infrastructure will be under great stress”. (Eurochem)

Vitales, an agricultural pesticide company from the UbyAgro group from the State of Minas Gerais, entered into a partnership with Gingko Bioworks, from the USA, to develop biofungicides. The agreement is part of the company’s efforts to grow in the bioinputs segment. (Vitales)

Cost estimate for the 2024/25 soybean season in the State of Mato Grosso, referring to July 2024, reached US$ 708 per hectare. This value represents a slight drop of 0.30% when compared to the previous estimate, mainly due to the 1.32% reduction in costs with agricultural pesticides, which was the main reason for limiting expenses. (IMEA)

Embrapa has launched a free course on “Integrated Management of Pests and Nematodes in Coffee Farming”. The training is aimed at coffee farmers, Technical Assistance and Rural Extension agents, agronomy students and other professionals. (Embrapa Café)

Agricultural Defense of São Paulo discusses inspection of aerial application of pesticides during a seminar. Experts debated the myths and truths about aerial spraying and presented the area’s regulations and legislations. Agricultural engineers Fábio Bengozi and Márcio Emanoel de Lima, managers of the State pesticide use and trade programs, participated in the debate, which was broadcast online to rural unions. “It was an opportunity to show our work in maintaining plant health and with regard to the correct use of pesticides”, highlighted Márcio Emanoel de Lima (Agricultural Defense of São Paulo)

Research developed by the State University of Goiás in partnership with Chinese universities aims to control the presence of fire ant populations (Solenopsis invicta) in crops. The study sought to create a surveillance system that combines artificial intelligence and robotics to automate the detection and location of anthills, with more than 90% accuracy. (UEG)

Congressman Pedro Lupion, president of the Agricultural Parliamentary Front – FBA, spoke about the progress in the discussion on bioinputs. “We are discussing this matter with the most diverse entities and industry representatives. We have already reached a consensus and are now evaluating the text… I believe that regulations to resolve the organic products issue will soon be resolved”, said Lupion. (FPA)

Approximately 96% of soil analyzes from the State of Rio Grande do Sul evaluated by Terraplant company indicate a lack of organic matter. According to Terraplant’s Research, Development and Innovation Coordinator, Alex Becker, the ideal soil organic matter index is at least 5%, but 96% of soil analyzes are below 3%. “The farmer needs to be aware that the correction does not happen overnight. It will take time: I estimate three to four years”, said Becker. (Terraplant)

During an environmental and reverse logistics campaign, the State of Pernambuco Sugarcane Suppliers Cooperative plant received 8.3 tonnes of empty packages of agricultural pesticides used by sugarcane farmers. (Coaf/Timbaúba)

State of Rio Grande do Sul has approved a policy to promote regenerative agriculture and bioinputs. The new legislation proposes the use of bioinputs and the construction of biofactories so that inputs can be produced “on farm”. In this way, farmers reduce costs and increase the profitability of crops. Some of the objectives are: “to foster and stimulate the “on farm”, associative and cooperative production of bioinputs for use in agriculture in a broad scope, be it by the community multiplication techniques of microorganisms, production of isolated and macrobiological microorganisms as agents of pest control”, etc. (Government of Rio Grande do Sul)

Police shut down a clandestine pesticide factory in Joinville, State of Santa Catarina. Products containing methomyl were seized in packages without indication of toxicity, which indicated the product as “natural”. According to the Civil Police, the company periodically changed the name and label of the products to make detection more difficult. (Civil Police of Santa Catarina)