29 April 2025 - Pre event workshop
30 April - 1 May 2025 - Main conference
Hyatt Regency Bangkok Sukhumvit
Bangkok, Thailand
Day 1 | Specialty Fertilizers, BioAg & AgTech Conference
- Luke Hutson - Chief Editor, New Ag International, UK
- Michael Tanchum - CEO, Nexus Foresight
- CS Liew - Managing Director, Pacific Agriscience
- Vatren Jurin - Vice President, Product Development, Dunham Trimmer
Enhanced efficiency fertilizers, such as urea treated with a urease inhibitor, controlled-release fertilizers (CRFs), and fertilizer blends, compose important strategies for improving efficiency in nitrogen (N) use by plants and mitigating ammonia (N-NH3) emissions. The physical mixture of fertilizers in blends can favor synchronization of N-release from the fertilizers and N-uptake by coffee plants and also dilute the costs of acquiring a pure CRF, making fertilizer blends more accessible to growers. To investigate this, a field experiment was conducted over two consecutive crop years with Coffea arabica with the aim of evaluating nitrogen fertilizer technologies at application rates ranging from 0 to 450 kg N ha−1. The fertilizers were characterized, and analyses were performed to quantify N-release from the fertilizers, ammonia volatilization, and nutritional and yield aspects of the coffee plant. The fertilizers used were urea (UCon), urea treated with N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric-triamide (UNBPT), urea-coated with polymer of the E-Max technology (with 41%N (EMax41) or 43%N (EMax43)), and blends of UNBPT with E-Max (Blend41–Blend43). The cumulative N-release for EMax41 always remained below that for EMax43, just as occurred for Blend41 in relation to Blend43. Over the two crop years, the greatest volatilization of N-NH3 occurred with UCon (~25%) and the least with EMax41 (9%). The results indicate that the technologies mitigated the N-NH3 emissions in relation to UCon [EMax41 (63% mitigation) > Blend41 (43%) > EMax43 (32%) > UNBPT (28%) > Blend43 (19%)]. Crop management affects coffee yield. The yield increase went from 20% in the first crop year to 75% in the second, with better results from fertilizers containing CRF. We present information that can assist fertilizer producers and coffee growers, and, above all, we seek to contribute to environmental action for the reduction of agricultural NH3, clarifying potential strategies for mitigation of these emissions and strategies that generate advances in research on technologies for coffee growing.
- Uta Wille - Professor and Reader in Chemistry, University of Melbourne
- Clint Hoffman - Director of Agronomy, Lygos
- Murlee Yadav - General Manager- Crop Scientist, Smartchem technologies -subsidiary of Deepak Fertilizers & Petrochemicals Ltd
- Harshata Pal - Assistant Professor, Amity University Kolkata
- Francisco Manzano - Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer, CH Biotech R&D Co Ltd
- Riya Johnson - Researcher, University of Calicut
- Munir Zia - R&D Coordinator, Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) Ltd. Pakistan
- Barbara Auer - Business Development, Jodoco
- Douglas Guelfi - Professor, Federal University of Lavras
- Giuseppe Colla - Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences , University of Tuscia
- Harrison Yoon - President & COO, Kula Bio
Endophytes are emerging as key players in the global biological fertilization scheme, enhancing nutrient use efficiency (NUE) in crops through close plant-microbe interactions, offering advantages over traditional rhizospheric by increasing the persistence and minimizing competition with the autochthonous microbiota.
Ceres Biotics, a Spanish biotechnology company expert in the development and production of endophytic microbial biofertilizers with a strain collection of more than 500 strains (>90% with endophytic activity). Our innovative techniques, such as FISH and Multiplex-qPCR, verify endophytic colonization, persistence, and translocation.
Ceres Biotics' extensive R&D focuses on the physiological, functional, genomic, and metabolomic characterization of our strains, demonstrating key benefits like N2- fixation, nutrient solubilization (P, K, Fe), biostimulation, abiotic stress mitigation and soil structure improvement by forming biofilms and producing exopolysaccharides, enhancing aggregate stability, water retention, and reducing nutrient leaching.
- Licinio Diaz - R&D Director, Ceres Biotics
- Sarah Reiter - Business Development, BioConsortia
- Dmytro Yakovenko, - Head of International Sales, BTU-CENTER Group of Companies
- The increasing demand for potash in Asia underscores its vital role in enhancing soil fertility and crop yields, making it a cornerstone of sustainable agricultural practices.
- Addressing current supply chain inefficiencies is critical to ensuring a reliable nutrient supply, driving agricultural innovation, and supporting long-term industry growth in the region.
- Karl Wyant - Agronomy Director, Nutrien
The escalating climate crisis, rapid population growth, and the dwindling availability of arable land and irrigation resources underscore the urgent need for sustainable food production solutions. AGROLOGY’s Functional Crop Nutrition® (FCN®) addresses these challenges through a holistic approach of crop nutrition that utilizes the synergistic effect of Essential Nutrients and Beneficial Substances to enhance crop efficiency and sustainability. Key Questions - How does FCN® enhance crop efficacy and sustainability? - What are the primary characteristics and mode of action that contribute to the positive outcomes observed in various crops? AGROLOGY S.A. introduces Functional Crop Nutrition® along with a premium product portfolio grounded in the pillars of Nutrition, Protection, and Biostimulation. This presentation will explore the scientific basis and practical applications of FCN®, highlighting its proven benefits across diverse crop types
- Charilaos Bacharis - International Business Development Manager, Agrology
- Ershad Tavakol - Product Management Fertilizers & Agronomy, K + S Minerals and Agriculture
- Ketan Mehta - Founder & CEO, Ecosense Labs, India
The Asian population is the world's largest and growing fast, yet there is no more arable land to feed this population. What's more, many synthetic chemical fungicides are being delisted for environmental reason, which is causing resistance management problems for growers. Biological products for crop protection offer an excellent solution, and their adoption by growers is happening at an average annual growth rate of around 15%, which is 5X the growth rate of synthetic chemical sales. Nevertheless, most growers in Asia and in the rest of the world have still never tried any biological product. This is because there are barriers to trial. For many, biologicals had a reputation for not working as effectively as synthetic chemical products. Others are too busy to learn about new biological products. Along come 'hybrids', which are a pre-mix of a well-known and highly effective synthetic chemical (ie Difenoconazole) and a tried, tested and proven botanical extract (ie Australian Tea Tree Oil), and the grower now has an easy 'bridge' to including some biological content is his crop protection program.The new 'hybrid' prducts have been proven effective on protecting a wide range of fruit, vegetable and row crops, including bananas and rice. Hybrids' 'dual mode of action are excellent for managing the issue of resistance. Hybrids (ie REGEV, Yarden) cut chemical resdues in half, opening new markets for growers in countries, regions and food chain with strict chemical residue limits. This presentation will look at field results on rice, bananas and other crops native to Asia, and show how 'hybrids' are the easy bridge to growers' increased trial of biological content. A Representative, STK Biologicals, Israel |