Ubyagro partners with Uniube for bioinput research

The Brazilian multinational UbyAgro Group announced a partnership with the University of Agro at Uniube (University of Uberaba) in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. 

Named the UbyAgro Research Station, the project aims to develop plant nutrition products and bioinputs, offering "sustainable solutions targeting increased productivity and profitability."

With direct participation from Ubyfol and Vitales, companies within the holding, the initiative will also train agronomy engineering students to operate in the agribusiness chain. Among other investments, the UbyAgro Group will donate agricultural equipment and machinery valued at over 1.7 million Brazilian reais to the institutions, in addition to funding 12 internship scholarships and other services.

"We will also invest approximately 1.5 million reais, plus annual production costs for both projects," highlighted Matheus Ferreira, senior researcher at the UbyAgro Group. Through this partnership, the Group seeks to strengthen its support for research with Minas Gerais universities, a cooperation model initiated in 2019 with the Associated Colleges of Uberaba.

"Until mid-this year, Ubyfol had six hectares at Fazu to develop innovations to meet the demands of the Brazilian agricultural sector. From this first successful partnership with an educational institution, we've doubled that area to 12 hectares and expanded our cooperation model with Uniube, which will provide a new nine-hectare area, a greenhouse for protected cultivation, and a nematology laboratory attached to the greenhouse for pot studies, totaling 21 hectares," Matheus explained.

"Moving forward, we now have an experimental area 3.5 times larger," he elaborated. According to Matheus, the UbyAgro Research Station project aims to provide comprehensive support for developing new solutions and products for the Group's companies, helping producers across the country improve the cultivation and productivity of various agricultural crops.

"From these two study stations, we will develop trials with soybeans, corn, cotton, beans, wheat, citrus, coffee, and sugarcane to substantiate and ground a series of innovative solutions through applied field research, thereby ensuring greater accuracy and profitability for producers," he emphasized.

In return, Uniube and Fazu will provide cultivation areas. The University of Agro at Uniube will also grant 20 undergraduate scholarships to promote social inclusion for students with lower purchasing power.

"Students from these two partner institutions with agronomy engineering degrees can directly participate in projects and some training sessions conducted by Ubyfol and Vitales," Matheus informed. "We expect to harvest the first fruits of these two partnerships by mid-2025," the researcher said in conclusion.

The UbyAgro Group comprises Ubyfol, a plant nutrition company with 39 years in the market; Vitales, which produces biological pesticides and agricultural inoculants; Bauminas Agro, operating in raw material and mineral micronutrient production; and Moon Hub, the first national tripartite innovation hub focused on agribusiness. Created in 2021, the holding was structured to foster growth across all companies under its umbrella.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)