HyperT: Integrated solution for sustainable soy
Created by a partnership of four startups participating in the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program, the HyperT platform will reach the market in April
An online platform in blockchain format for socio-environmental diagnosis of rural properties, focused on the soybean supply chain, but valid for any other agricultural commodity. This is the proposal of HyperT - or Hypertransparency - an integrated traceability, big data, monitoring, and carbon credit tool developed by four startups in the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado portfolio, who were selected for financial support from the Startup Finance Facility to foster innovative solutions. Combining their own technical knowledge and multiple areas of expertise, AgTrace, BrainAg, brCarbon, and Umgrauemeio plan to launch the platform this April to facilitate farmers' access to a market that is increasingly committed to sustainable, low-carbon agriculture, and a deforestation and conversion-free (DCF) soy supply chain.
With HyperT platform, the startups will produce a complete analysis of each farm, including any documentation lacking for its socio-environmental regularization, how to prevent fires and environmental damage, the potential for financial returns from carbon credits in areas with surplus native vegetation and for ecological restoration, and a risk assessment of the conversion of legal reserve areas to farmland. The platform benefits both farmers and the agricultural commodities market, since the landowner can measure the value of standing forests and convert it into carbon credits, while companies can generate incentive programs for farms committed to socio-environmental issues.
The proposal to develop a platform to integrate several of the agricultural market’s demands into a single digital tool was developed under the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program, set up by a partnership between AgTech Garage and the Land Innovation Fund, with strategic support from Embrapii and CPQD. In addition to access to mentoring, exchanges with researchers from the Cerrado Fellowship, and participation of members of the For Farmers Program for proof-of-concept validation, the startups have accessed individual financial contributions from the Startup Finance Facility to refine each specific aspect of the solution. "I know of no other initiative that integrates agtechs to jointly develop solutions and to meet a growing demand from the private sector for complex tools on an integrated platform," says Andre Turkienicz, CEO of AgTrace.
AgTrace, specialized in data traceability with blockchain, laid the base for integrating systems to consolidate information on a single platform. Big data startup BrainAg added access to public social, environmental and landholding data to be evaluated by the tool, along with a checklist of farm-related social and environmental criteria. With extensive experience in forest carbon projects, brCarbon's initiative offers the possibility of contracting climate solutions with carbon market resources, from feasibility studies to final negotiations. Climate tech One and a Half Degrees then brought to the platform its Pantera system for natural resource management, with fire risk analysis and daily alerts of hot spots on the property.
Together, the four startups add value and market potential to this collaborative platform with integrated solutions to some of the most frequent demands of today's agricultural market. And they also improve the portfolio and quality of the services they provide individually. With the partnership, for example, brCarbon incorporated an application developed by AgTrace to collect field data from forest inventories, previously done manually. The socio-environmental checklist offered by BrainAg is now also a differential for AgTrace services. BrCarbon's own work now uses the initial legal and land-ownership checklist developed by BrainAg, a facilitator for carbon project feasibility studies, and Umgrauemeio benefits from the blockchain traceability service offered by AgTrace.
"This startup pool’s initiative has total synergy with Land Innovation's objectives of promoting integrated and innovative solutions, focused on farms, with a potential to address major challenges on today's environmental and agricultural agendas," says the director of the Land Innovation Fund, Carlos E. Quintela. "With the PSSC, we enable the exchange and improvement of green solutions and help make sustainability a market differentiator," he adds.
Pilot Project:
While developing the pilot project, the HyperT startup team enjoyed the support of soy farmer Lucas Goulart, a member of the For Farmers Program. On his more than 6,000-hectare farm in the interior of Maranhão, inside the Cerrado biome, he already receives daily fire alerts generated by Umgrauemeio. With direct access to the Pantera system and its risk map calculated from a meteorological index, anthropic variables, and history of occurrences in the region, he can also enter additional data about fire brigades, water catchment points and factory locations in order to have access to even more detailed information about hot spots on the farm.
BrCarbon has already gone into the field to collect data for the forest biomass inventory, fed into the HyperT system's newly developed application, and correlated it with information obtained by the drone, to generate an equation for optimizing the calculation of carbon stock. "Once the equation is validated, we can apply it for calculations on other farms. The data in blockchain ensure the project's credibility and agility. All photos and evidence are integrated into the platform, making the auditing process for carbon credit certification much simpler, faster, and transparent", explains Bruna Azevedo, from brCarbon.
BrainAg, on the other hand, provided access to the Farmer ID application, part of the HyperT platform, to access the farms' socio-environmental analyses, documents, and certificates. BrainAg also surveyed the surplus native vegetation in two municipalities in Maranhão – Balsas and São Raimundo das Mangueiras – to prepare a database of potential conservation areas that might generate carbon credits and financial returns in areas eligible for REDD+ projects.
Business Model:
Starting in April, customers interested in using the platform will be able to contract different HyperT services, from a minimum of two solutions to a complete package of four activities offered by the startups. The idea is to reward customers interested in making their operations traceable and sustainable by offering a HyperT quality seal, designed to differentiate producers in terms of their quality, yields, and profitability in the competitive commodities market.
Both farmers and large companies can subscribe to and benefit from HyperT. Farmers will increase their commodity's potential sales and market value, as a premium product. And the private sector can meet the growing international demand for sustainable, deforestation-free farm products. "We understand that traceability is an irreversible trend and that the private sector can be the driving force behind a green economy, encouraging the adoption of sustainable practices throughout the production chain," says Osmar Bambini, CEO of One and a Half Degrees.
Developed in modules, the HyperT platform is structured to add other new services to the system. "Today HyperT is ready to integrate other startups into the platform and provide more and more new solutions for the ag market," explains André. The proposal is to facilitate data and information flows to monitor agricultural supply chains, identify sustainability protocols, quantify results, and price the benefits of doing green business.
Visit the HyperT website and get to know the startups' proposal