The future of agribusiness necessarily involves strengthening an ecosystem that integrates small and medium-sized farms, industry and new disruptive technologies. By ensuring gains in productivity and competitiveness in an extremely commoditized and fragmented market, the technological revolution will germinate new agro-entrepreneurs in the countryside and in the city who, together, will create a new market to help face the increase in global demand for food.
That was the conclusion I came to when I participated a few days ago in the Forbes Agtech Summit, held in Salinas, California, one of the main sector fairs in the world, and InfoAG, held in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the largest precision agriculture events in the world. The two events brought together the main exponents of the agtech universe, bringing together startups and technology companies with producers, investors and representatives of global players in agribusiness and the food industry.
In the countless conversations I had in the corridors and at our stand, what surprised me most about the American market was the vision of sustainability of agribusiness between generations and the professionalization of the field, even on small properties, ensuring the permanence of families in rural businesses.
There is a strong stimulus from several players of the chain and an interest from families who own small and medium-sized farms, with up to 1.000 hectares, in the use of cutting-edge technologies, previously only used on large properties. Agtechs, in turn, also receive strong incentives from the private sector to develop solutions that improve crop results.
And it is like this, with a market well organized in intelligent family structures, integrating rural and urban and bringing startups closer to large food manufacturers, that the agribusiness cycle perpetuates itself, motivating, on the one hand, those on the ground to roll up their sleeves to entrepreneurship and generating wealth and, on the other, those in Silicon Valley creating new technologies that, at the end of the day, will benefit the entire chain, from farm to industry.
The reader will allow me a disclosure. These days, immersed in two very important events for the sector, have made me certain that we are on the right path by having the opportunity to lead an agtech in Brazil with global scale potential. I realized that I am part of this new generation that will bring together the two worlds, the farm and the city, to create a new agroeconomy.
I come from a family of farmers who, like many, fought against adversity and repeated crises to remain attached to the land without ever giving up on agribusiness. During my childhood I lived in Campo Grande and spent my holidays on the farm in the interior of Mato Grosso do Sul, accompanying my father and, later, my grandfather in growing soybeans and raising cattle.
Their passion and entrepreneurial resilience were certainly examples that made me build the dream of becoming an entrepreneur and now being involved with an agtech. I have always been passionate about technology. Furthermore, I worked for many years in the agricultural sector as trader de commodities, expanding my background to be able to take on current challenges.
And this will be the dream shared by many.
It is these new kids sitting in the startups' laboratories that, I believe, will build the “digital hoes” to help Brazil explore its full potential and agricultural vocation. It is undeniable that the agricultural sector will undergo major changes in the coming years. The American example shows us that small and medium-sized farmers can – and should – adopt new technologies, such as Internet of Things solutions, Artificial Intelligence, satellites, drones and biotechnologies, to fertilize plantations dedicated to the supply and supply of raw materials to food manufacturers.
Due to the high cost of capital - in a highly leveraged sector - and bad agrarian policies, Brazil suffered and still suffers greatly from the rural exodus, which ended up increasing large estates and a concentration of production on large farms, which also they grew up in the wake of heirs who preferred to sell their properties rather than become farmers. Now, a gap is beginning to be created between small and large agricultural properties, which will further reduce medium-sized properties in Brazil.
According to the latest Agricultural Census, small properties represent 84,4% of Brazilian agricultural establishments, but account for 38% of the gross value of agricultural production, showing that there is a lack of productivity and great opportunities.
According to IBGE, Brazil has a predominance of rural municipalities, which represent 60,4% of the country's cities, but where only 17% of the population resides. Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) registers 130 thousand large rural properties, which total 47,23% of the entire registered area. The combined area of the 3,75 million minifundios represents only 10,2% of the total area. The 2015 Brazil Land Atlas, organized by CNPq/USP, indicates that we have 175,9 million unproductive hectares.
This situation must change.
To achieve a fruitful crop and capture a share of the commodities market, small and medium-sized farmers will have no other option than to invest, as well as large agro-entrepreneurs, in technology, opening up a potential market for the development of national agtechs that can, with the support of venture capital and industry, grow and become global.
The moment for agtech in Brazil could not be more fertile. We are one of the world's main producers and agribusiness continues to have a significant weight in GDP. There are many technology entrepreneurs, as well as investors, interested in agriculture, however, and this is a point of attention, not necessarily with the necessary experience and knowledge of the production chain to understand the pain in the field.
Agribusiness is a fragmented and conservative market, which makes it difficult for startups to grow. Therefore, it is not just necessary to be interested in the sector. It is necessary to have in-depth knowledge of the profile of Brazilian agribusiness, as tropical agriculture is completely different from temperate agriculture, which does not allow copy-cats (import models that work abroad). Technologies must be tropicalized.
The rapprochement between technological entrepreneurs and farmers, mediated by large food manufacturers, is therefore mandatory. If we don't sow in time, we will lose the harvest. And we don't want to stay out of this, do we?
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