The number of companies seeking functionality certification for agricultural adjuvants grows to 20

Announced at the end of last year, the Official Functionality Seal for Agricultural Adjuvants from the Agronomic Institute (IAC) received support from another 14 manufacturers, in addition to six companies that already obtained it at the end of 2021: Agrocete, Apex Agro, Equilex Chemicals, Momentive Performance Materials, Thera Química and Vittia. The management of the “Pulverization Adjuvants” program, responsible for granting the seal, celebrates the rapid increase in the number of companies interested in certification.

According to the program coordinator, researcher Hamilton Ramos, the seal ensures the functionality of agricultural adjuvants and is only awarded to companies that have products approved in evaluations carried out by specialists from the IAC's Engineering and Automation Center (CEA). The body, part of the São Paulo Department of Agriculture and Supply, is located in the city of Jundiaí.

Ramos also explains that agricultural adjuvants are products added to the agrochemical mixture, before applying the latter to crops, to improve the effectiveness of treatments and reduce spraying losses.

“Unlike agricultural pesticides or agrochemicals, adjuvants do not require official registration in Brazil. This regulatory gap represents risks regarding the quality of adjuvants sold to farmers”, adds Ramos. “A poor-quality adjuvant, associated with an agricultural pesticide with cutting-edge technology, causes losses related to the farmer’s investments to control pests, diseases and weeds.”

Ramos also highlights that from the entry of the application for the Functionality Seal by the companies, until the conclusion of reports, at least six months of studies follow. “The main goal of the ‘Spraying Adjuvants’ program is to develop standards that support a single official certification system for these products”, highlights the researcher. “The Functionality Seal constitutes a relevant part of this process”, he concludes.

Created 16 years ago, the “Pulverization Adjuvants” program is financed with private resources and unites companies in the agricultural sector with CEA-IAC.