Oceania – Advanta Seeds

FORTIA is here – everything you need to know about sorghum

Posted on May 13, 2021July 1, 2021 by Test User27

A new platform consolidates all the information that farmers and ag producers need to increase their profitability with sorghum.

In recent years, livestock management has responded to a greater demand for meat from international markets as well as agricultural innovations that ensure maximum crop yield. Agriculture producers must guarantee stability for their innovative technology because risk in grain production is dependent upon variable weather conditions and commodity prices.

In the 1990s, with the arrival of direct sowing and biotechnology for agriculture, beef and dairy cattle production were relocated to lower agriculture potential fields. Adapting to this new environment has forced farmers to expand their knowledge of forage production by measuring crop yield and nutritional contributions to their cattle for each crop and hybrid.

Through consistent management, farmers could determine the optimum combination to produce higher-quality meat and milk from their livestock. As a consequence, producers began to demand specific information on the efficient management of forage resources to improve the economic results of animal production. Today, producers continue to search for this valuable information in a modern and accessible way.

Until today, we have faced a lack of information accessibility on livestock forage management respect to agricultural production. From this premise, Fortia was born. Fortia is the first platform in the agricultural sector that makes this information available to the user in a friendly, modern, and simple way. In this space, you will find relevant information on corn and sorghum silage making and management and the direct grazing of forage sorghums. Fortia offers the knowledge farmers need to optimize the efficient production of kilos of meat per hectare per acre, both in pure livestock areas and mixed systems. On Fortia, you can find insights from agricultural advisers, and hear from real agriculture producers who join this collaborative platform.

“Fortia comes, in this first stage, to provide the keys and management indicators to increase the potential production of kilos of meat per hectare, managing to maximize the profitability of livestock systems through efficient management of forage resources.”

– Gaspar Sánchez Cores, Fortia Content Manager

Advanta expects igrowth to reshape global sorghum cultivation.

Posted on February 25, 2020April 6, 2020 by Test User27

by Sanjiv Rana

@SanjivRanaAgrow

sanjiv.rana@ihsmarkit.com

UPL seed business Advanta Seeds has big plans for its non-genetically modified imidazolinone herbicide tolerance sorghum trait, igrowth.

The “first in the world” commercial weed control technology for sorghum grain was developed using mutagenesis by the company’s Argentine research team. “Since then it has been developed and tested in various environments for performance and yield,” points out Advanta’s global strategic marketing and sales excellence manager, Benjamin Marolda.

Advanta launched igrowth sorghum in Argentina in 2017 and in Australia in 2018. “The technology is currently being introduced to many big sorghum regions such as the US, Mexico, Brazil, and South American countries as well as some of the eastern European regions to help boost their environmental opportunities,” says Advanta’s chief executive officer, Bhupen Dubey.

Mr. Dubey expects to launch the technology in the US and Mexico in 2020, subject to regulatory clearances. It is currently being commercialized in Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. “South Africa, Russia, and other sorghum areas are under evaluation,” he says.

The company says that igrowth is reshaping the sorghum area globally as it has given the crop competitiveness that it never had in the past. “We are not limited to actual sorghum area, nor only grain as this technology was released in grain sorghum, but we are releasing it also for forages” Mr. Dubey points out. As climate change continues to impact agriculture, sorghum is expanding as one of the most efficient water-using crops, he adds.

When asked if the controversy surrounding new breeding techniques in the EU is likely to cast a shadow on products such as igrowth, Mr. Dubey remains optimistic. “Our technology is not threatened by this gene-editing debate between regulatory agencies as it was developed with traditional mutagenesis techniques,” he says.

In 2018, the European Court of Justice said that new mutagenesis techniques for plant breeding were subject to EU laws on genetically modified organisms. However, the European Commission subsequently said that it neither had plans to amend existing rules nor to propose new legislation in response to the ruling. Meanwhile, EU Ministers have called on the Commission to produce a study on the legal status of “novel genomic techniques” in plant breeding, as the debate continues.

Overcoming weed resistance

For farmers growing a traditional sorghum crop not tolerant to herbicides, some grasses and broadleaf weeds can be controlled with atrazine as a pre-emergence treatment or broadleaf selective herbicides with authorized label extension for the crop, such as 2,4-D, Advanta says. In some geographies such as the US, Argentina, and Australia, the only option for selective grass control is treating the seed with a safener to be able to spray metolachlor or S-metolachlor as a pre-emergent herbicide.

“igrowth opens the possibility of spraying over the top for grass control for the first time in sorghum crops,” says Mr. Marolda. “We recommend igrowth weed control to keep many of these active ingredients and crop rotations as we want to minimize the weed resistance appearance due to excess usage of a single weed control mode of action,” he adds.

Advanta Seeds embeds sustainability into its DNA.

Posted on February 1, 2020April 28, 2020 by Test User27

Advanta Seeds acts on sustainability globally supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Advanta Seeds, the UPL seed company, puts its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into action. The company promotes sustainable agriculture and focuses on delivering high-quality seeds and new technologies to support food production while facing climate change and fast population growth.

Access to Seeds Index 2019 ranked Advanta Seeds as No. 4 in South and Southeast Asia and No. 5 in the world for contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals by providing access to quality seeds and enhancing smallholder farmers’ productivity. This inspired the company to embed sustainability into Advanta’s DNA and to empower its employees to drive meaningful contributions to sustainability.

Advanta Seeds’ parent company UPL supports sustainability and is very active in contributing to the UN SDGs as well as a signatory of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. UPL addresses the global challenges of food security, climate change and environmental degradation with a proactive and long-term sustainability strategy. Advanta Seeds contributes to the UPL sustainable strategy with a clear focus on farmers’ prosperity and food security.

Advanta Seeds’ Sustainable Actions ReportDownload

“Hunger is a daily reality for almost one billion people. The global population expects to grow by a further two billion people, precisely in those geographies where there is already food shortage as the UN reports. Advanta Seeds is focusing on farmers who need the most support to grow more nutritional food. This focus is on countries where a majority are smallholder farmers. Supporting smallholders with quality seeds is crucial for global food security.”
Bhupen, CEO for Advanta Seeds.

Responding to smallholder farmers’ needs and developing climate-smart and nutritional crops are high on Advanta’s sustainability agenda. To demonstrate Advanta Seeds’ responsiveness to farmers’ needs, the company partnered with Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to address pressing issues for tropical corn growers.

Corn growers in tropical geographies of South America, Asia, and Africa have struggled with emerging warm pests as a result of changing biodiversity. Advanta Seeds actively responded and partnered with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to disseminate a guide on emerging pests.

“Almost 80% of food in Asia, Africa, and South America is grown by smallholder farmers. We understand their challenges and their struggle with resources and a lack of knowledge to be productive. Making quality seeds and new technologies available to smallholder farmers is our mission. We understand that smallholder farmers need to increase their production, secure food for their families and provide for the communities.”
Benjamin Marolda, Global Strategic Marketing & Sales Excellence Manager for Advanta Seeds.

Expert presentations from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to farmers supported a publication arranged by Advanta Seeds across Colombia and Bolivia. This allowed farmers to monitor and prepare to manage pests and insects to prevent crop infestation. Advanta Seeds aims to distribute the guide in all tropical geographies.

“Agricultural research should focus more on providing practical tools that make it easier for farmers to face phytosanitary problems impacting their yields. The collaboration with Advanta Seeds for sharing essential agricultural research results is important in helping farmers cultivate healthy crops. For the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, it is important to make available agronomy research to farmers,” shared Jairo Rodriguez Chalarca, Research Associate, The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

Advanta Seeds realizes that a focus on smallholder farmers, and continued support to their contributions to food security, as well as taking actions to contribute to the UN SDGs through collaborative and innovative solutions is an excellent opportunity for growth.

Chiclayo, Peru. A corn farmer weighs his harvest for the season.

Thailand to Peru. Delivering a sustainable corn economy to Latin America.

Posted on January 5, 2020April 11, 2020 by Test User27

As climate change and drought threaten the viability of small farms, the need for diverse, climate-adapted seeds is ever more important.

Currently, Latin American small farmers face a number of challenges: climate-induced droughts can cause a whole field to die. On top of that, small farmers are often forced from their lands, at the hands of larger agribusinesses. Small farmers who work with the land and farm in an ecologically sustainable way are the future of Latin America. That’s why at Advanta Seeds we work closely with small farmers to ensure that they can continue to prosper on their land with the right seeds to ensure financial security for their family and community.

In Peru, farmers are reaping the benefits of seed technology half-way around the world. Thailand is home to the Advanta Seeds Center of Excellence for Tropical and Sub-tropical field Corn and a brand-new Corn Seed Sizer and Treater Processing Plant. The new plant is capable of sorting corn seed in fourteen (14) different shapes and sizes so farmers can find the perfect seeds suited to their fields and agriculture machines. Uneven seeds and they tend to get block or pass more than the intended seeds in the farmers planting machines. This is a common problem amongst small farmers globally.

Corn as a key crop in Latin America’s sustainable future and hybrid corn seeds are gaining traction. Hybridization technology helps to improve the grain qualities, reduce the incidence of pests, and increase the overall crop productivity drought-tolerant seeds so that farmers can survive fluctuations in the climate. By using these hybrid corn varieties farmers do not need to use as many pesticides. In the long run, this protects the earth. It protects their farms. It gives farmers more freedom and control over their seeds. Ultimately, Advanta Seeds helps farmers control their future.

Category: Oceania