Agrobiológica launches new research, development center for bioinputs

Agrobiológica Sustentabilidade, a company belonging to Crop Care holding, recently opened the Johanna Döbereiner Advanced Research Center.

Located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, the state-of-the-art laboratory measuring 1,800 square meters will focus on the development of bioinputs.

Its facilities feature 35 rooms for various purposes, such as incubation, insect breeding and molecular analysis for the development of new formulas.

"The center is expected to cover various research areas, and for this, we have quadrupled the research & development team dedicated solely to this area," said Rafael Garcia, Founder and CEO of Agrobiológica.

Currently, four research lines are being prioritized for the development of new products, which are bioherbicides, biofungicides, bioinsecticides and bionematicides.

"The new laboratory is properly equipped to more rapidly achieve qualitative results. We are very excited about this new phase for the company," Garcia added.

In addition, the research center also features a training and capacity hub for the company's internal team.

"The commercialization of biological products must be qualified. The consultant must understand how biological inputs work in the field to pass on this knowledge and guide producers correctly. Therefore, all training for new consultants and other external agents involved in the production chain must take place in our new laboratory," said Helvio Ferraz, Director of Research at Agrobiológica.

The inauguration of the center is part of the manufacturing expansion and investment process of Crop Care’s companies, especially Agrobiológica Sustentabilidade.

"We will invest more than BRL100 million in the expansion and modernization of the company by 2025. With this expansion, the goal is to more than double our production capacity through utilizing this modern and technological manufacturing complex, which should be able to launch 20 products in the coming production cycles," said Marcelo Pessanha, CEO of Crop Care.

"The future of agriculture lies in safe technologies that prioritize the environmental agenda and comply with legislation, without neglecting the profitability of producers," he added.

The center was named after the agronomist and researcher, Dr. Johanna Döbereiner, a pioneer in the use of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in plants at a time when few believed that the technique could compete with mineral fertilizers.

Born in what is now the Czech Republic, Döbereiner immigrated to Brazil in 1951 and started her career at the Soil Microbiology Laboratory of the former DNPEA, part of the Ministry of Agriculture, which later became Embrapa Agrobiologia.

"The studies conducted by Dr. Johanna Döbereiner with the Rhizobium bacteria revolutionized Brazilian soybean cultivation. If we are now one of the largest soybean producers on the planet, we owe it to her. Due to her relevance to Brazilian agriculture, we thought it would be an opportunity to pay tribute to her. We inspire our team to be as innovative as she was," Garcia said.

Dr. Döbereiner was even named on the list of Nobel Prize nominations in 1997. In 1996, she received the Excellence and Individual Highlight Award from Embrapa.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)