Crop Protection and Nutrition - Weekly Update Brazil & Latin America (07/11/24 – 07/17/24)

New Insect Found That Could Harm Pine Production in Brazil

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Brazil

Researchers from the State University of São Paulo – Unesp have found a new insect that could harm pine production. Named “Sirex obesus”, the pest is a species of wood wasp that originates from the south of the USA and Mexico. The wasp, identified by researcher Carlos Wilcken’s team, transmits the fungus Amylostereum areolatum, which can cause the death of Pinus trees. (Unesp)

In compliance with court decisions, Anvisa approved toxicological evaluation of acephate 970 g/kg SG (CHDS); carfentrazone-ethyl 400 g/L EC (Cropchem); ethephon 720 g/L SL (Rainbow); flumioxazin 480 g/L SC (Zhongshan); clethodim 240 g/L EC (Proregistros). (Anvisa)

BeGreen, a sustainable power generation and fertilizers company, will build three industrial plants in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in Passo Fundo, Tio Hugo and Vacaria. The company manufactures green ammonia, produced from green hydrogen and nitrogen. (BeGreen Bioenergia e Fertilizantes)

Dossier from the Pastoral Land Commission entitled “Living in contaminated territories: a dossier on pesticides in the waters of Cerrado” indicates a growing increase in the use of pesticides in the Cerrado Biome since 2015. The survey indicates more than 600 million L of pesticides sprayed in the biome per year . (Pastoral Land Commission)

According to Carlos Goulart, secretary of agricultural defense at the Ministry of Agriculture, about the changes in the Brazilian pesticide law, “an aspect that requires priority for regulation, not necessarily through a decree, but through infra-legal acts, is related to the competence that belonged to State agricultural defense agencies, which was passed to the Federal level, in the registration of establishments that were previously conducted at the State level… In practice, the new pesticide legislation has not yet brought a noticeable impact to farmers, considering that its biggest change is to bring governance for the pesticide registration system, since the responsibilities have not been changed in regard to the Ministry of Agriculture, Anvisa or Ibama”. (MAPA)

MoA authorizes four strains for use in commercial inoculants in soybeans: Bradyrhizobium elkanii SEMIA 587 and SEMIA 5019 and Bradyrhizobium japonicum SEMIA 5079 and SEMIA 5080, according to André Nakatani, R&D manager at Biosphera. These strains, alone or in combination, constitute dozens of commercial inoculants on the market, with more than 141 million doses sold per year. “B. elkanii demonstrates a high tolerance to environmental stress, such as high temperatures and flooding… In stressful situations, there may be hormonal changes, such as an increase in endogenous ethylene production, consequently impairing nodulation. This damage can be mitigated by Bradyrhizobium elkanii, which has a mechanism for limiting ethylene production, not identified in other rhizobium species”, said Nakatani. (Biosphera)

For citrus farmers in the State of Minas Gerais, the deadline for submitting the mandatory report about greening ended on July 15^th. Submission of the greening inspection report for the 1H/2024 is mandatory for farmers in the State. Legislation requires that a documented inspection be performed every three months in towns where there are cases of the disease, as well as in neighboring areas. To do this, the farmer must hire an agronomist who went through the Phytosanitary Certificate of Origin course, taught by the Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária (Agriculture and Livestock Institute of Minas Gerais). The State of Minas Gerais is one of the biggest national producers of oranges, lemons and tangerines, second only to the State of São Paulo. (IMA)

Petrobras has signed a “Master Agreement” with Yara to structure a potential business partnership in the fertilizer market, as well as in the manufacturing of industrial products and decarbonization of production. The companies are to analyze together the potential synergies between their operations. According to the State-owned company, this agreement is non-binding. (Petrobras; Yara Fertilizantes)

“It is contradictory that there is no regulation for adjuvants [in Brazil], while there is an excessive control over the components of the formulation. I find it would be interesting to have more flexibility in the process of registering pesticide components, but it is important that there are criteria to ensure that the final product does not have a negative impact on human and environmental toxicology”, according to Marcia Werner, global director of research and technology for agriculture at Croda. (Croda)

Research performed at the Physics Institute of São Carlos is developing a biological process to control Bacillus cereus bacteria, which are very present in green leafy vegetables. “The project consisted of expressing a recombinant protein in bacterial systems and subsequently purifying it. Together with this, I was already working on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. After obtaining the purified protein, it was combined with silver nanoparticles, creating a bioactive compound… This is a system that can be used by agriculture, by farmers, through the spraying of vegetables”, according to researcher Fernanda Coelho. (GNano-IFSC/USP)

MoA published on July 11^th an act of deliberations on post-registration of pesticides, with 1 cancellation of a pesticide registration process at the request of the registering company, 35 import authorizations, 9 product brand name changes, etc. (MAPA)

Otavio Mamede is the new Marketing Director at Grupo Santa Clara, a plant nutrition and protection company from Brazil. (Grupo Santa Clara)

In June of 2024, the Fertilizer Purchasing Power Index – IPCF increased by 8%. This was driven by the 4% drop in commodity prices and by the increase in fertilizer prices. The most significant drops were in sugar cane (-5%), cotton (-4%), corn (-4%) and soybeans (-3%). Fertilizer prices rose by an average of 5%, with urea recording a 15% increase, monoammonium phosphate 5%, and simple superphosphate 4%. The IPCF is released monthly and compares the prices of fertilizers with those of agricultural commodities. A lower index indicates a more favorable exchange ratio for the farmers. (The Mosaic Company)

Fertilizer purchases are increasing in the Brazilian market, but still at a slow pace. There is a greater demand for phosphates. This is because farmers took advantage of a better exchange ratio to purchase potassium chloride at the beginning of the year, but now they need to guarantee purchases of phosphates, including monoammonium phosphate, the main fertilizer used for soybean farming. MAP imports fell 36% from January to April of 2024. Therefore, phosphate prices in the local market are showing an upward trend, driven by the low availability of fertilizers for immediate delivery. In the case of triple superphosphate, for example, supply is limited, and should be available only after August. Concerning fertilizer freight, the values remain low, since in the “off-season period and with low liquidity in the fertilizer market, the flow of cargo from the country’s main ports to the agricultural regions has been low”. (Argus Consulting)

“Citrus canker and greening are diseases under official surveillance and cause losses on the harvest and on sales for citrus farmers, making it essential to monitor orchards”, said Veridiana Zocoler, agronomist and manager of the Citrus Health Program of the State of São Paulo. With the publication of Ordinance No. 317/2021 from the Ministry of Agriculture, which establishes the National HLB Prevention and Control Program, the elimination of symptomatic plants became mandatory for orchards under eight years of age. For orchards older than that, farmers are only required to carry out an efficient control of the psyllid insect. (Secretariat of Agriculture of São Paulo)

Alexandre Mezzomo de Paula is the new Western Region Commercial Director at FMC in Brazil. (FMC Corporation)

Yara has announced the sale of assets for production and marketing of liquid NPK fertilizers to FassAgro, a supplier of inputs to the sugar-ethanol market. Yara wants to raise resources to “reallocate capital”, according to a document submitted to the Administrative Council for Economic Defense of Brazil – CADE. The acquisition of assets will maintain FassAgro’s market share in the range of up to 10% of the NPK final fertilizers market. Competitors in this market in Brazil are Fertipar, Mosaic and Eurochem. CADE documents indicate that the assets are in the States of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Mato Grosso do Sul. (Yara Fertilizantes)

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