Crop Protection and Nutrition - Weekly Update Brazil & Latin America (09/19/24 – 09/25/24)

According to the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, the approval of pesticides for greening (HLB) control is a priority. “The approval of new molecules is progressing at a rapid pace”, he said to representatives of the Citrus Defense Fund (Fundo de Defesa da Citricultura – Fundecitrus). The incidence of greening has increased significantly in 2024 throughout the citrus belt of the State of São Paulo and the Southwest of the State of Minas Gerais. This is the 7^th consecutive year of increase in greening incidence. (Fundecitrus; MAPA)

Eron Martins is the new CEO of AgroGalaxy, after Axel Labort’s resignation. Mauricio Luchetti, Eduardo de Almeida Salles Terra, Benildo Carvalho Teles, Welles Pascoal and Larissa Pomerantzeff have resigned from their positions on the board of directors and from their respective committees. (AgroGalaxy)

Association of Cotton Farmers from the State of Bahia has promoted the Spraying Technologies Workshop with Emphasis on Herbicides, bringing together farmers, managers and professionals in the agricultural pesticides market at the Training and Technology Center, in Luís Eduardo Magalhães, State of Bahia. (Abapa)

A survey performed by the maritime agency Williams Brasil showed that Brazil scheduled imports of 9.846 million tonnes of fertilizers from 09/01/2024 to 09/23/2024. The report considers shipments which are already anchored, those waiting, and those scheduled to arrive by December 20^th. (Williams Brasil)

The use of pesticides on different crops was the subject of a research performed by professors José Menten and Lourival Monaco Neto, from the State University of São Paulo. The demands of 19 crops were calculated. Tomatoes had the highest demand for pesticides, with 46.87 kg of active ingredient per hectare, followed by apple and potato crops, with 39.18 and 31.60 kg of AI/ha, respectively. Crops with the lowest demand were bananas, tobacco and beans. (Esalq/USP)

“80% of the pesticides banned in Germany can be sold here in Brazil, as if we were a banana republic”, said on September 17^th the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during a meeting to discuss the emergency caused by the fires that spread across the country. (Presidency of Brazil)

Jorge Luiz Tame Jr. is the new marketing director at Stoller. (Stoller do Brasil)

According to Embrapa, the 2024/25 Fruit Fly Alert System in Pelotas, State of Rio Grande do Sul, restarted its activities on September 10^th, with the inclusion of a new risk perception scale. The project started in the 2010/11 season and is considered essential for controlling the pest, which affects peach orchards in Rio Grande do Sul, the main peach producing State in Brazil. (Embrapa)

Increase in import tariffs on chemical products by decision of the Foreign Trade Committee may cause an increase in production costs for the next agricultural seasons. New tariffs are expected to come into force in October and remain valid for one year. “With rising costs and falling sales prices, knowing production costs and using market tools is what will make the difference between having money left or not”, according to the partner at Pine Agronegócios, Alê Delara. (Pine Agronegócios)

Petrobras to invest from US$ 550 million to US$ 640 million to complete works on the Nitrogen Fertilizer Unit (UFN-III), in Três Lagoas, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, said the executive director of Industrial Processes and Products at the company, William França. The unit is 85% complete, according to França. “We are now finishing the ‘due diligence’ of what remains to be done on the project so that we can run the Technical and Economic Feasibility Study – EVTE of the unit again and, after running the EVTE, give the approval for financial viability”. (Petrobras)

Rosangela Santos is the new “Head of Marketing & Branding, Communication and Institutional Relations” at EuroChem. (EuroChem Brasil)

Bernardo Silva, executive director of the National Union of Industries of Raw Materials for Fertilizers – Sinprifert, estimates that Brazil would need to produce 5 times more than is currently produced to reach the target of 45% – 50% of national demand for fertilizers by 2050. According to Silva, to achieve this, Brazil must receive US$ 27.49 billion in investments. Among the main projects to reduce Brazilian dependence on fertilizer imports, Silva highlighted the Potássio do Brasil project in Autazes, State of Amazonas, with the potential of supplying from 20% to 25% of the national consumption of potassium fertilizers. In the case of phosphates, he highlighted Galvani’s project in Santa Quitéria, State of Ceará. In regard to nitrogen, the projects to increase local production are from Petrobras. (Sinprifert)

Judge Alessandra Gontijo do Amaral, from the 19^th Civil and Environmental Court of Goiânia, State of Goiás, has determined that AgroGalaxy should present a public list of the private assets of the company’s partners and administrators, as well as their bank statements and financial investments. The company had requested confidentiality regarding this information. The judge also ordered the presentation of a “full list of employees, including their respective functions, salaries, compensation and other payments to which they are entitled… and a breakdown of the amounts pending payment”. On September 18^th, the company filed for Judicial Recovery and revealed a debt of US$ 680 million. (19^th Civil and Environmental Court of Goiânia; AgroGalaxy)

In compliance with a court decision, Anvisa approves toxicological evaluation of prothioconazole 240 + picoxystrobin 200 g/L SC (Ouro Fino); picoxystrobin 28 + mancozeb 400 + tebuconazole 35 g/L OD (Tecnomyl). (Anvisa)

According to a survey performed by the United Nations, Brazil is the country with the highest use of pesticides in the world. In 2021, 719.5 thousand tonnes of pesticides were used in the country, while in the US only 457 thousand tonnes, and in China 244 thousand tonnes. (UN)

Rabobank released a projection for the commodity and fertilizer price ratio. After entering into a “favorable” cycle for farmers in mid-2023, the expectation is for a reversal in the 1Q 2025. “During the current cycle, the index entered positive territory around mid-2023, recovering from one of the worst negative phases due to the impact of the war in Ukraine on fertilizer prices”, according to the report… In the coming months, projections indicate a downward trend in prices for some commodities. Combined with expected movements in fertilizer prices, this has the potential to push the affordability index back into negative territory”. (Rabobank)

According to a study performed by Embrapa Milho e Sorgo and the Federal University of Lavras from 2021 to 2023, in Sete Lagoas, State of Minas Gerais, the sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis) can be considered one of the main pests of sorghum. “Recently we have been talking a lot about the sorghum aphid (Melanaphis sorghi), obviously, because it has caused great damage due to the difficulty of control. However, this study shows the damage caused by the sugarcane borer”, according to researcher Camila Fernandes Souza. “Despite the importance of this pest, not much was known about the relation between borer infestation and the reduction in sorghum grain productivity. Another demand was to know the gain threshold and the level of economic injury for decision-making for control”. (Embrapa; UFLA)

Brazil can save up to US$ 5.1 billion per year with the adoption of bioinputs in grasses such as corn, rice, wheat, sugarcane and pastures, according to a study carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation for Agriculture, the Brazilian Association of Bioinnovation, and Senai’s Institute for Innovation in Biosynthetics and Fibers. The report indicates that Azospirillum brasilense is the most used species as biofertilizer/inoculant, with the aim of complementing mineral fertilization in grasses. (MAPA; IICA; ABBI; Senai)