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Among so many biotechnologies with solutions aimed at the pharmaceutical industry, the highlight of the TOP10 Latin America award from the North American magazine Life Science Review (Fortlauderdalle, United States), was the Brazilian TCP – the Probiotic Consortium Technology, developed by the startup Global Biotechnology.
The award ceremony is held for the first time in Latin America, being traditional in Europe, the USA and Asia. It is worth mentioning that TCP was the only biotechnology, among the ten awarded, focused on agribusiness. The other Brazilian winner was Bionovis, which is in the pharmaceutical sector, formed by renowned laboratories.
According to the North American publication “it is undeniable that microbiome technologies will change the world of agriculture and that Brazil is leading this revolution with TCP”. Also according to Life Science Review magazine, with the use of biotechnology developed in Brazil based on microbiomes, “this giant from South America has a great chance of being an example of sustainability at the same time that it will break production records in soybeans, corn, sugarcane sugar and animal protein.”
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Altamiro Alvernaz, technology developer and creator of the term TCP, commented on the award: “I thought it was a joke when they contacted me, really. I say this because I'm not one to enter a contest or anything like that. It's still hard to believe. What I have to say is that we are happy. After all, it all started by chance, out of love”, he explains, remembering that he began his studies trying to find something that could contain an overwhelming disease that affected a member of his family.
And despite the award, its feet are on the ground: “TCP was placed on the same level as Bionovis. Have you seen the structure of Bionovis?! They are with Aché, Pharma, União Química! Just giants. I think that, perhaps, we are the ugly duckling of agricultural organics, after all, everything about us is counted by fingernails. All so-called 'Biotech' has someone strong investing, accelerating.”
“We are the only one that does not have any type of investment from large funds or anything like that. What has been happening is that the results that everyone propagates in soybeans, corn and sugarcane come from 'word of mouth', from what TCP actually provides. We don't have advertising. I'm not good at this marketing thing. Now I'm going to start this Instagram thing. Perhaps with this award we will be able to invest to gain momentum. But I think everything has its time”, reflects the TCP developer.
Acceleration of composting, N fixation, P solubilization, rooting agent, nematicide, fungicide, biostimulant, biofertilizer, replacement of ionophores, anti-coccidians, antimicrobials, production of metabolites, many of the functions of TCP have been presented in scientific studies over the last 6 years that drew the attention of specialized foreign publications and American scientific publications. But it wasn't just discoveries in agribusiness that drew attention to biotechnology.
TCP has other applications that go far beyond agribusiness: “When they started interviewing me, I talked about the other things I do in my daily life with TCP. I started this for humans and I have my formula that myself, my wife, mother and daughter use. And today I make it on a larger scale for friends who ask me. I have degreaser to use after barbecue on the grill. I have a formulation to dissolve organic matter from grease traps, septic tanks and sludge. Some time ago I made it with petroleum and took the viscosity out of it, making it easy to clean. We've already made beer with TCP. And I have a formula to reduce the effects of a hangover. I use this one a lot (laughs). I like to do experiments. That’s how it all started”, concluded Alvernaz.
The doors are opening and Brazilian agribusiness is discovering TCP. In addition to the international award as the highlight biotechnology of the year 2022, this month of November the first of a series of four special articles on the Probiotic Consortium Technology was published in the highly regarded Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) magazine for agribusiness and economics, Agroanalysis.
The magazine is doing a complete x-ray on the technology, showing how TCP can take Brazilian agribusiness to a new evolution through scientific and field results in soybeans, corn, sugar cane and chickens with some of the biggest experts in the market . The special articles will tell in detail the story of the technology that is emerging from the ugly duckling stigma, according to the TCP developer himself, to become a swan.
Source: Leonardo Gottems | agrolink
