BRANDT Brasil launches comprehensive biologicals strategy

BRANDT Brasil, part of the global agriculture input company BRANDT and a leader in plant health and plant nutrition products, is aggressively expanding its capabilities in the biosolutions market. The company is expanding partnerships with industry pioneers, launching new product development programs and charting a path to category leadership. The cornerstone of BRANDT Brasil’s strategy is a new 5.000 sq meter plant focused on manufacturing biosolutions.

The new BRANDT Brasil biologicals plant will be co-located at the company’s headquarters complex and largest manufacturing site in Cambé/PR.

″Our clear intent is to be a leader in the biological marketplace,″ said Eduardo Ivan, BRANDT Brasil Biological Products Manager. ″We are making significant, long-term investments in people, innovation and infrastructure to be able to help our customers unlock the power of biosolutions.″

BRANDT Brasil’s new manufacturing plant will be dedicated to biosolution products. The new plant will be divided into modules to produce biopesticides, inoculants and a formulating unit, capable of producing solid, liquid and nanoencapsulated products. When finished, the plant will be able to produce enough products to serve approximately 25 million hectares. The operation will be fully automated, with solar panels and state-of-the-art effluent treatment.

BRANDT Brasil has also partnered with AgBio, an innovative biosolutions company with ongoing research focused on the biological control of pests, inoculants, and botanical extracts. AgBio will develop the first exclusive BRANDT technologies, with products made of microorganisms. Together AgBio and BRANDT will bring a portfolio of innovative biological products to market.

″Our plan is to develop a full range of biological solutions with microorganisms, plant extracts and metabolites. We project that we can grow four-fold into the biologicals space,″ explained Ivan. ″Currently, we have more than 100 employees in Brazil through our operations in special fertilizers and adjuvants. We expect to add 370 direct and indirect jobs in the biosolution space.″

AgBio develops and validates biological and natural technologies for agribusiness, working with bioprospecting, sequencing and mining of genomes, bioprocesses, formulations. With a team of 12 specialists, including several with masters and doctorate degrees, the company is addressing some of the biggest challenges in agriculture through biosolutions.

"This partnership is about the future. As our producers face ever more complex challenges, this partnership positions us to develop and provide innovative biological solutions for the next five, 10, even 15 years," says Ivan.

BRANDT expects to launch four new biological products this year. The first products include a combined bionematicide and biofungicide, a nutrient solubilizing inoculant and two nitrogen-fixing inoculants. All these products will be distributed through the company’s partner channels.

"BRANDT plant nutrition and application technologies are our fortress. With these new BRANDT BioEssence products, we will be able to extend that fortress and offer additional innovation and profitability opportunities for our distributions and producers,″ explained Ivan.

As another plank in its comprehensive biosolutions strategy, BRANDT plans on creating the BRANDT International Center of Biosolution Innovation. The Center will accelerate and host other agro startups, fostering the development of new technologies associated with biological solutions. In addition, the Center will validate BRANDT’s North American technologies and help to launch them around the globe.

"Since BRANDT's founding in 1953, we have positioned ourselves as an innovator in plant nutrition and related application technologies. In fact, we have helped the producers Randy Dowdy and David Hula achieve world records in soy and corn productivity. Now, we can offer agricultural producers the next generation of innovative solutions," said Ivan.

According to CropLife International, bioinputs represent about 10% of the agricultural inputs used in plant protection in Brazil today. Going forward, the market expects two major waves of growth with the entry of bioherbicides and biofungicides for soybean rust, categories that currently do not have biological products used on a large scale. S&P Global projects a value of R$ 17 billion for the biological market by 2030.