Unprecedented initiative to support sustainable startups’ proposals for the Cerrado
The Land Innovation Fund and AgTech Garage announce the Sustainable Soybean in the Cerrado Program's first breakthrough solutions to receive financial support from the Startup Finance Facility (SFF).
Three initial proposals were selected by the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program for financial support from the Startup Finance Facility, a novel initiative to manage and foster innovation solutions for a sustainable soybean supply chain, free of deforestation or conversion of native vegetation: HyperT, an integrated traceability, monitoring and carbon credit platform designed by AgTrace, BrCarbon, BrainAg and Um grau e meio; Carbon Stock in Western Bahia, startup Agrorobótica’s project to analyze different soil scenarios in one of the country's most productive agricultural regions; and Protect the Cerrado, a carbon offset initiative to encourage environmental conservation and restoration, by startups Plantem and Forestmatic. With funds from the Land Innovation Fund and expertise from AgTech Garage, the Startup Finance Facility has R$2.2 million available to catalyze the development, testing, and implementation of innovative solutions for intelligence, security, and sustainability in the Cerrado biome’s soy chain. The Facility's revenue may grow with the entry of new partners also interested in supporting this innovation ecosystem for sustainable agribusiness.
"We understand that innovation depends on creating an innovation landscape, with room for dialogue and integration among the various players in the soy chain, to build a portfolio of complementary solutions for environmental conservation and sustainable farming," in the words of Carlos E. Quintela, director of the Land Innovation Fund. "With the Startup Finance Facility, we offer startups in the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program a chance to access funding for their breakthrough projects, actions, and initiatives to achieve responsible agricultural development, and bolster a portfolio of innovative and sustainable market solutions," he concluded.
"We understand that innovation depends on creating an innovation landscape, with room for dialogue and integration among the various players in the soy chain, to build a portfolio of complementary solutions for environmental conservation and sustainable farming," in the words of Carlos E. Quintela, director of the Land Innovation Fund.
Startup Finance Facility resources are available to participants in the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program (PSSC) interested in eliminating barriers to their innovative projects and ideas for sustainable agribusiness. Startups can apply individually or in partnership with other Program participants, for evaluation by a Technical Committee. The selection criteria include adherence to the PSSC program; the innovative potential of the service or product; the initiative's economic and financial viability; the composition, function, and weight of each startup in the project (if more than one is involved); the technical knowledge and quality of the proposal, and others.
AgTech Garage, meanwhile, provides startups with mentoring services by business experts, academics and scientists from its fellowship programs, in addition to access to clients, investors and other potential participants in its innovation ecosystem. "Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado is already innovative in its management and funding structure. With a 360-degree outlook, moreover, the PSSC offers market connections, mentors, academics and experts, with the differential of also having a financial mechanism capable of supporting the development of projects still in their testing and scale-up phases. It is a satisfaction to be the Hub partner of choice and to coordinate and foster LIF's strategic positioning in this entrepreneurial ecosystem," says José Tomé, AgTech Garage co-founder and CEO.
New partners can join the Startup Finance Facility by contributing technical and financial resources to the project and participating in the process of selecting more innovation solutions for the program.
More about the selected initiatives:
HyperT (HyperTransparency): an online platform in blockchain format, designed to perform a complete analysis of a given farm, from assessing the documentation needed for socio-environmental regularization to a diagnosis of measures to prevent environmental damage, prospects for economic returns to carbon credits in areas with either unused native vegetation or a potential for ecological restoration, and a look at the risks of converting legal reserve areas to farmland. This is the HyperT - Hyper Transparency proposal, which grew out of the expertise of four startups – AgTrace, BrCarbon, BrainAg and Um grau e meio – which joined forces in an integrated solution to traceability, monitoring and carbon balance. The tool benefits both farmers and the agricultural commodities market. Farm owners can measure the value of their standing forest and cash it in for carbon credits; traders can offer incentive programs for farms committed to socio-environmental issues.
Carbon stock in Western Bahia: Agrorobótica will use the AGLIBS artificial intelligence platform, developed with NASA technology, to analyze different soil scenarios in one of Brazil's most productive farming regions, Western Bahia. The proposal is to map areas ranging from degraded pastureland to others with native vegetation, and from conventional crop fields to others with sustainable management, to illustrate the impact of adopting sustainable practices for carbon capture and higher farm yields. The survey provides an inventory of local greenhouse gas emissions and allows farmers to join the voluntary carbon credit market. A total of 2,200 samples will be analyzed for quantitative and qualitative carbon, as well as 550 samples for soil density and texture.
Protect the Cerrado: The startups Plantem and Forestmatic partnered to launch this initiative, aimed at encouraging restoration and conservation in the Cerrado by connecting small farmers in the Matopiba region with socially and environmentally responsible companies. Their proposal is to automate the offsetting of carbon footprints from activities or products in the soy supply chain via operational or commercial triggers. This technological solution offers financial incentives to preserve the standing Cerrado and adopt low-carbon farming techniques by paying farmers for the Environmental Services they provide.
The Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program:
The Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program was launched as a partnership between the innovation hub AgTech Garage and the Land Innovation Fund, with strategic support from Embrapii, with the aim of providing agribusiness ecosystems with innovative solutions to reap positive economic and socio-environmental impacts for the soy supply chain in the Cerrado biome. In the first two cycles of the PSSC, ten startups were selected for mentoring and to become part of AgTech Garage's innovation ecosystem, whose range of projects includes environmental monitoring technologies, soil analyses and treatment, ecological restoration techniques, artificial intelligence, big data solutions, carbon quantification methodologies, and traceability technologies, among others.
AgTech Garage is an innovation hub specialized in agribusiness. Founded in 2017, it now has over 55 major partner companies, leaders in their segments, and over 900 connected startups in its virtual community. As a pioneer in fostering open innovation in agribusiness, its initiatives, practices, and tools have boosted its partners' competitiveness through novel products and services for an increasingly digital and sustainable agri-food chain. www.agtechgarage.com
The Brazilian Research and Innovation Company (EMBRAPII) is a social organization that supports technological research institutions promoting innovation in Brazilian industry. EMBRAPII cooperates with public and private scientific and technological research institutions, focused on business demands and aimed at risk-sharing in the pre-competitive phase of innovation. Its objective is to stimulate the industrial sector to undertake more innovation, with more technology, and to enhance companies' competitive strengths in both domestic and international markets.
About the Land Innovation Fund:
Founded with an initial contribution from Cargill and managed by Chemonics International, the Land Innovation Fund supports innovation for a sustainable and deforestation-free soy production chain, with no conversion of native plant cover, and with positive economic and socio-environmental impacts in three of South America's priority biomes: Cerrado, Gran Chaco and Amazon. The Land Innovation Fund supports innovations that increase yields through sustainable practices, mechanisms and approaches, encouraging farmers to conserve and restore native forests and vegetation, and by mobilizing networks and resources to transform the soy supply chain.