Bayer's digital platform reaches 22 million hectares mapped in Brazil

Climate FieldView, Bayer's digital agriculture platform, registered a record reach in Brazilian crops last year and has become an increasingly relevant ally for farmers. Between 2020 and 2021, the use of the tool in the country jumped from 12,8 million monitored hectares to 22 million, an increase of 72%.

The area is equivalent to more than half of the hectares of soybeans planted in Brazil, the world's main producer of the grain. Globally, platform monitoring increased by 20% compared to 2020, going from 60 million hectares to 72 million.

This growth maintains Climate FieldView as a leading digital agriculture platform and proves the willingness of farmers, especially Brazilians, to adopt innovative solutions in the field, according to Abdalah Novaes, Bayer's business leader for Latin America. “FieldView has proven to be an essential tool for decision-making for rural producers and is capable of adapting to the needs of each of them. For this reason, the growth rate of our platform, especially in Brazil, continues to accelerate,” he says.

Launched in the country in the 2017/2018 harvest, the platform has already helped Brazilian rural producers to save on the application of fertilizers and pesticides, optimize the use of natural resources and make more assertive decisions for different crops, from soybeans, corn and cotton, to others crops such as coffee, sugar cane and vegetables. Today, farmers in more than 20 countries have access to FieldView's features and benefits.

“Digital transformation is changing the way rural producers view their property, helping them extract the maximum potential from the solutions they already use, such as biotechnologies and inputs, allowing them to manage operations more efficiently. FieldView, for example, has the exclusive and unique ability to capture the most important data from a production, something that, in the end, allows the farmer to see value in the technology he hired”, points out Novaes.

The growth of Climate FieldView in Brazil coincides with a time when factors such as adverse weather conditions and rising costs linked to agricultural production require greater efficiency in decision-making. Given this scenario, FieldView has enabled rural producers to extract the highest possible return from each investment made.

“With FieldView, farmers can integrate their data in a single place, manage their operations more efficiently and maximize their productivity and profitability, in a much more sustainable way. The tool also allows producers to monitor every square meter of their property. In this way, the applications of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides are carried out with a more efficient distribution”, concludes the executive.

Partnership with more than 10 startups

Founded in 2006, Climate FieldView was born as a startup operating in the meteorology area and, over time, changed its business model and became a digital agriculture agtech. The company reached a valuation of US$1 billion in 2013, becoming the first agricultural unicorn, and grew based not only on partnerships with farmers, but also with other startups. Since then, it has been establishing strong connections to identify producers' pain points and bring solutions to them. Today, in Brazil alone, there are already more than ten partner companies with solutions integrated into the platform and the list is expected to grow from 2022 onwards.

Together, Climate FieldView and all the startups that are now part of its partner portfolio, seek to co-create and integrate agile solutions that make production smarter and more sustainable. “This is aligned with Bayer's open innovation strategy, which includes establishing relationships with startups, innovation hubs, universities and other entities, including the scientific community”, says Guilherme Belardo, responsible for Climate FieldView integrations.

In order to further accelerate and facilitate this integration process between platforms, FieldView recently announced a partnership with Leaf Agriculture, a data infrastructure company. With this initiative, it has been possible to further expand the range of connected startups, providing rural producers with a more efficient digital experience, with more agility and scale when integrating solutions.

Companies connected to FieldView have diverse services and products, such as drone maps and photos, cost management and pest monitoring software, aerial spraying, among others. According to Belardo, the goal is to continue increasing dialogue with startups and expand these integrations with other startups in Brazil and around the world. “It’s increasingly difficult to innovate alone these days. Innovation is a collaborative process and that is why we have encouraged and operated through the open innovation model, establishing partnerships in search of innovative solutions to challenges and problems faced by the sector”, points out Belardo.