Tradecorp: Never compromise on organic product's quality or efficacy

Tradecorp is a global benchmark in the development and manufacture of premier innovative Biostimulation solutions and Crop Nutrition specialities, which are marketed in over 60 countries worldwide. Tradecorp provides a comprehensive, premium portfolio of products globally adapted to local agronomic conditions, comprising solutions such as biostimulants, chelates, and precision foliar fertilizers.

The recent acquisitions of Microquimica, in Brazil, and SDP, in France, have led to unprecedented growth in the company and added extra value to Tradecorp’s portfolio, incorporating microbiological solutions, such as inoculants and bacterial extracts, along with cutting-edge adjuvants.  In addition, the recent acquisition of Rodel Flowers has given Tradecorp a new direct connection to the end user in Ecuador.

Cathal Daynes, Global Technical Manager at Tradecorp, told AgroPages in an interview about Tradecorp's organic certified products, how to register and promote organic certified products, and the developments and changes of organic farming.

Could you briefly introduce organic certified products of your company?

Organic products are in the very DNA of Tradecorp because as part of the Rovensa Group our mission is to promote and support “Well Balanced Agriculture”: feeding the planet through healthy and safe solutions, enabling a balanced and sustainable agriculture. Obviously producing and supporting a complete range of organic products to meet Growers needs at all stages of the crop cycle is fundamental to this approach. We not only provide organic products to support the nutritional status of the crop, for example Guaardian Plus in stress management that brings Nitrogen in a ready usable form, Final Eko that  enhance fruit quality through for organic farming, and of course our well known Tradecorp AZ options to provide all the micronutrients, we also bring sophisticated Biostimulant options such as Phylgreen with its Primactive effect, and Vegenergy with its Curactive effect, to ensure Growers have access to the most up to date Biostimulant options to support their organic programs. We now have more than 40 products in our portfolio that meet the various global organic certification standards.

What is the strategy for certifying products in your company? What products need to be certified?

Tradecorp has a policy to help growers to meet market needs, for example, in terms of sustainable agriculture programs. Tradecorp applies to the relevant certifying authorities for the certification of all our products that fit the requirements for organic registration. As there are many different organic certification options globally, we obtain certification of suitable products across multiple globally recognized organic standards, such as CE, NOP or JAS, by several well-known certification bodies such as ECOCERT, OMRI, FIBL and also National Bodies.

On the contrary to only registering products that “fit” the organic regulations, we have an active policy to research and develop products specifically to meet the rigorous organic standard requirements. Tradecorp´s attitude is that Growers following organic and sustainable agriculture programs should have access to high quality and highly efficient products. We never compromise on quality or product efficacy.  The first approach is where we identify a gap or need of local Growers, and we develop a high quality solution to these needs. The second approach is through continual review of our bionutrition portfolio, and our top performing bionutrition products. We analyse these solutions and our inhouse scientists then develop organic formulation versions. Tradecorp´s focus on quality and performance combined with our inhouse R&D and industrial capability allows us to bring the highest performing products into our organic portfolio, ensuing organic Growers do not have to compromise.

In which markets do you promote organic certified products? What positive situations, obstacles, problems did you encounter? How did you overcome it?

Tradecorp promotes our organic products in all markets globally, and this is possible via our uncompromising approach to organic product quality and performance mentioned previously. When Tradecorp brings an organic product to a national market, as we have not compromised on quality and performance, it is suitable for use in both organic and conventional programs. The product will deliver top results, and a positive return on investment to Growers no matter their production system organic or conventional. There is a clear global trend towards sustainable agriculture programs, and an emphasis on producing more with less and Tradecorp and Rovensa are fully behind this movement with our “Well Balanced Agriculture” philosophy.  

From our perspective it is a mistake to view organic production in isolation, or as a niche, because even though a Grower may be using a conventional production system this does not mean they do not want, or prefer, to use organic products - similar to their organic colleagues. Our experience in the market confirms this view. So far, the biggest obstacle we find is the infinite number of “organic certification standards” in the market and we advocate for the harmonization of these standards and encourage national level certification bodies to align with the main global certification standards to ensure greater homogeneity in what is required to be a “certified organic product”.

Could you briefly introduce the developments and changes of organic farming? Why have those changes?

The clear development in organic farming is that it has evolved from a more “niche” sector in the 1990´s to be a fully mainstream method of production in the 2020´s, now covering more the 70 million hectares globally. The second trend we observe is that initially it was mainly more extensive styles of agricultural production that moved towards organic production, for example meat produced on pasture, or dryland cereal production. However, in the past decade more intensive agriculture, particularly intensive fruit and vegetable production, is now trending towards organic production. This trend is driven by consumers who are looking for products grown upon sustainable agriculture programs.

How these changes benefit the agri biologicals products?

While in the past a move to organic production may have been viewed by some as a step backwards, on the contrary the organic production sector is now at the forefront of innovation. A clear self-reinforcing positive cycle has developed in organic agriculture, in the past 30 years. Increasing demand of organic products by consumers drives growth in terms of hectares under organic production and, thus, demand for organic inputs to use in these organic systems. This demand stimulates more investment and R&D in the sector to meet these needs. As new knowledge, products and solutions are developed, and brought to market to meet these needs, barriers to entry to organic production are lowered for more Growers. This encourages more hectares to be converted into organic production. This further increases demand for organic inputs and solutions, and this further stimulates more investment and R&D, and the cycles grows and continues. At present, there are no near to medium term threats to this cycle and trend. Organic production is only going to increase in hectares, market size and influence. We fully support the move to “Well Balanced Agriculture”

If you also want to tell your company story, or share your insights of the industry, please contact:

Yutian Lu

yutian.lu@agropages.com

This article will be published in AgroPages '2021 Certified Organic Agri-inputs Guide' which will be released on March 31, 2021.  Click here to check more information about this magazine.