Norteagri starts distributing Baculovirus from Australian-American AgBiTech

Almost six years after its opening in the city of Redenção (PA), located in the center of a region with potential for agricultural expansion of around 1 million hectares, the input distributor Norteagri announces a business partnership with the Australian-American company AgBiTech . The largest global manufacturer of baculovirus or biological agricultural pesticides, AgBiTech will have its line of pesticides distributed by Norteagri on the soybean agricultural frontier in northern Brazil, mainly in the states of Pará and Tocantins.

As the founding partner of Norteagri, agronomist Luís Eduardo Paiva Garcia, explains, the introduction of AgBiTech's line of pesticides in the distributor's coverage area will result in more innovation at the producer's disposal. “Our client gains more conditions to add efficiency and rationalize costs in the practice of biological control of caterpillars”, says Garcia.

In the Southeast of the State of Pará alone, the businessman highlights, more than 165 thousand hectares of soybeans are expected to be cultivated in the 2019/20 cycle. “Soybean planting in this region has more than doubled in area since Norteagri opened,” he notes.

Garcia also points out that around 35% of the crops grown with the oilseed in Pará are occupied by the RR (Roundup Ready) variety, while Bt soybeans predominate in the remaining area. In that part of the country, he emphasizes, soybean cultivation has been a frequent target of attacks by the false caterpillar (Chrysodeixis includens) and also by the Spodoptera complex.

“Baculoviruses bring producers a disruptive technological solution, favorable to the environment. AgBiTech's technologies cover the entire caterpillar complex of economic importance in soybean farming. Hence we believe that management with these pesticides will quickly be incorporated into the harvesting tools of soybean farmers in our region. The products deliver sustainability to the producer’s business and good cost-benefit ratio.”

For the Norteagri partner, the approval of researchers, independent experts and planning offices for the use of biological products in general, reinforces the trend of sharp growth in the movement of these products. “There are situations in which biologicals surpass results delivered by chemicals”, compares Garcia. “Biologicals require fewer applications, have a highly competitive cost and add economic efficiency to crops.”

The BIP – Business Intelligence Panel – survey, by the consultancy Spark Inteligencia Estratégica, confirms the expectations of the director of Norteagri. The Spark study demonstrated that in soybean farming alone, organic products generated US$100 million in the 2018-19 harvest, an increase of 45%. The area of ​​oilseed treated with inputs of this kind rose to 7,8 million hectares, an increase of 152% compared to the previous cycle.

AgBiTech's commercial director, Marcelo Giuliano, understands that the agreement reached with Norteagri reaffirms the Australian-American company's willingness to invest in the distribution channel, with a view to expanding market access to the brand's baculoviruses. “There is enormous potential for lizardicides at AgBiTech in Pará and Tocantins. This region, by the way, is home to the area with the greatest potential for expansion of the national agricultural frontier”, summarizes Giuliano.