AgBiTech signs partnership with Via Fértil

As part of the strategy to integrate so-called baculoviruses or biological pesticides into rural producers' caterpillar management, the Australian-American AgBiTech has just signed a business partnership with the distributor Via Fértil. Headquartered in the city of Tangará da Serra and with five more units in the State of Mato Grosso - Brasnorte, Campos de Julio, Campo Novo do Parecis, Diamantino and Sapezal -, Via Fértil has been in agribusiness for 15 years and makes its debut in the biological products.

After two years of activities in Brazil, preceded by a period dedicated to evaluations of the performance of baculoviruses in controlling soybean and cotton caterpillars, AgBiTech informs that in the 2019-20 harvest it aims to reach 2 million hectares treated with its products. According to AgBiTech, in the 2018-19 cycle, the first of its commercial operation in the country, brand baculoviruses, such as Cartugen and Chrysogen, treated an area equivalent to 500 thousand hectares.

Founded by entrepreneurs Luiz Rogério Botaro and Paulo Cesar Favaro Mota, Via Fértil defines itself as a company focused on innovation and expansion. Partner Botaro understands that there is a strong growth trend in the adoption of baculovirus by farmers, as attacks from the caterpillar complex increase year after year, especially those from Spodoptera frugiperda, considered by experts to be difficult to control.

O The recently published BIP – Business Intelligence Panel – survey, by the consultancy Spark Inteligencia Estratégica, confirms the entrepreneur's expectations. The study showed that in soybean farming alone, organic products generated US$100 million in the 2018-19 harvest, an increase of 45%. The area treated with inputs of this kind in soy rose to 7,8 million hectares, an increase of 152% compared to the previous cycle, according to Spark.

“We see baculoviruses as an excellent tool to increase the longevity of chemical molecules and the durability of important technologies. Biologicals fit perfectly into the management of caterpillar resistance to traditional insecticides. Baculoviruses also bring innovation to crops, as they enable more rational use of chemicals and make agriculture more sustainable”, summarizes Botaro.

The commercial director of AgBiTech Brasil, agronomist Marcelo Giuliano, highlights that the commercial agreement signed with Via Fértil will allow the two companies to expand the adoption of organic products by producers in strategic regions of Mato Grosso. “In the region covered by Via Fértil there is a strong incidence of caterpillars, mainly from Spodoptera frugiperda, and in recent harvests the producer has found it difficult to control these pests effectively”, reinforces Giuliano.

Giuliano also states that AgBiTech continually invests in expanding its technical team in the field, as it did recently in the regions covered by the six Via Fértil units. “The proposal is to provide the partner distributor with a highly qualified structure for monitoring crops treated with AgBiTech baculovirus. Via Fértil’s commercial reach and business excellence will complement these efforts,” concludes the director.

AgBiTech was born in Australia, in 2000. The company operated exclusively in that country until attracting investments from the American Private Equity fund Paine Schwartz Partners (PAS), in 2015, when it transferred its headquarters to the United States and built its main production unit there. of baculoviruses in the world. PAS currently has almost US$2 billion invested in 42 projects, most of which are linked to global agribusiness.