Author: Suchetana Choudhuri

In an exclusive Agrospectrum interview, Marcelo de Godoy Oliveira, President of ABINBIO, explains that Brazil’s more than 30 per cent bioinputs surge is driven by pest pressure, chemical resistance, fertilizer dependence, and rapid scientific advances. He stresses that strict MAPA–industry oversight is essential to prevent a “wild west” of substandard products as the sector scales. Brazil’s biodiversity, combined with strong public–private R&D and emerging IP frameworks in gene editing, positions the country for global leadership. Marcelo highlights that biologicals in Brazil already deliver >90 per cent positive ROI in monitored applications and are fast becoming core to decarbonisation strategies. Looking…

In a world where climate pledges are tightening, supply chains are wobbling under the weight of ecological pressure, and consumers are dissecting the ethics of every bite they take, an unlikely protagonist is stepping into the sustainability spotlight: The humble kitchen scrap. Parmesan rinds, corn cobs, mushroom stems, carrot tops — the culinary castoffs that once met an unceremonious end in the compost bin — are now being reimagined as the building blocks of a new gastronomic economy. What was once waste is becoming wealth. What was once dismissed is being elevated. And what was once an afterthought is rapidly…

In an exclusive Agrospectrum interview, George Kurian, Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India, elaborated on the Marine Fisheries Census (MFC) 2025 as a historic shift from estimation-based planning to a new era of evidence-driven, precision governance. He emphasised that the Census—powered by VyAS-BHARAT and VyAS-SUTRA—creates a dynamic, multidimensional, and scientifically validated foundation that will reshape policy design, welfare delivery, sustainability planning, and global market competitiveness. Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the MFC 2025 becomes the central pillar of India’s marine-sector transformation, aligning governance with the long-term national…

In this exclusive AgroSpectrum interview, Sacha Hoffmann Santelices, Managing Director, Komet Irrigation, explains how the company rebuilt its manufacturing philosophy by benchmarking against automotive plants rather than agricultural peers. He outlines how precision engineering, tighter tolerances, and operator-led quality have become strategic differentiators that translate directly into field performance and farmer trust. Sacha highlights Komet’s tightly integrated feedback loops across continents, which allow rapid redesigns and testing updates based on real-world agronomic challenges. He also details how lean culture, digitalized flow systems, and carefully balanced automation help the company maintain industry-leading delivery despite global volatility. Looking ahead to Irrigation 2030,…

In an exclusive AgroSpectrum interview, Dr. Ismail Abdelbagi, Principal Scientist and Regional Representative for Africa at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) lays out a candid assessment of why Africa still imports $8–9 billion of rice annually despite holding the world’s largest reserve of untapped arable land. He argues that the continent’s core bottlenecks—underfunded seed systems, broken value chains, low government investment, and dominance of rainfed, low-productivity systems—must be fixed before any talk of self-sufficiency becomes realistic. Breakthroughs in drought, flood, salinity, and heat-tolerant varieties are finally progressing, but require African-specific breeding pipelines, stronger national programs, and serious funding to reach…

In this exclusive AgroSpectrum interview, Swapnil Jadhav, Founder & CEO of MapMyCrop, outlines how Monitoring-as-a-Service (MaaS) is redefining agricultural intelligence by shifting the sector from software-based tools to verified, outcome-driven visibility. He explains how MapMyCrop’s 6.2-million farmer validation network, multi-country crop intelligence, and proprietary AI models are solving agriculture’s long-standing “last-mile truth” problem at scale. Jadhav highlights how the company is emerging as the infrastructure backbone for data-driven agri-credit, parametric insurance, and climate-risk modelling as global finance moves toward intelligence-based lending. Swapnil also details how MaaS is becoming central to India’s state-level policy decisions—optimising water, subsidies, and climate governance—while delivering…

New Dunham Trimmer report reveals sector resilience with 9.9 per cent CAGR projection through 2030 The global biostimulant market has achieved $ 4.47 billion in value with a visible shift from opportunistic to science-based market development, according to Dunham Trimmer’s new 2025 Global Biostimulant Market Report, set to be unveiled at the Biostimulants World Congress in Barcelona, December 1-4, 2025. The comprehensive analysis projects a 9.9 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2030—the first time future growth projections have dipped below the double-digit benchmarks historically associated with the broader biologicals sector. However, the firm emphasizes this reflects the…

In this exclusive AgroSpectrum interview, Alyssa Norris, Director of Sustainability at Aether Fuels, dissects the widening ambition–reality gap in the U.S. SAF Grand Challenge, noting that next-generation pathways beyond HEFA — including Aether’s own Aurora technology — will determine whether the 2030 target can still be met. She argues that the real feedstock battleground is shifting toward waste-carbon streams and electrofuels, where sustainability hinges on rigorous chain-of-custody systems that avoid land-use conflict entirely. Alyssa highlights how airlines are experimenting with new financial instruments, venture funds, and consumer-facing incentives to shoulder SAF’s green premium and expand demand in non-mandated markets. On…

In a quiet Alpine town better known for its panoramic peaks than production lines, Komet Irrigation is building what may be the most advanced manufacturing ecosystem in the global irrigation industry. While sector growth worldwide remains steady, Komet is breaking away from the pack—setting new benchmarks in precision, agility, and engineering discipline that resemble elite automotive and aerospace standards more than traditional agri-equipment norms. At the heart of its rise is a factory floor driven by an almost obsessive commitment to accuracy. Komet’s lean, data-driven plant manufactures components with tolerances far tighter than industry expectations, supported by poka-yoke error-proofing systems…

Agrospectrum presents an exclusive interview with Guillermo José Medina Llarena, Chief Digital & Analytics Officer at Pantaleon (PSH) and Lead at Stomata Labs, a division of Findability Sciences. In this wide-ranging conversation, he explains how Pantaleon is navigating tightening U.S. tariff-rate quotas by doubling down on customer relationships and quality-driven value addition rather than reactive market shifts. Medina outlines why proximity to the U.S. premium market remains an advantage even as the company expands strategically into Africa and the Middle East, aiming for 20 per cent export share in emerging demand centers by 2030. He delves into Pantaleon’s transformation into…