MagGrow Earns Award and Expands Reach In US

We were thrilled to hear about the results that cotton grower Jerry Brightbill has seen after implementing MagGrow’s technology on his farm in Texas.

Read more here: https://www.farmprogress.com/equipment/maggrow-earns-award-expands-reach-us

MagGrow Expands Footprint in Australia and New Zealand

MagGrow is delighted to announce the addition of David McGrath as regional business development manager with the aim to support agricultural partnerships and production in Australia and New Zealand.

McGrath is an experienced senior manager with more than a decade of experience in agricultural industries where he’s held a wide range of roles, from business development and sales, to research and development. He brings a strong track record developing successful businesses, managing high-performing teams, and facilitating knowledge transfers that have resulted in improved commercial sales and revenues streams.

David is a trusted advisor among government, business and agricultural circles in Australia and New Zealand, thanks to his success developing, deploying and optimizing systems to support growers across the continent and globally.

Supporting David to create new partnerships and improve sustainability practices, while increasing crop profitability, through the adoption of MagGrow’s spray technology in Australia and New Zealand, is Gillian Byrne.

Gillian Byrne launched MagGrow in Australia and New Zealand last year. Gillian is responsible for sales development, working directly with MagGrow’s dealer partners and managing sales opportunities in Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory and New Zealand.

With concern over critical issues such as spray drift and other threats that have the potential for catastrophic crop damage, MagGrow’s technology gives growers across Australia and New Zealand a highly effective tool to support their efforts – minimizing spray drift, improving profitability, and generally making farmers lives easier.

MagGrow’s magnetic-assist technology significantly reduces waste, improves sustainability practices, and delivers important plant protection products where they matter the most. Using the MagGrow boom kit system growers have reduced spraying drift by up to 70% and improved coverage by up to 40% versus conventional spraying methods.

MagGrow Has Won The Thrive Bayer Sustainability Award 2021

We’re delighted to inform that MagGrow has won the Thrive Bayer Sustainability Award 2021 – Scaleup category for our commitment to supporting more sustainable food production.

As a winner, MagGrow will have the opportunity to explore a proof-of-concept pilot project with Bayer, receive automatic nomination for THRIVE’s TOP 50 listing, and gain access to Bayer resources and THRIVE’s ecosystem.

“On behalf of the brilliant MagGrow team, I am absolutely delighted that we have won the Thrive Bayer Sustainable Scaleup award. I strongly believe that Bayer and MagGrow share the same goal which is to support farmers everywhere in the sustainable intensification of global food production whilst protecting the environment. I very much look forwarding to collaborating with them to achieve this goal” said Gary Wickham, CEO & Co-Founder of MagGrow.

The 10 finalists pitches and the winners announcement are available to watch here:

MagGrow Appoints US-based Paul Dacier to Chairman of the Board

We are delighted to announce new leadership to support strategic growth plans for North American markets.

Paul Dacier will succeed Gary Wickham as the company’s new chairman of the board, while Wickham will continue to oversee global market penetration in his current role as CEO.

“Paul brings a huge breadth of knowledge and experience from his successful background in the aviation, technology and agriculture sectors, which will be invaluable to MagGrow’s global growth initiatives,” said Wickham. “He will provide vital strategic leadership to the board and his presence in the U.S. adds critical capacity to ensure the success of our next phase of growth.”

Dacier is currently the executive vice president and general counsel for Indigo Agriculture, Inc. Since Dacier joined Indigo in 2017, the company has raised about $1.1 billion in additional venture funding. Throughout his career, Dacier has been involved in mergers and acquisitions that have an aggregate value greater than $100 billion, demonstrating his successful track record in strategic growth and scalability.

“I’m delighted to be joining the MagGrow team, and to support an innovative and leading-edge company that is making the world better,” said Dacier. “The agricultural industry faces many challenges, making it more important than ever to provide useful technology and cost-effective solutions to the people leading our food production. For a company like MagGrow, which is supporting farmers with a multi-faceted product that accomplishes many different goals, there is tremendous opportunity for growth in North America.”

MagGrow’s core magnetic assist technology significantly reduces waste, improves sustainability practices, and delivers important plant protection products where they matter the most. Using the MagGrow system as compared to traditional spraying systems, growers have seen reduced spraying drift by up to 70% and improved coverage by up to 40%.

As a member of Trimble’s Select Partner Program for Agriculture, MagGrow’s technology is available through a worldwide distribution network with a significant footprint in the North American market, which Dacier will look to expand as chairman of the board.

Dacier brings extensive background in leading strategic business growth. He joined the senior executive team at EMC Corporation in 1990 when the company was worth around $170 million and had 750 employees. For more than two decades, he led the company’s worldwide legal and compliance functions; oversaw the company’s internal audit, real estate and facilities organizations; and directed sustainability, aviation, and government affairs departments; EMC became one of the largest high technology companies in the world, with $24.7 billion in revenue and a workforce of over 68,000 employees.

Dacier was recently appointed as chairman of the board for the Irish aircraft leasing company AerCap in 2020 after a decade of service in other roles, including vice chairman and non-executive director.

A graduate of Marquette University Law School, Dacier is a distinguished lawyer and active member of the legal community.

MagGrow and AMBER announce a third research project to push the boundaries of innovation in crop-spray technology for sustainable farming

AMBER, the SFI Centre for Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research hosted by Trinity College Dublin (TCD) is collaborating on a third project with MagGrow, an Irish SME based in Dublin, specializing in magnetic-assisted agricultural spraying.

The third collaborative project between AMBER and MagGrow will build upon previous successful projects that have yielded important results concerning the magnetic field effects upon agricultural spray performance. The new project acts as a platform to gain further insight into the MagGrow effect and opening novel areas for research and development to stimulate further commercial opportunities.

MagGrow’s technology reduces spray drift by more than 70%, delivers superior crop and weed coverage and reduces water usage by up to 50%. Farmers are all facing the same challenge, which is to grow more food, increase profitability and protect the environment. The only way this can be achieved is through sustainable intensification of food production and that’s where MagGrow technology steps in by using less land, labour, water, and pesticides to produce more food.

MagGrow’s deliberate science-based approach towards developing an effective technology has resulted in an easy to use, low-maintenance product that delivers a return of investment of less than a year.

In the MagGrow system, the spray-fluid passes through a magnetic field at specific flow rates so that the resulting spray has a droplet profile and droplet properties that facilitates increased coverage, reduced spray drift and reduced run-off from the plant canopy. Undesirable pesticide run-off and associated chemical costs are greatly reduced, while at the same time delivering better efficacy and pest and disease control.

The overall goal of the third jointly funded project with AMBER is to generate further knowledge concerning the magnetic effect attributed to the award-winning MagGrow spray technology. Extensive test facilities at the CRANN Research Institute at Trinity and in the field will be used to derive detailed droplet formation and flow data, followed by analysis using innovative imaging and analytical techniques. The year’s work will also include an investigation into the impact of various water parameters such as hardness and temperature, and the use of nanobubbles in spray media using a new laboratory-scale test rig within Trinity.

MagGrow’s engagement in a third project with one of the world’s leading authorities on magnets and magnetism, Prof. Michael Coey FRS, demonstrates the SME’s ongoing commitment to innovation through research and development. The project will enable MagGrow to explore and exploit scientific outcomes to create innovative solutions to global challenges of food security and the environment, including climate change, land-usage, water shortage and environmental pollution, extending to bio-geochemical flows, biodiversity, and other planetary boundaries. The very detailed scientific information derived through this study will provide MagGrow with the foundational theory to optimise existing products and develop the technology for other applications.

Prof. Michael Coey, AMBER and School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, said: “We are delighted to enter our third project with MagGrow. It truly has become a joint endeavour, particularly with the recent appointment of Dr Karl Ackland, a former member of our TCD team, to MagGrow. The opportunity to extend our engagement with MagGrow in this project is exciting. Our aim is to use innovative and detailed analysis to test our hypothesis both in the laboratory and in the field, which

will help to optimize current technology and open new avenues that could prove vital for feeding everyone on Earth in the coming years.”

Dr Anthony Furness, MagGrow CSO said, “MagGrow is indeed fortunate to have the on-going support and scientific excellence that Professor Coey and the AMBER team bring to bear upon the MagGrow’s corporate leadership, commitment to research and continued growth as a technology company attuned to food security needs, the environment and sustainability.”

MagGrow UK in disinfection project to combat plant and human pathogens.

MagGrow UK is pleased to announce the timely commencement of a disinfection project to combat plant and human pathogens, including COVID-19. Pathogens is an umbrella term for viruses, bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms that can cause disease. During the current pandemic there has been a significant increase in the use of chemical based disinfectant products for surface decontamination, resulting in significant costs when attempting to cover large surfaces with frequent repeated applications. While dilute bleach or soapy water may suffice for treating contaminated domestic surfaces, there are situations in which these agents are inappropriate, notably in washing fresh produce, including fruit, vegetables and fresh meat.

A water-based solution containing nanobubbles that carry activated oxygen (also known as ozone) to kill pathogens results in residue-free water and oxygen release. Nanobubbles are extremely small bubbles of gas, typically below a thousandth of a millimetre in diameter, 100 times smaller than the thickness of a single human hair. Stabilised nanobubbles do not rise to the surface and burst but remain stable and buoyant in solution for even months, providing a ready, environmentally friendly platform for the carriage and delivery of gases, such as ozone.

Ozone is an effective alternative antiseptic, characterised by its strong antimicrobial action upon pathogens. Ozonated water has been used for such purposes, but its potency is no more than 5 to 10 minutes, whereas water containing ozone-nanobubbles dramatically improves the potency period to possibly months in certain cases.

The aim of the project is to produce a versatile system demonstrator that can be directed at a range of applications by simply changing the formulation and delivery mode of the activated nanobubble water. Initial applications will be directed towards safe, commercial and household surfaces disinfection and secondly towards washing of fresh produce.

The technology is being explored by MagGrow UK in an Innovate UK-funded project.

Dr Anthony Furness, Chief Scientific Officer at MagGrow said: “The project provides a platform for identifying, reviewing, and developing disinfection agents that can be effectively applied in combating pathogen infections in domestic, community and healthcare situations, as well as in crop and livestock production. MagGrow UK, and its parent company, seek to exploit these technologies, with a view to applications that also exploit MagGrow’s patented proprietary spraying technology. Together, they can be seen to offer even greater environmentally beneficial impact, with respect to climate change, water and input usage, biodiversity, bio-geochemical flows and other associated planetary boundaries.”

MagGrow announces the latest additions to their Sales and Crop Science teams

Andrew Lewis joins the MagGrow US Sales Team

We are proud to announce and welcome Andrew Lewis to the MagGrow team as a Regional Technical Sales Executive. Andrew will be joining us on March 1, 2021 working with the US sales development team. Andrew will be responsible for sales development, working directly with our dealer partners building relationships and managing sales opportunities in the Southeast Delta region.

Andrew has earned a Masters of Agribusiness Management from Mississippi State University. Andrew also has several years work experience in the Agricultural Industry. Prior to joining the MagGrow team he was employed at Alliance Ag Risk Management as a crop insurance agent. He also was as an Associate for 19 Agriculture LLC consulting/advising farmers and agribusinesses.

Todd Conner, the Eastern US Sales Director at MagGrow says “I am very excited to welcome Andrew to our rapidly growing US Team. I feel like MagGrow has been building a rocket and as we push out to the launch pad, we are simultaneously putting resources in place like Andrew. He will be an important and instrumental part in launching MagGrow technology into the agricultural industry while working in parallel with our dealer partners”.

Jake Franklin joins MagGrow as Crop Applications Specialist

MagGrow are delighted to announce the latest addition to their Crop Science Team. Jake Franklin joins us as a Crop Applications Specialist for the South East region in the US. Jake will be working closely with the MagGrow sales team and customer base to provide data on the use of MagGrow’s innovative spray system on key crops.

Jake joins us with an AS in Agricultural Engineering Technology and a BS in Diversified Agriculture from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and 10 plus years with FMC Corporation working within the Global Biology team at the Sparks Research Station located in the Southeast US.

Throughout his time with FMC, he worked closely to help drive discovery, development, and commercialization of agricultural products through field research testing capabilities with a strong knowledge of agronomy and crop pest protection while also providing sales support and aiding in product development for new crop application technologies within the company.

Nick Jessop Director of Crop Science at MagGrow says “Jake has experience across a truly impressive range of crops and is a fantastic addition to the rapidly expanding MagGrow operation in the South Eastern region of the US.”

Radical Bubble Technology for Agricultural and Environmental Sustainability

Exciting possibilities for more profitable, sustainable and productive farming are being offered by the emerging technology ‘ultra-fine bubbles’ (UFBs). The technology is being explored in a £250,000 Innovate UK-funded project, led by MagGrow UK in association with Agri-EPI Centre and the Centre for Crop Health and Protection (CHAP).

UFBs, also known as nanobubbles, are tiny, very stable and long-lasting bubbles, 100 times smaller than the width of a human hair, or about the size of a virus. Unseen by the naked eye, even when present in large numbers in water-based liquids, they do not rise to the surface and burst, but remain stable and buoyant for long periods of time, typically days and weeks.

The bubbles can carry gases, and substances of different kinds on their surfaces. Their stability and longevity offer great potential in agriculture for environmentally friendly spraying and irrigation, along with other applications that help address food security and environmental problems.

The use of UFBs containing ozone is already established in medical and industrial disinfection processes to kill bacteria and destroy viruses. UFBs are also used in oil, gas, and mineral extraction processes; pharmaceutical processes; food-flavouring; the production of cosmetic fragrancies; and in wastewater treatment.

While the technology is already generating huge market value in these sectors, its use in agriculture is still in its infancy. The purpose of the new project is to explore the potential for agricultural applications and integration with other technologies to provide innovative, environmentally friendly solutions for sustainable food security.

The project will initially focus on irrigation for delivery of the UFBs. Using Agri-EPI and CHAP’s shared soil and crop technology facilities alongside soil science expertise at Cranfield University, the project will compare the growth of plants treated with oxygen-containing UFB-water, with that of plants given untreated water. The aim of the study is to determine the effect on root development, nutrient absorption, growth and overall crop yield.

The project team believes UFBs potentially have a host of additional applications in farming, including supporting a reduction the quantity of chemical inputs required when spraying and irrigating crops to control pests and diseases.

Dr Anthony Furness, MagGrow’s Chief Scientific Officer, said: “From time-to-time a technology comes along that offers potential for revolutionary change and disruptive economic benefit, such as CDs and smart-phones. We believe that UFB technology has similar transformative potential for agriculture. The versatility of UFB technology, and recent advances in UFB research which have further validated its significance, suggesting too that there is huge potential for their use in advancing spraying and irrigation processes.

“Not only will this help serve to address global food security challenges and the question of how farming can be more sustainable, productive and profitable, it also offers huge potential for new enterprises and job creation across the UK.”

CHAP Innovation Hub Lead, Richard Glass, said: “Using the unique Phenotyping and Soil Health facility, CHAP, supported by key soil experts from its partner Cranfield University, will assess and explore the application of this innovative technology and its potential role in transforming UK crop production.”

Agri-EPI’s Chief Technical Officer, Dr Shamal Mohammed, said: “We’re excited to be contributing our expertise and capabilities in plant phenotyping – the ability to measure the structure and function of plants – to this project. UFBs offer great potential within agriculture and our research will allow us to greatly progress knowledge and understanding of useful UFBs treatments.”

For further information, please contact Jane Smernicki, Agri-EPI Centre Communications Manager on 07985 691 765 or [email protected]

Kennedy Spraying Services First to Adopt MagGrow Spray Technology in South Australia

Andrew Kennedy of Kennedy Spraying Services, Mt Gambier adopts pioneering spray technology, MagGrow through SST GPS. With conventional crop spraying, approximately 70% of crop protection products do not reach the intended target, resulting in drift, runoff, wasted input materials and cost. The MagGrow system delivers a more consistent spray profile, resulting in higher levels of pesticide coverage within the plant canopy. This allows growers to achieve higher coverage while using their current application rate, or the same coverage using a lower application rate.

The patented, proprietary technology passes pesticides through magnetic fields under appropriate flow conditions and changes the physical properties of the fluid. This delivers both superior spray drift control and crop coverage. Increased spray coverage performance can range from 20% to well over a 100% compared to conventional spraying. The MagGrow system consists of two main components with no moving parts, no electrical parts, virtually no maintenance and is compatible with any sprayer brand and boom width.

Andrew Kennedy commented “I can immediately see the benefits MagGrow has delivered to the spray application. The system has greatly reduced drift, increased coverage and increased the productivity of my spraying practices. This enables better crop protection for our growers, delivering greater disease and pest control leading to better crop health. MagGrow will also provide greater compliance towards increasingly stricter environmental legislation.”

Jack Kavanagh, MagGrow Business Development Manager Australasia commented “This has been an exciting journey for MagGrow in Australia. The MagGrow system provides a real win-win for growers, allowing them to grow more while using less. MagGrow delivers greater profitability through reduced water rates, reduced inputs and greater efficiencies during spraying. MagGrow typically provides growers with a return on investment of less than one year. This in turn supports better agriculture and protects the environment. “

The unit is supplied through SST GPS Jerilderie, MagGrow Distributor for Central & Southern NSW, SA & VIC. Brad Parker, Business Development Manager with SST GPS commented. “We are delighted to partner with MagGrow on this leading cutting-edge technology. Through innovative solutions we offer our growers greater productivity, profitability and sustainability. MagGrow’s technology delivers on these three core benefits enabling farmers to drive cost efficiencies across their operations. We look forward to delivering this technology to our other customers and driving greater sustainability across Australian agriculture.”

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