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How are agribusinesses and banks evolving to support innovation and farmers? Senior experts at Syngenta, Bradesco, São Martinho and Coopercitrus share the services and solutions they see as critical across the region.
How is the agtech innovation landscape evolving?
“If 2 or 3 years ago, the Latam agritech landscape was concentrated on smart farming and agri-financing, we are now seeing a very positive expansion to agri-climate, following the global agenda of addressing climate and sustainability issues. Agri-deeptechs and agri-ed techs driven by higher investments in science, technology and education, benefits of the alliances built between private companies, agricultural entities, universities, government and innovation partners.
Fintech companies are expanding their horizons aiming to cover more of the value chain such as distributors and cooperatives (B2B2C) and partnering with banks and funds, in order to decrease the cost of funding delivering better interest rates for the farmers.
“E-agro’s mission is to provide the best solutions in services, products and partnerships with transparency and smart use of data, in order to boost the Brazilian agribusiness by delivering more profitability to the value chain. To accomplish this goal we have developed a platform in alliance with IBM that delivers products such as inputs and machinery with more competitive rates to make farmer’s lives easier, more profitable, and less bureaucratic. For example, access to financial credit called CPR (Farming Product Certificate), which is provided fully digitally to the producer by E-agro, featuring only eight steps from the initial simulation to receiving the requested amount. This is possible because we offer transparency and smart use of data, leading to a smarter credit cession for both farmers and industry, including traditional distribution channels.” Nadege Saad, Head of Agribusiness, BRADESCO
“We see it as imperative to focus attention on solutions that will address real challenges as to improve/maintain yield and productivity throughout the season and that will mitigate risks such as climate extreme conditions such as droughts, frosting conditions, i.e. the usage of AI to systematize the knowledge of experienced professionals scaling up the decisions that will assure that farms will do only what is necessary and at the right time is key at the agriculture. Data centered solutions, computational vision, edge computing and other enabling technologies should be seen to get there and not as an end by itself. Strong partnerships, win-win relationships, and integrations with financing solutions could be key.
“We are investing in the foundations that will reinforce the digital transformation as a lever of innovation. Since 2015, when we invested in a proprietary 4G network in the largest mill in the world, up to now, we finalized our R&D 5G infrastructure, our Digital Platform and Datalake to support co-developments at our Innovation Center. It’s our purpose to foster technological entrepreneurship in the ecosystem and be a partner for accelerating and scaling valuable digital solutions” Marcelo Eskenazi Magalhães, Assessor de Inovação em Novos Negócios, SAO MARTINHO
“Technology plays the magical role of accelerating what is most valuable in a business relationship: connection! In agribusiness, due to its continental dimension that goes beyond borders, seeking this connection between the different links in the international production value-chain provides acceleration of technological escalation, and increased access to alternative financial resources to the traditional ones, which were circulating in other industries. This transformation driven by efficiency in scale is making agribusiness even more disruptive.” Andre Savino, General Director Commercial Platform, LATAM, SYNGENTA
How are you building products to support farmers building economic viability and resilience?
“As a cooperative of growers and farmers with 38,000 members and operations in different regions and crops, over 80% of our members are medium and small scale producers. Our business model seeks to offer the producer not only inputs, but also equipment and services necessary for the development of the agricultural activity. We have recently created an ecosystem called “Campo Digital” which is a platform that houses more than 40 technology companies focused on diagnostics, precision agriculture equipment and the use of artificial intelligence to improve processes as well as the rational use of inputs in the field. With “Campo Digital”, we’re building a value offer, so that all technology and innovation deliver results within the gates. It all starts with a very strong foundation, management zones, profile correction and soil conservation, optimization of planting lines with better use of the land, variable rate and efficient management of resources. For this, satellite images, meteorological stations, precision agriculture equipment, algorithms, UAVs and spraying drones are used. To offer an integrated solution with state-of-the-art technology, to produce more with less is fundamental for a more sustainable world.” Fernando Degobbi, Director President, COOPERCITRUS
Continue the conversation at the World Agri-Tech South America Summit this June 20-21 with over 500 senior executives, investors and innovators from across South America and around the world, sharing insights and strategies to support a sustainable agricultural future for the region. See full program with speakers.