Nufarm returns to Brazil with new positioning as an ″Innovation Company″

Nufarm has confirmed its return to Brazil after a four-year hiatus, sharing the news exclusively with AgroPages. However, the company’s comeback to the South American nation comes with a fresh positioning: as a business ″focused on innovation to deliver integrated crop protection and seed solutions to Brazilian farmers.″

Fernando Arantes Pereira, Brazil Portfolio Leader at Nufarm, explains that the return to Brazil brings yet another novelty: Nufarm, previously known for offering post-patent products, will now prioritize the development of their own innovative solutions. The stated goal is to ″further contribute to overcoming the challenges faced by farmers in their pursuit of sustainability in Brazilian agriculture.″

Nufarm revealed to AgroPages that it plans to launch 15 new products over the next five years for the protection of Brazil’s major crops, including soybeans, corn, cotton, sugarcane, sorghum, canola, and carinata, among others. The company is already recognized, in various respects, as the eighth-largest crop protection company in the world.

Nufarm began its operations in Brazil in 2002 with the acquisition of Agripec Química e Farmacêutica S.A., recognizing the country as a strategic opportunity to strengthen its presence in one of the world’s largest agricultural markets. The company established itself and climbed to the seventh position among the largest pesticide companies in Brazil, reporting revenues of USD 504 million. In 2019, as part of its global strategy, Nufarm sold its assets in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile to the Japanese Sumitomo Chemical group.

″Nufarm Crop Protection ceased operations in South America in 2019 and shifted its focus to the seed business with Nuseed, offering a comprehensive portfolio of canola, sorghum, millet seeds, and, more recently, carinata and sugarcane varieties for restrictive environments, rich in biomass,″ said Pereira.

Further, according to Pereira, Nufarm Crop Protection now returns to Brazil while incorporating with the company’s seed division. With this integration, the Australian-based company will offer ″complete solutions for Brazilian farmers″ in both crop protection and seeds.

Meanwhile, Carlos Balbi, General Director of Nufarm Seeds, noted that the company recognized that rural producers face increasingly significant challenges, such as rising input costs, climate change, and the need for greater efficiency and sustainability.

″To help them tackle these challenges, Nufarm Crop Protection and Nuseed are evolving together, uniting crop protection and seeds under the unified Nufarm brand. The idea behind this unification is to deliver integrated solutions to rural producers,″ Balbi added.

The first innovation to arrive in the country is the biological product Evolvance, which had a pre-launch announced earlier this year at the Tecnoshow fair. Recommended for managing nematodes that severely harm crops, including soybeans, cotton, and corn, this marks the first biological product introduced in Brazil in the company’s history.

″Evolvance is a milestone because it is an innovative product that prepares the plant’s physiology, providing superior, broad-spectrum protection against nematode attacks. Speaking of innovative solutions, our expectation is to register around 15 new products in the country over the next five years for the protection of Brazil’s main crops, whether chemical or biological,″ stated Balbi.

To achieve this, Nufarm shared with AgroPages that it has established ″strong partnerships″ with other companies to produce and package its products competitively. Additionally, the company disclosed that it has initiated research and development projects with Brazilian universities and renowned consultancies in the country to validate the products set to be launched in Brazil.

″We are returning to Brazil at a pivotal moment of global transformation for the company. We aim to bring innovations and offer solutions that are truly connected to the main challenges faced by Brazilian farmers, whether in crop protection or seeds,″ noted Pereira.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)