São Paulo – In 2016, agricultural engineer Alexandre Monteiro Chequim decided, alongside his former professor Ricardo Balardin, to invest in creating an agribusiness tech company. Then was born DigiFarmz, one of the startups helping to revolutionize the fastest growing sector in the Brazilian economy, agribusiness.
The company from the state of Rio Grande do Sul started its operations in 2017 as a platform to help soybean producers increase the assertiveness of planting, select the most appropriate inputs, choose the ideal harvest time, and manage the entire production process for the soybean chain. Now, it already applies its algorithms to other crops, such as maize and wheat. In 2019, it had three employees; presently, 21 people are working at the company.
“Agriculture came later in the technological development we see today, in digitalization. It came with 4.0 agriculture, and today it is more advanced with 5.0 agriculture (which is more automated, uses mathematical data and artificial intelligence in crop management). If we compare it with other more “urban” segments of the economy, startups and cutting-edge technology initiatives came later to agriculture, first because it is not the field most people are in, and second because it is something physical. You cannot apply the dematerialization of other sectors here. Agri needs water, seeds, land. It is even more traditional,” says Chequim.
DigiFarmz, of which he is CEO and co-founder, along with Balardin, brings the concept of digitization and the use of advanced mathematical calculations to agriculture. But it is not the only one.
According to the executive manager at EsalqTec, Sergio Barbosa, the sector is undergoing a technology revolution carried out by companies considered “agritechs,” which also include startups in the field. EsalqTec itself is an ecosystem created by the Luiz de Queiroz School of Agronomy, of the University of São Paulo (USP), with an eye on the revolution in the countryside. “What we need is sustainability, and that is where technology comes in. It is about being able to be more productive and do more with less: less cost, less land, less water, fewer inputs, less energy, and reduced impacts. If today I need a hectare to raise an ox, I can try to raise two oxen in the same area and thus reduce the used space by half,” he exemplifies.
As an example of what can be done with the help of startups, Chequim mentions the sector in which DigiFarmz itself operates: soybean. “Today, an average of 60 bags of soybeans per hectare are produced. We have some records of 129 bags per hectare, and the potential for productivity can be 200 bags per hectare,” he says.
Where are the agritechs?
Developed jointly by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), Homo Ludens Research Consulting, and SP Ventures, Radar Agtech maps Brazilian agribusiness startups. According to 2020/2021 data, there are 1,574 agritechs in Brazil. Of these, 983 are based in the country’s Southeast region, 397 in the South, 94 in the Midwest, 72 in the Northeast, and 26 in the North. And, in relation to states, 757 are in São Paulo, followed by Paraná (151), Minas Gerais (143), Rio Grande do Sul (124) and Santa Catarina (122).
One of the startups born in the state of São Paulo is PW Tech, which is associated with EsalqTec. It emerged within the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in 2019 and was created from equipment capable of filtering water for drinking consumption. According to the founding partner, along with Maria Helena Azevedo, and PW Tech CEO, Fernando Marcos Silva, the equipment’s differential lies in its portability, guarantee of water quality, and ability to work with different energy sources allowing it to be used where there is no drinking water. The equipment can operate with energy from solar, wind, and electric sources and filters up to 5,000 liters of water per day.
“Its first use is social; after all, we have 35 million people in Brazil without access to drinking water, even if they are sometimes close to a water source. Other uses can be to help in the fattening of cattle and weaning of calves,” says Silva, mentioning the equipment’s uses. But other opportunities open up from the idea conceived within the university walls.
In a project with mining company Vale, impoverished communities use the equipment to support themselves and generate income from small food production. In another case, the company was selected by the United Nations (UN) to supply the equipment to forest fire brigades at the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), as well as participating in future government projects.
Going global
The company has already obtained a partnership with startup accelerators to expand its range of activities for the equipment and is participating in an acceleration project in Portugal. Today, it has 11 employees and expects to grow, according to Silva, according to the arrival of projects and orders. It also has contributions from the Fram Capital mutual fund. “We gave two pieces of equipment to the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), which recently donated them to Haiti. We have an internationalization plan, but we are putting our projects into practice step by step,” says Silva.
DigiFarmz is also starting to take its first steps beyond the Brazilian countryside: “Internationalization is in our plans. We already have a project in Paraguay, and we have a POC [proof of concept] scheduled in the United States. We are improving the platform, developing the team and processes. We are moving fast,” says Chequim. “Brazil has the biggest agritechs movement in the world, of agricultural technology companies. And among them are startups. I am not just talking about companies, but about business ecosystems making Brazil continue to be a supplier of food and energy in a sustainable way,” adds Sergio.
* Special report by Marcos Carrieri for ANBA
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
