SLC Agrícola, through SLC Ventures, will invest directly in the startup Pink Farms, which leads the Vertical farms market in Brazil. The initiative is part of SLC Agrícola's own investments in the search to identify and support startups that are creating disruptive and transformational products, services and business models for Brazilian and global agribusiness, as is the case of Pink Farms, where SLC is seeking understand the advantages of growing crops in controlled environments that can be applied and adapted to the various stages of the traditional agricultural production chain.
Carlos Eduardo Aranha, Ecosystem Leader at SLC Ventures, explains that the company, a producer of cotton, grains, seeds and livestock, is determined by productivity and gains in scale in agricultural activity, that is, it seeks to achieve more results with fewer resources in a sustainable and knows that innovation is fundamental in this process. “SLC Agrícola has this open door to innovation and, through SLC Ventures, we obtained a mandate to invest in startups for the next 5 years. SLC Ventures' thesis is obviously the financial return of the project, but the logic at this moment is also connected with the strategy of finding inputs that help us project the SLC Agrícola business for the future”, defines Aranha.
The CEO of Pink Farms, Geraldo Maia, explains that SLC Agrícola enters the company's fourth round of investment, which has been operating since 2019 in the West Zone of São Paulo, is the largest in urban vertical agriculture in Latin America and is already gaining its market in the country. “Today we already have much greater demand than supply. We need more space to produce and, therefore, we have a new round of collective investment, via SMU, in which, with a minimum bid of R＄ 3 thousand, it is possible to be a partner in our farm”, says Maia.
In its 750 m², the São Paulo farm today produces more than 70 plants, including hardwoods, herbs and PANCs (Non-Conventional Food Plants) and produces food without pesticides, combining themes such as health, technology and sustainability in a totally controlled environment that, currently, it can be up to 400x more productive than traditional farms.
When produced in an urban vertical farm, food relies on a more economical and simplified logistical process, which does not suffer from breakdown during rainy seasons, for example. And because they arrive on the shelves faster, they last longer. With environmental and climate control, Pink Farms also has the technology necessary to produce food regardless of seasonality.
The expectation is to reach more than 450 items in the next five years, with an initial focus on cherry tomatoes, strawberries and other red fruits. The next steps are in the development of other fruit, vegetable and mushroom cultivars.
According to the CEO, the advancement of technology has made the cost of implementation and operation increasingly cheaper, making this no longer the sector's biggest challenge. “The biggest expansion challenges are carrying out research and development to achieve an extensive portfolio that is economically viable to compete in the market,” he says.
The investment in Pink Farms should generate, in addition to the rich exchange of knowledge, on both sides, an important step towards the production of food on an increasingly larger scale. “The partnership with Pink is very encouraging, because they managed to achieve 100% of the production process variables controlled, creating what we can call the “perfect cycle”. The possibilities for learning and improving together are immense and exciting”, concludes Aranha.
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