Brazilian ag giant Bom Futuro and ISCA sign agreement for greener soybean, corn, and cotton production
fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, without polluting the environment. Photo by ISCA, Inc.
The world’s largest private soybean producer, Bom Futuro, and ISCA, Inc., a green agtech company based in Riverside, Calif., USA, have signed an agreement that will bring environmentally safe semiochemical and pheromone-based insect controls to soybeans, cotton, corn, and other major row crops.
The Brazil-based Bom Futuro and ISCA’s subsidiary in Brazil, ISCA Tecnologias, Inc., will create a farm-based research center in Brazil to develop tailor-made semiochemical insect controls based on the growers’ specific needs for the pest species, crop, season, and climate. The Center for Excellence of Semiochemicals for Large Cultures is under construction at Bom Futuro’s Filadélfia Farm in the heart of Brazil’s agricultural region in the Mato Grosso state. It will be staffed by ISCA scientists to conduct laboratory work and field trials.
Rather than relying on outdated and hazardous chemical pesticides, ISCA products use synthetic pheromones and other semiochemicals, which are based on the same natural compounds emitted by plants and animals for millions of years. These naturally occurring compounds control problem insects by manipulating their behavior, such as preventing them from mating, without polluting the environment or harming bees and other wildlife.
and Bom Futuro Partner José Maria Bortoli.
“We are concerned with the environment, and we have to take care of the land and people. For that, we need to reduce our reliance on conventional chemical pesticides by relying ever more on biological pest management resources,” said José Maria Bortoli, a Bom Futuro partner.
“Our products are revolutionary for row crop production. Conventional pest control relies on the growers bringing the pesticide to the pest. It is an inefficient process. They apply hundreds of litters per hectare of a mixture containing conventional insecticides covering every crop leaf in the entire field to kill the pest by contact,” said Agenor Mafra-Neto, CEO, president, and founder CEO of ISCA, Inc.
The cooperative agreement will work to greatly expand ISCA’s footprint in Latin America.
About Bom Futuro: Bom Futuro, based in Cuiabá, MT Brazil, has about 8,000 employees and produces 1,500,000 acres of soybean, cotton, and corn yearly on numerous farms in the Cerrado Region.
About ISCA: ISCA, Inc., based in Riverside, California, is the global leader in pheromone and semiochemical insect control with the next generation of products sold in dozens of countries. ISCA Tecnologias is based in Ijui, Rio Grande do Sul. ISCA also has a subsidiary in Hyderabad, India, which manufactures synthetic pheromones and other semiochemicals active ingredients used to control insects that damage crops or spread disease.
For more information, please contact ISCA USA Communications Director David Danelski at ddanelski@ISCA.com or (951) 850-0143, mobile.