Agrochemical Update Brazil & Latin America - 01/17/2024

Ministry of Agriculture has published 115 new pesticide registration applications, including 6 nematicides, 48 insecticides, 21 fungicides, 38 herbicides, etc. (Ministry of Agriculture)

“If a farmer notices that a neighbor’s farm has citrus canker [disease caused by bacteria of the genus Xanthomonas], they must notify the Agricultural Institute of the State of Minas Gerais – IMA, as their orchard is also at risk of contracting the disease”, according to Leonardo do Carmo, agronomist and head of the Plant Health Defense Management at IMA. According to him, many farmers fail to notify the Institute because they are afraid of their crops being destroyed. “If the disease is discovered early, there are chances of saving the crops”. (IMA)

Renato Miranda is the new head of strategic marketing at Koppert in Brazil. (Koppert)

According to Viviane Kunisawa, partner at Daniel Advogads law firm, the Pesticide Law No. 14785/2023 shows advances such as “the implementation of the Unified Electronic Information, Petition and Assessment System, for better procedural flow of petitions and communications, and the Unified System for Registration and Use of Pesticides and Computerized Environmental Control Products, in order to facilitate inspection activities; the adoption of legally established deadlines considered reasonable for the evaluation and reanalysis of products”. According to Kunisawa, the new law is the result of decades of discussions in the National Congress, and “brings provisions that represent improvements to the system, such as the mandatory use of risk analysis in the process of granting product registration and the requirement from the text legal harmonization with internationally established standards – the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and the Codex Alimentarius”. (Conjur; Daniel Advogados)

According to the researcher at the Federal University of Viçosa, Felipe de Oliveira Dias, nutrition with silicon can help control potato blight, a disease caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans. “One explanation for the resistance conferred by this element is due to the accumulation of silicon in plant tissues. Such accumulation makes the tissues more rigid and can act as a mechanical obstacle to the penetration and feeding of different agricultural pests”, said Dias. “The adoption of silicon in a well-planned and executed integrated pest and disease management program in potato crops can lead to a reduction in the use of agrochemicals”. (UFV)

Lavoro plans to reach US$ 310 million in agricultural input sales via barter during the 2024/25 soybean season. According to the company, the barter exchange relationship is currently better for the farmers, when compared to purchasing in currency, amid a scenario of uncertainty in the prices of commodities and inputs. (Lavoro Agro)

According to the consultancy McKinsey, 71% of Brazilian farmers use digital media to purchase inputs or agricultural equipment. Of these, 41% prefer online channels. The company interviewed 2000 farmers over 3 years, from 2020 to 2022. Even so, many farmers claim they do not trust the online self-service purchasing process. (McKinsey & Company)

Grazielle Parenti, vice president of sustainability and institutional relations at Syngenta for Latin America, is now also the new vice president of the Brazilian Agribusiness Association. (ABAG)

Mosaic Fertilizer Purchasing Power Index reached 0.89 in December of 2023, a 6% drop from November. The lower the number, the better the exchange ratio for farmers. From November to December, there was a drop in the price of fertilizers and agricultural commodities, but the farmer’s purchasing power was favored. (The Mosaic Company)

“Last year, there were large volumes [of fertilizers] imported into Brazil. The most representative is KCl [potassium chloride]. From January to December 2023, more than 13.5 million tonnes of the fertilizer landed in the main Brazilian ports”, according to Jeferson Souza, market analyst at Agrinvest Commodities. “If we take what we had last year, we will see that the total value was US$ 12.8 billion (considering the main imported fertilizers). Therefore, from 2020 to 2023, the growth reached 88%”, said Souza. (Agrinvest Commodities)

According to Unigel’s CEO, Roberto Noronha, the company plans to resume production of nitrogen fertilizers at the factories in the States of Sergipe and Bahia in January, as a result of the industrialization agreement with Petrobras at the end of 2023. The factories have faced profitability problems due to the high costs of natural gas, which has brought financial difficulties to Unigel. (Unigel)

Ministry of Agriculture has published deliberations on pesticide registrations, including 22 import authorizations, 2 cancellations of registration requests, 16 changes to the use recommendations of pesticide products, 9 transfers of ownership, etc. (MAPA)

According to Crébio Ávila, researcher at Embrapa, some pests are common in soybean-corn succession systems, affecting both crops: the lesser cornstalk borer, Elasmopalpus lignosellus; the brown stink bug, Euschistus heros; the green-bellied stink bug, Diceraeus melacanthus; the silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, and the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda. “The control of the lesser cornstalk borer, both in soybeans and corn crops, is performed through the treatment of seeds with insecticides. The spraying of plants has not been efficient due to the location where the pests attack, which makes the spraying solution’s access difficult”, said Ávila. “An important detail to ensure good efficiency in the control of S. frugiperda is the spraying solution volume, which must be as big as possible, especially in corn crops. Bt soybean plants do not provide effective control against S. frugiperda caterpillars, but, in the case of corn, depending on the hybrid used, it is possible to achieve a satisfactory control with this technology.” (Embrapa)

According to the congresswoman and national president of the Workers’ Party, Gleisi Hoffmann, the reopening of the State of Paraná’s Nitrogen Fertilizer Factory should happen soon. “We are changing this story. It was one of the objectives of our mandate and that of Lula’s government [Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil] to reopen the factory. And reopening is already on the horizon”, said Hoffmann. “With the war between Russia and Ukraine, the price of the inputs we manufacture internally became increasingly expensive”. (Gleisi Hoffmann)

Gowan has acquired the global rights to the insecticide molecule cyromazine, from Syngenta. Transaction value was not disclosed. In Brazil, the active ingredient is used in the insecticide Trigard 750 WP, registered for use against the pea leaf miner (Lyriomyza huidobrensis) in potatoes, chrysanthemums, beans, snap beans, watermelon, melon, cucumber, ornamental plants and tomatoes. (Gowan)

Daniel Zilberknop resigned from his position as deputy CEO of Unigel on December 22^nd. Unigel’s board of directors is now made up of Roberto Noronha, CEO, André Luis da Costa, vice-president of finance and investor relations, and José Roberto Heleno, director of operations. (Unigel)

Grupo Botuverá, from Rondonópolis, State of Mato Grosso, has acquired 51% of Valloura Agroinovação, a manufacturer of special fertilizers,  founded in 2019. The value of the deal was not disclosed. The new controlling company’s expectation is that Valloura will reach revenue of US$ 12.33 million in 2024. In five years, the objective is to reach US$ 102.74 million in revenue from the sale of inputs in the States of Mato Grosso, Goiás and Rondônia. (Grupo Botuverá)

Biological inoculants’ share is increasing in grain production, according to Fernando Bonafé Sei, manager at Novozymes. “The cost-benefit ratio is extremely favorable. In addition to the lower costs, biological microorganisms can provide an average increase of up to 8% in the yield rate, with the use of inoculation in all years of soybean farming”, said Bonafé. The savings generated by the use of biological inputs in soybeans can reach billions of dollars. Embrapa studies indicate that inoculants can contribute more than 300 kg of nitrogen per hectare to soybeans, at a cost of up to 95% less when compared to synthetic-based nitrogen fertilizers. (Novozymes; Embrapa)

Sergio Castanheiro is the new operations director at EuroChem Brasil. (EuroChem)

According to Pedro Henrique Urach, a specialist in pesticide application technology at Spraytech, the incompatibility of agricultural pesticides in the farms can be caused by: lack of knowledge of water quality; incorrect addition order to the spraying tank; little or bad agitation; low application volume; use of incompatible products; not carrying out the “bottle test”, which consists of simulating the sprayer tank with the help of a bottle or other compartment, before using the products in the crops. (Spraytech)

According to Marco Gobesso, head of marketing at Grupo Piccin, applying fertilizers at a variable rate can bring input savings of up to 20%, and increase average yields by 6%. “Farmers should not apply fertilizers aiming at the average [needs of their area], but they should aim at the recommended rate according to a previous mapping of their area”, according to Gobesso. Regarding post-planting fertilization, he explains that there is the possibility of carrying out the operation at this time, and that the farmers can fertilize with specific nutrients, according to the plants’ needs. “Even if you did it at sowing, you can supplement it, sometimes with just phosphorus, or just potassium or nitrogen.” (Grupo Piccin)

Agricultural Defense Institute from the State of Mato Grosso – Indea awaits analysis results to conclude what caused the death of thousands of bees on a farm in Sinop, State of Mato Grosso, according to the Animal Health Defense coordinator, João Nespoli. The case happened in December of 2023. In July, the death of bees was also recorded, in the city of Sorriso, and the report pointed to the use of fipronil as the cause. At the time, Indea imposed a fine of US$ 45.89 thousand to a farmer. (Indea)

Ailton Arantes Cunha is now the head of new business at the fertilizer company Morro Verde Fertilizantes. (Morro Verde Fertilizantes)

Cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) can reduce cotton yields by up to 70%. “The boll weevil is a serious problem for cotton farming… Currently, 38% of the total cost of insecticides for the crop is used to control the boll weevil. In some cases, the control measures for this pest can exceed 20 pesticide applications per cycle”, according to Marcos Queiroz, manager of insecticide innovations at Syngenta. Mites are considered the second main pest for cotton, with a negative impact on yields that can reach 40%. “They cause weight reduction, in addition to harming the quality of cotton. In dry and hot conditions, mites can generate up to 17 generations every 8 months. The most frequent dispersion occurs by wind”, said Queiroz, who recommends controlling these pests using a product containing the active ingredient isocicloseram. (Syngenta)

National potash production is concentrated in the States of Amazonas and Sergipe. Even with a large reserve, Brazil still needs to resort to imports to meet its demand, being the country that imports the most potassium in the world. In 2022, Brazilian reserves were 2.3 million tonnes, the 12th largest global potash stock. (USGS; ANM; Ministry of Mines and Energy)

According to Sergio Abud, member of the Brazilian Soybean Strategic Committee and biologist at Embrapa, “biological products have been widely used as soil conditioners, root growth inducers, and in the control of pests and soil diseases, mainly as bionematicides, to control diseases such as white mold, and biofungicides to control foliar diseases”. According to Abud, biological products “also have a high selectivity, which reduces the range of action of these products, and prevents them from acting on beneficial organisms, such as the natural enemies of pests, allowing their multiplication and the re-establishment of these organisms in the crop”. ( Embrapa; CESB)

Mosaic is the first company in Brazil to use big bags made from polypropylene with post-consumer recycled content. In partnership with Zaraplast, the company uses big bags with 30% post-consumer recycled resin. (The Mosaic Company)

Scheduled to open up in the 1Q of 2024, the Serra de Salitre Mining Complex, in the State of Minas Gerais, a project led by EuroChem in Brazil, is expected to manufacture 1 million tonnes of phosphate fertilizers per year, equivalent to 15% of Brazilian consumption. (EuroChem)

Amaggi, Coopercitrus, Souza e Lucas Participações, Viola Participações and Tecnobeef have announced the creation of an organomineral fertilizers company. The company will focus on crops such as soybeans, corn, sugarcane, citrus and coffee. Approval from the Administrative Council for Economic Defense is still required. (Amaggi; Coopercitrus)