Researchers work in a laboratory as part of scientific and biotechnology research in Brazil. Photo: Gênica

NNA News - Research in Brazil’s agricultural technology hub of Piracicaba is bringing together farmers, scientists and biotechnology companies to develop biological products for agriculture, while some of the same laboratory technologies are being applied to medical research.

Known as the “AgTech Valley”, the area in São Paulo state brings together more than 1,000 agribusiness-focused companies, universities, research centres, investors and entrepreneurs. At the centre of much of the work are bioinputs made from naturally occurring microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria.

These organisms can be used for functions including crop protection, disease management and making nutrients in the soil more available to plants. Gênica, a biotechnology company founded in Piracicaba in 2015, is among the businesses developing such products.

Gênica Portfolio and New Business Manager Luiz André Pinto said Piracicaba’s concentration of research institutions and companies had helped create an environment for collaboration.

“Here there is a concentration of startups, companies, universities and government research centres. Several factors create this environment, especially logistics,” Pinto said.

Brazil’s tropical climate creates particular challenges for farmers. Multiple crop cycles can allow insects and fungi to remain active throughout the year, increasing pressure on conventional chemical crop protection products and contributing to resistance.

Gênica Research and Industrial Operations Director Gerson Marquesi said some chemical products that remain effective for decades in other agricultural systems can lose effectiveness much faster in Brazil.

“Chemical molecules that last 20 or 30 years in Europe or the United States, with more than 70% or 80% effectiveness, lose their effect in two or three years here in Brazil because cultivation is very intense,” Marquesi said.

Researchers at the University of São Paulo are also examining how biological processes can be used to strengthen plants rather than simply attack pathogens. At USP’s Functional Plant Genetics Laboratory in Piracicaba, Professor Carlos Alberto Labate leads research using advanced equipment to study proteins and other biological mechanisms.

The same laboratory technology has applications in medicine. Researchers use mass spectrometry to identify organisms responsible for severe infections, potentially allowing doctors to identify bacteria and select appropriate antibiotics more quickly.

“In the case of humans, we take a small amount of blood from someone in the ICU and put it into the equipment,” Labate said.

The research also includes compounds that can stimulate plants’ natural defence systems before disease develops. Scientists are studying signals produced when fungi interact with plant cell walls, with the aim of strengthening those defences without directly targeting pathogens.

Gênica says it invests about 10 percent of its revenue in research and development and uses artificial intelligence, bioinformatics and DNA sequencing to identify microorganisms with specific agricultural functions. The company is also developing products in which microorganisms are used to produce active compounds before the organisms themselves are removed.

Another focus is Brazil’s dependence on imported fertilisers. Researchers are studying microorganisms that can release phosphorus already present in the soil but made unavailable to plants by chemical conditions, potentially improving the efficiency with which fertilisers are used.

“Brazil is highly dependent on this because in the past governments never considered our dependence on fertilizers strategic,” Labate said.

Marquesi said improved nitrogen efficiency could eventually reduce nitrogen requirements in crops such as sugarcane and maize, while microorganisms that release phosphorus could also reduce the quantities needed.

The work illustrates the link between basic research and commercial development in Piracicaba. University researchers investigate biological mechanisms, while companies develop prototypes, fermentation processes and field applications.

“We need to bring new technologies, in the case of biologicals, together with chemicals, to have better solutions for the problems in agriculture,” Labate said.

The research underway in Piracicaba spans crop protection, water-use efficiency, nitrogen fixation, phosphorus availability, alternative potassium sources and plant defence mechanisms, reflecting an effort to turn biological processes into practical agricultural technologies.