Boots on the Ground: 2024 LATAM & EMEA Trial Updates

Our global trials in 2024 to date have included a wide variety of new technologies and products, as well as many data analytics and regulatory projects. The EMEA and LATAM field trials included a wide diversity of crops, including soybean, corn, wheat, banana, strawberries, pears, apples, grapes, turfgrass, rice, tomatoes, and some trials focused on weed control without a standing crop.

Projects have focused on many novel technologies and products, including:

• Biological herbicides, biostimulants, biological fertilizers, biological insecticides and fungicides
• Novel chemical technologies including new modes of action to minimize pest resistance
• New genetic technologies in crops aimed at improving drought tolerance and photosynthetic efficiency
• New microbe genetic technologies aimed at biological nitrogen fixation and transgenic insects for pest control
• Adjuvants for multiple input types, corn genetics and additives for improvement of fertilizer use efficiency

LATAM Biological Seed Treatment Trials

The LATAM team has been working on trials with a biostimulant steed treatment based on Biochar extracts applied in soybean in Argentina. Biostimulant seed treatments often present challenges when trying to demonstrate the effect on yield because to reach harvest, the crop must go through many other factors and conditions that influence productivity.

To combat this, we evaluated different variables during the crop’s early stages to identify the product application’s positive effects. By identifying positive responses to specific variables, the yield response of the crop can be extrapolated when other external variables such as temperature, availability of water, and pests and diseases are controlled.

Other biostimulants were also tested in fruit crops (strawberries and blueberries) in trials developed in Mexico. The team applied learnings from the Argentina trials and conducted the same variable testing in addition to evaluating the quality of the fruit.

Biological Fungicide Trials

Biological fungicides allow the grower to plan an application schedule interspersed with chemical fungicides to reduce their use. If the applications are preventive, disease control can often be achieved even while reducing chemical applications. Another advantage is biological fungicides can be applied immediately before harvesting the fruit since they do not need grace periods to be able to consume the fruit.

AgriThority® trials in Chile are focused on a biological fungicide based on Bacillus subtilis to control diseases in grapes, berries and fruit trees. These trials have been conducted over the last two seasons and continue to produce quality data and promising results. The challenge of carrying out trials to control diseases is determining which diseases will be evaluated, in which crop, and that the weather conditions are met for its development. The trials focused on regions where the target disease is frequent, and our team performed a detailed screening of the environments and crops before testing.

Nitrogen Fixation Stimulator Trials

During the 2023/2024 season, the team worked on a project in Argentina aimed to reduce the application of mineral fertilizerswhere different products were applied to stimulate nitrogen fixation in corn. The different products are based on different bacteria formulations that work with the nitrogen present in the soil or provided by fertilization.

To properly evaluate nitrogen fixation products, field selection is critical because planting with good plant density and homogeneous distribution must also be achieved. Our team evaluated multiple sites to select quality fields and closely monitored all the variables that compete with the crop in the use of nitrogen.

The limitation tends to be on the number of testing environments, as their effect is in general variable across sites. Our team is dedicated to identifying the factors driving the variation so that proper positioning recommendations can be made.

– Ignacio Colonna, Global Director of Science and Technology

EMEA Field, Regulatory and Data Analytics Trials

Biological Trials

The team performed biofungicide and bioherbicide trials in Italy, France and Spain on tomatoes, strawberries and wheat. Results suggest that biological products show a good efficacy, and, in most cases, they must be thought of as an alternative to reduce the use of chemicals and be used in tandem with chemical products in a scheme of application or tank mix.

Novel Fungicide Trials

A novel fungicide trial is currently underway in Germany to evaluate the efficacy of different formulations at different rates against Septoria in wheat, under field conditions to compare the effects with different rates of conventional fungicide. The team is finalizing the data analysis.

Our trials allowed us to align an effective working methodology across geographies, that involves the development of specific/detailed protocols and the analysis of the data, which allows for robust reporting of key learnings and recommendations to the client. – Paula Prieto, Product Development and Project Coordinator – EMEA

Regulatory Trials

AgriThority is currently conducting regulatory trials in the EU to support product registrations in several countries. Triggered by regulations and consumer demand, the urgent need to replace pesticides with more sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions is the trend in the EU. However, the registration of new products needs to be streamlined and processes need to be aligned for new technologies to become commercially available to growers to achieve these sustainability goals.

Data Analytics Projects

Data is as valuable as the insights drawn from it. To help several clients extract more value from their existing field trial data, AgriThority has conducted a quantitative review of the available multi-year experimental data to attempt to answer key questions.

Key Insights

The key to evaluating new pesticide, biostimulant and biological fertilizer technologies resides in learning how to match them with the existing technologies rather than attempting to replace them entirely. The AgriThority field team has had success across many early-stage development trials. The trial data gained allows us to make expert recommendations in early-stage development, so our clients can focus and apply these learnings on the next steps in the stage gate product development process.