“In Brazil, we perform miracles, not research", According to Researcher Mariangela Hungria

AgriBrasilis – What has your journey in bioinputs’ research been like?

Hungria – I always wanted to be a scientist. When I was eight years old, my grandmother gave me a book about microbiologists, and I fell in love with the field. That was at a time when no one talked about women scientists.

I started studying agronomy in the mid-1970s, convinced that I wanted to focus more on biology to help feed the world. At that time, Norman Borlaug had just won the Nobel Peace Prize for the Green Revolution, which lifted millions out of hunger through plant breeding and heavy chemical fertilization.

I wanted to work with biologicals, but the dominant paradigm was centered on chemical fertilization to achieve agricultural production that, with luck, could sustain the Brazilian population and maybe even allow for some exports. Still, I believed in biologicals, and when I finished my undergraduate degree, I pursued a M.Sc. and Ph.D. focused on working with microbial processes, specifically biological nitrogen fixation, which can at least partially replace chemical fertilizers.

I did my Ph.D. under Brazil’s leading researcher in the field, Dr. Johanna Döbereiner, at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, with my thesis based at Embrapa—now Embrapa’s Agrobiology Unit—where Dr. Johanna was the head.

In 1991, after returning from training in the USA, I settled in Londrina, State of Paraná, at Embrapa’s Soybean Unit and started a laboratory from scratch. It was very difficult, since working in science is already so hard in Brazil, but it gave me the opportunity to build my own lab, my own research group, where I had full autonomy.

I always believed that there was a very important role for bioinputs in agriculture, especially to replace chemical fertilizers. We were not thinking small-scale, as in family farming or organic agriculture: we had to think about maximum productivity because we really wanted to reach all of Brazil. And I knew that if we could achieve maximum productivity for large-scale farmers, we could also reach the small ones.

It was in 1991 that I consider the year when I truly became a professional, focused on this strategy of maximum productivity. It all started with annual soybean inoculation. Back then, people didn’t think it was beneficial to apply nitrogen-fixing bacteria to soybean crops every year.

We showed farmers that an average 8% yield increase per year was possible through annual inoculation with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soybeans. Then, soybean farmers said: “But we don’t just grow soybeans. We also grow corn, wheat… we want something for those crops too”. That’s when I looked for other bacteria and found Azospirillum brasilense, which contributes less to nitrogen fixation but significantly boosts root growth through phytohormone production.

Another major step was combining Bradyrhizobium + Azospirillum, leading to what we call soybean co-inoculation. This continues to be the final stage of my research, which I hope to conclude with studies on pastures because I dream of helping to restore degraded pastures in Brazil. We already have outstanding results showing that this is possible with microorganisms.

AgriBrasilis – Why has the adoption of inoculants been so widely accepted in Brazil? What is the importance of these products?

Hungria – It was accepted because it wasn’t the result of a short-term project. In my case alone, it’s 40 years of research. Before me, there were other specialists focused on the field, such as Dr. Johanna Döbereiner and Professor Joane Rui Jardim Fredo. Brazilian farmers have been hearing about biologicals in agriculture for almost 70 years, and they can now see the results of research that spans decades.

We’ve had great collaboration with agricultural extension services, which bring these technologies to farmers. Us researchers have always supported technological development. We were there at the creation of the first inoculant industries and remain closely involved to this day.

Brazilians are world leaders in the use of inoculants. For soybeans, for example, 85% of the total cultivated area uses Bradyrhizobium, or the co-inoculation of Bradyrhizobium + Azospirillum. This is extremely important because, just in the last soybean season, we saved the equivalent of US$ 25 billion thanks to the adoption of these bacteria, money that would otherwise have been spent on chemical fertilizers.

“The growth rate of biologicals in agriculture is far exceeding that of chemicals worldwide…”

AgriBrasilis – What are the challenges to adopting these technologies?

Hungria – One of the challenges is expanding inoculant use to other crops. Adoption is excellent in soybeans, where we have the most tradition. For corn, adoption began around 15 years ago, and it’s already at a good level. For instance, in winter corn crops, over 40% of the area uses inoculants in Brazil.

We have microbial solutions for more than 80 plant species. So, we need to expand adoption. The challenge is to extend it to other crops and especially to small farmers. These technologies work for both large-sized and small-sized farmers, but unfortunately, they’re mostly used by large farmers. In fact, it’s hard to even find small packages of inoculants.

AgriBrasilis – Is the investment in R&D for bioinputs adequate in Brazil?

Hungria – No R&D investment in Brazil is adequate, not in any branch of science. In Brazil, we don’t do research, but we actually perform miracles. It’s extremely difficult to conduct R&D here because we don’t have the necessary resources. It’s ridiculous what we receive in terms of investments when compared to the USA, Europe, Australia, or Asia. As a result, it’s hard to stay up to date in research and it’s very hard to conduct cutting-edge science.

For example, we might receive a certain amount of funding, and then go two years without receiving anything else. Much of the money we “receive” is virtual, and it never actually arrives. All of this is very difficult and demotivating. That’s why we’re losing talented minds to other countries, which is absurd because those leaving are often the best ones that we have.

In general, the researchers who leave have gone through  free public education, which means a lot of Governmental investment. They studied at the top public universities, earned their master’s and Ph.D. degrees there, and then went abroad. And we can’t blame them! Of course they should want to build their careers and apply their knowledge.

We need to provide opportunities for both young and senior scientists, because we have the expertise, we know what society needs, and we can deliver results. But consistent investment is essential. We need a budget truly independent of our politicians’ “mood swings.”

AgriBrasilis – What trends do you see in the bioinputs market?

Hungria – The trends are for strong market growth. The growth rate of biologicals in agriculture is far exceeding that of chemicals worldwide—and even more so in Brazil. We are the leaders in using these inputs in agriculture, yet there’s still a lot of room to grow because biologicals still represent only about 10%–15% of total use when compared to chemicals, when we look at all of agriculture.