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FiGA can be described as an innovative company that refuses  agricultural chemicals replacing them with biological mechanisms to control pests. The consequences of using organic chemicals have made a need to create a company which promotes the use of biological pesticides and herbicides.

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We have chosen this topic because there are more risk factors in the use of tradicional chemical pesticides and herbicides. In our start-up, we bet for the using of biological methods to fight pests and diseases, because with these resouces we can prevent all the disadvantages that chemical products include: on one hand, we want prevent diseases like cancer, negative effects in the nervous system, hormonal disturbances and problems in the reproductive system of the employees who work with the chemical products and of the consumers who buy the fruits and vegetables.
On the other hand, we can avoid other problems of the chemical resources, like water and ground pollution, imbalance of ground's pH and africultural problems, like a lower seed birthing.
We want to take care of farmers and employees. We want to take care of the enviroment and our crops. And this is why we created FiGA.

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Diana Malpica García - designer
Riánsares Ramos Pulpón -reseacher
Pilar Ruiz Delgado - reseacher
Ramón Sobrino Pardo - Developer

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In FiGA Biochar is made by biomass of plant whose origins are the pruning rest or the elements that are removed from harvests of all years.
It is used as a soil amendment and a way to recover acid soils (soil's mines and contaminated soils) for agricultural use.
It catches the carbon from the environment so it contributes to mitigate climate change by saving ozone layer.

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Biomass is processed through pyrolysis (burning). For this reason it is called charcoal or vegetal carbon.

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It is destinated to farmers that focus on ecological activity.
Vermicompost is a compost or humus made by earthworm.
It contributes to decrease the remainders create by farm activity.

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It allows us to recover soil whose productivity was lost.
It contributes to the reduction of the harvest and pruning remains.
It works against the inicial inoculum located in bad weed or remains.

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It is a very good solution to improve your soil characteristics.
It is a really simple system production.
It reduces the remains of our activities.
It is ideal for our ecological goals.

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The process to get it could be a little bit complex or, at least, it has a really hight investment.
It would be different as it depends on raw matherial.
It could be more expensive that other organic fertilizers like purin (it hasn't got a termic process that ensure us that it is pathogen free)

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The production could be slow due to the biological process.
The production have to be in a small scale.
It could be more expensive due to the hard process to obtain a really good  amount.

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Pesticides are chemicals that may be used to kill fungus, bacteria, insect, plant disease… the chemical can work by touch or by ingestion and death may happen immediately or over a long time of period.

Herbicides are used to kill plant disease or weeds. Some herbicides will kill all the plant by touch and others are designed to target one species.

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Biological controls can be defined as the way to reduction of pest population by natural enemies with no human input. This guide emphasizes the biological control of insect bur of weeds and plant disease is also included.

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1. Pesticides: mice and rat population, termites and weeds, beetle, true bug, lacewing, wasp, dragonfly families, spiders, flies, predators mites, fungus, bacteria, snails, slugs and plant disease.

2. Herbicides: specifically target weeds and others unwanted plants.

3. Biological control: lady beetles, lacewings, parasitoids (wasps and some flies too), pathogens (bacteria, fungi and viruses)…

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How are classifying pesticides and herbicides:  

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How are classifying pesticides and herbicides:  

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We can classify pesticides and herbicides according to ambit of application in different groups:

1.     Place where it is used:

-  Plants health.

-  Environment health.

-  Food industry.

-  Gardening.

-  Personal hygiene.

-  Others applications.

-  Animal breeding.

2. According to the host on which the agrochemical acts:

-  Insecticides.

-  Acaricidas

-  Fungicides

-  Nematocides

-  Herbicides

-  Phytoregulators and related products.

-  Molluscicides.

-  Rodenticides and several similar ones.

-  Treatments of wood, fiber and derivatives.

-  Various specific.

3. According to the form on act in the plant:

-  Systemic: they are absorbed by the plan and translocated keeping the lethal concentration for 7 days.

-  In contact: the product is only effective against the plague when it is in contact with the plant.

4. According to the specify against the plague:

- Selective: affects a especific type of plant without damaging the rest of crop.

-  Non-selective: destroys a wide variety of plants.

5. According by the way of entry:

-  Contact

-  Ingestion

-  Inhalation
6. According to the way of action.

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-Biologic control:
Types:
We can find three kinds of biological alternatives:

· Classic biological control: it consists on introduced exotic species to control the plague. The objective is settled permanently in the fauna.

· Augmentative biological control: it consists in increasing the natural enemies in labs to release it after.

· Biological control by conservation: it consists in modifying the environment to protect and increasing the naturals enemies that exit on the environment.

Auxiliary fauna:
- Predatory bugs

- Coccinellids: they feed with aphids and mealybugs.

- Chrysomelidae: they feed aphid when they are larvae while adults feed nectar and pollen.
- Parasitoids: they feed on the interior of the insect when they are larvae because they put down them eggs and adults feed nectar and pollen.

- Syrphidae: adults feed nectar and pollen while larvae are predators of the aphid.
To show you this auxiliar fauna we launch some pictures under this post.

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They act quickly and are easy to use. They are also capable of killing unnecessary weeds, allowing only the chosen plant to grow.

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The main  advantage of these alternatives is that it doesn´t use toxic products and respects the enviroment.
Another advantage is that the cost/benefit ratio is favorable.
Finally these alternatives avoid secondary plagues.

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1. Harm to environment: particles fly through the air when they are applied and then carried away runoff water.

2.Harm to wildlife: If species are exposed to these chemicals, the result can be low weight, lowered resistance to disease, sterility, loss of attention, and even death

3. Harm humans: they can cause cancer and also irritate the skin and lungs.

4. Inability to control applications: many pesticides and herbicides are not selective and can kill many plants that they touch and can kill many insects that are beneficial to the plant.

5. Expense.

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The most important disadvantage is that you must have actions plans, strategy and more knowledge than in other methods.
Another problem with these techniques is the action time, because it is slower than pesticides and herbicides.
Lastly, it is an expensive and difficult to apply method.

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Why is it better to use biological alternatives?

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Why is it better to use biological alternatives?

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Our company defends biological alternatives because it is better for the environment and the production, and because in the long run it is more economical and efficient.
We bet on quality-price.

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This method is used to detect in time of a new infestation and to control new plagues especially bugs because they are attracted to white shades.

There are many colors to attract different plagues.

What is Biobest Sticky Trap?

A white sticky plate made of a durable, recyclable plastic, glued on both sides.

Insects stick on the plate.

Which are they benefices?

-  Non-toxic
-  Waterproof

-  The adhesive plate keeps his form.

-  Can detect in time new plagues.

-  You can use it in vegetables, (eggplants, cucumber, sweet pepper…)

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1- Is a cheap product.
2- It's easy to produce it.
3- It's free of pathogens, so it can be used to eliminate harvest scraps infected with bacteria or funguses or affected by a disease.
4- Is made from organic waste, so using compost reduce the amount of trash in the dumps.
5- It can be made in an urban around as in a rural around.
6- It's easier for the crops to assimilate it than a chemical fertilizer.
7- It improves the structure and the fertility of the soil.

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1- Great facilities are needed to produce large amounts of compost.
2- The composting process lasts many weeks.
3- Temperature, humidity and aeration must be checked continually, so it's required special equipment to take measures.
4- Not every food wastes can be used to produce compost, so it's needed a previous separation and selection of the wastes.

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Anaerobic composting is similar to regular composting. The most important characteristic of anaerobic composting is that it is carried out in anaerobic conditions. That means the process of anaerobic composting is done in an ambient without oxygen. This situation can be reached adding water to the ambient until we fill all the gaps and holes of the heap of organic materia.
Temperature, humidity and aeration are continually checked; it is very importan to keep the level of humidity near of the 100% to garantize the complete efeectiveness of the process.
This method is very recommend to eliminate some pathogens, especially phytopathogen fungus, and the resulting compost can be used in agriculture and gardening as a fertilizer.

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1- Is very efective eliminating phytopathogen fungus.
2- Can be used in areas with available water.
3- The product of the process (compost) can be used.
4- The process consumes trash and organic scraps and produces usable material.
5- Anaerobic composting can replace chemical products for fighting phytopathogen fungus housed in the pruning remains and in the harvest scraps.

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1- It can't be used in arid places (without available water).
2- It's more expensive than regular composting (more water is needed to inject in the ambient).
2- It's a slower process than regular composting; anaerobic composting takes more time to complete.
3- It is very difficult to get an anaerobic enviroment because it is almost imposible to expulse all the oxygen from the composting container.

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It is used especially in citrus and vineyards. It consists of filling the plot with pheromones, which makes the insect confused and this prevents them from reproducing. The only problem is that it must be applied in plantations with a certain size. It is the less agressive and the most comfortable to apply.

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Composting is a process through wich it is possible transform organic wastes to compost. What is compost? Compost is an organic product made from organic materia (like grass, pruning wastes, manure, food scraps...) which is submitted to a composting process; it has an earthy look, and it is free of smells and pathogens.
In the composting process, temperature, humidity and aeration are checked to ensure a correct development of the compost; these three factors condition the growing of the microorganisms, like bacteria and fungus, which are in charge of the descomposing process.
The activity of these microorgnisms provokes an increase of the temperature, which can reach values of 60-70ºC.
The entire process of composting last from 10 to 16 weeks generally, but the duration of the procees depends of the good control of the temperature, the humidity and the aeration and of the quality and maturation desired of the compost to get.
Compost can be used as an organic amendment or fertilizer in agriculture and gardening, and using compost instead of chemical fertilizers let to the farmers to interact with the agricultural ecosystem in a more efficient and in a less pollutant way. This is because compost is made from organic wastes and food scraps, so the use of compost reduces the amount of organic wastes accumulated in dumps. Also, using compost is better for the enviroment because is easier for the crops to assimilate it. The reason? Its organic nature and its high present of very degradated molecules. It's important to point that compost can improve the soil's charcteristisc, like fertility and structure, and an excess of compost in the land will not affect negatively to the crops.

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Our products are made with a really high quality, it is shown in the productivity yields.
For that reason, our products have a really affordable price.