David discussed Nutreco's role in feeding the world's rapidly growing population. (image source: Skretting)

Hosted by Skretting, the 15th edition of Aquavision 2024 took place from 10-12 June in Stravanger, Norway

The event was attended by 450 participants from more than 50 countries who took home great memories of networking and inspiring presentations from a wide range of highly skilled speakers. Nutreco CEO, David Blakemore highlighted the company's role in feeding the world's rapidly growing population. The next speaker was UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28, IUCN President, Gonzalo Muñoz, who dived into the topic of sustainability, concisely summarising the severity of this challenge.

World-renowned economist, professor Paul Krugman then presented a session on market disruptions and provided an overview of the state of current world economy. The next presentations were by Claudia Salem from Santa Priscila on innovation, Dag Sletmo from DNB Seafood and Mark Gallagher from F1. There were also useful insights from CEO of Marine Technologies, Dr Santhana Krishnan, and general manager of Nutreco China, Jason Yang. Both of them talked about India and China respectively, and it was interesting to hear their perspectives on the growth opportunities that lie in these markets. 

On Day 2, CEO of Iris.ai, Anita Schjøll Abildgaard spoke about artificial intelligence and the popularity that it has gathered over the years. She also talked about the issues and ethics around AI that the world is only starting to scratch the surface of. Lastly, she talked about what the executives in the aquaculture industry need to be looking out for, such as real-time video processing and fully autonomous devices.

During the session, the audience also got some brief glimpses into some of today's most revolutionary innovations, from Nutreco's Garden of the Future, to Aker BioMarine's fully autonomous drone that can catch krill in the Antarctica. As a tribute to the opening act by Stavanger-based visually impaired singer, Thomas Tvedt, Skretting's CEO, Bastiaan van Tilburg ended off the conference by playing a little tune on the piano.

Kedar Apte (left) and Sanjeesh Bera (right) at AGRITECHNICA & HORTI ASIA 2024. (Image source: FEAG)

World’s largest tractor manufacturer, Mahindra, on 23 May unveiled their new OJA series tractors at this year’s AGRITECHNICA ASIA 2024 which took place from 22-24 May at the BITEC Exhibition Centre in Bangkok, Thailand

The unveiling commenced with a speech by Mahindra Farm Equipment Sector’s (FES) chief of international operations, Kedar Apte who introduced the Mahindra Group, while also highlighting the vision of the firm. “Our vision is not just about selling tractors and doing business, but what we want to do is to truly make a difference to the lives of farmers,” said Apte. “So, what we do at Mahindra is to transform farming and enrich lives.”

The event continued with a short audio visual presentation of the firm followed by a speech by the company’s head of ASEAN Operations, Sanjeesh Bera about their new lighetweight four-wheel drive tractor series Mahindra OJA. Bera explained that the name ‘OJA’ is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘OJAS’ which means ‘energy,’ emphasising that the farming solutions that the company is bringing today with Mahindra OJA, will deliver that powerhouse of energy to the farmers. 

While starting the Mahindra OJA programme in collaboration with Mitsubishi Mahindra Agri Machinery Japan, a customer-first approach was adopted, taking into account the insights that were received through numerous customer interactions across the company's target markets globally. Among these, the top five insights as elaborated by Bera include:

1. Unmatched productivity: Enabled through the tough Mahindra engine and superior engineering.

2. Automation to drive efficiency: Application of inputs like fertilisers and agrochemicals is enabled through three main Mahindra OJA technology packs namely, PROJA (productivity pack), MYOJA (connectivity pack) and ROBOJA (automation pack). 

3. Connected platform: In terms of taking after-sales support to the next level, getting service alerts for maintainence is enabled through GPS, telematics-driven report diagnostics.

4. Modern style and design: The look and design have been developed by the company's design studio based in the UK along with their partner Automobili Pininfarina GmbH in Italy.

5. Comfort and convenience for users: Enabled through suspension seats, adjustable steering and user-friendly operator controls. 

The following two platforms were launched during the event:

1. OJA Compact: Starts from 21-30 hp and comprises four models targeted mainly towards inter-row cultivation of row crops like sugarcane and horticulture.

2. OJA Small Utility: Ranges from 32-40 hp and comprises three models targeted towards the mainland paddy, wetland and dryland as well as orchard applications. 

Three OJA models namely Mahindra OJA 2130, 3136 and 3140, each having different technology pack combinations were on display at the event.

"The OJA tractor series has been tried, tested and benchmarked in both wetland and dryland applications in Thailand, and we are proud to say that the OJA tractors are ready to serve the ASEAN market, starting with Thailand farmers," concluded Bera. 

The eighth edition of Asia Agri-tech Expo & Forum, Livestock Taiwan and Aquaculture takes place from 19-21 June in Tainan, Taiwan.

Today marks the last day of the eighth Asia Agri-Tech Expo & Forum (AAT), currently taking place from 19-21 June in Tainan, Taiwan

Running concurrently with Livestock Taiwan and Aquaculture Taiwan, the ongoing event is not just the leading exhibition but a content-rich event in the agriculture industry. The expo is supported by central and local governments, as well as associations from related agriculture, aquaculture and livestock industries highlighting the expo's significance in the industry. 

The exhibitor's lineup features leading companies, with the expo offering a comprehensive showcase, differentiated by country and theme pavilions including:

1. Agriculture Facility Pavilion which exhibits sustainable greenhouse facilities, environmental control systems, etc. 

2. Smart Aquaculture Pavilion which reveals the world's first oral gender regulation technology and AI-based underwater monitoring among others.

3. Feed Technology Pavilion having the latest advanced feeds, feed additives, vaccines that provide animal nutrition and immunity enhancement.

4. Livestock Farming Pavilion which displays all kinds of advanced facilities and houses for livestock farming.  

5. Agri-Machine Pavilion which will showcase the latest research on EV agri-machiney, drones, robotics, just to name a few.

A series of professional conferences and seminars addressing key issues and emerging trends in agriculture, livestock, and aquaculture will also be held. Attendees can expect valuable and practical insights, and networking opportunities from industry experts and thought leaders.

"The world is now in the middle of its biggest agricultural revolution. As an agricultural research and development leader since the 1960's, Taiwan is an early adopter and innovator in agricultural technologies. With the prowess on IT manufacturing, bio-research achievements, and the know-how on working with the humidity of the tropical climate," said general manager of the organiser, Sabine Liu. "Taiwan is set to take a significant role for many of agriculture changes. In addition, located within two hours from mainland China's main cities and four hours from Southeast Asia countries, Taiwan is the perfect base for companies looking for partners to enter mainland China or other parts of Southeast Asia markets." 

PAG Asia 2024 took place from 5-7 June in Shenzhen, China. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

During this year's International Plant and Animal Genome Conference Asia (PAG Asia 2024), MGI Tech Co. Ltd. announced a highly efficient whole workflow solution for agricultural large-scale Low-pass whole genome sequencing (Low-pass WGS) based on its proprietary DNBSEQ platforms

The new solution consists of an automated full-process product portfolio designed for large-scale molecular breeding genotyping of agricultural diploid species. The full workflow covers extraction, library preparation, sequencing, and SNP & InDel calling.

The new MGIEasy Large-scale PCR-Free FS Library Prep Set for Low-pass WGS, available in two specifications, 96RXN and 384RXN, is designed specifically for Low-pass WGS applications with a new plate-based library preparation reagent module. Compared with common PCR-free library preparation sets on the market, this kit cuts the purification step and completes library construction in three easy steps, reducing the time and consumables required.

In combination with MGI's advanced automation platforms, the Low-pass WGS solution breaks through the limit on throughput as seen in ordinary library preparation. It utilises the fewer number of automated tools to match ultra-high throughput, as while maintaining a high degree of automation. As a result, large-scale library preparation can be done in a short time, at low cost, and with great automation friendliness.

For sequencing, the product bundles for high throughput and medium throughput Low-pass WGS feature the ultra-high-throughput DNBSEQ-T7 sequencer and the versatile DNBSEQ-G400 benchtop sequencer respectively, empowering large-scale agricultural genomics research projects in a short time.

"Since genome selection was widely used in agricultural breeding, genotyping tools went through several iterations, sequencing technology gradually shows its irreplaceable advantages," said Duncan Yu, president of MGI. "Low-pass WGS has been applied in both animal and plant breeding, but not without implementation challenges. Our new total solution for large-scale pig breeding addresses these user pain points and promises flexible automation needs, simplified library preparation, high throughput sequencing, and efficient data processing."

For more information, visit: mgi-tech.com