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Revolutionizing crop health - Agtrinsic joins forces with spornado

By Farms.com

Agtrinsic, under Evergreen FS, Inc., has partnered with Spornado, a Toronto-based company, to elevate crop disease management in the Midwest.  

This partnership focuses on integrating DNA testing into Agtrinsic’s existing Broad Scale Disease Model, thereby refining its machine learning outcomes and providing farmers with superior disease detection capabilities. 

A key component of this collaboration is the Spornado device, which captures airborne samples for DNA analysis. These samples are expediently shipped to regional labs for precise detection of fungal pathogens, the culprits behind many crop diseases. The analyzed data is then transmitted to the Agtrinsic platform, enabling farmers to make informed decisions about crop protection. 

The initiative also benefits from Scanit Technologies' Sporecam, which detects spore presence and integrates seamlessly with Agtrinsic’s system. This complementary technology offers a more robust and comprehensive approach to disease detection and management. 

Agtrinsic's product manager, Scott Plato, underscores the critical role of such innovations in addressing the economic and global food security challenges posed by crop diseases. The addition of Spornado’s genetic testing in the upcoming cropping season promises to strengthen the Agtrinsic SporeCam pathogen detection grid, providing farmers with a new level of data interaction. 

Kristine White, CEO of Spornado, expresses enthusiasm for their product's role in this groundbreaking solution, which is rapidly becoming essential for managing fungal disease risks.  

The Agtrinsic-Spornado partnership is set to transform Midwest agriculture, offering farmers advanced tools for safeguarding their crops against diseases. 


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Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.