Farmer Feedback: Brazilian Agriculture in the Age of Start-ups

Hundreds of agribusiness-related start-ups went to market in the last couple of years. These solutions range from biological control (i.e. controlling pests through other organisms, like wasps that eat crop-damaging beetles) to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to help farmers in their daily decisions. As is the case for many markets, agriculture will face considerable changes in the next few years. More companies will appear with new or old ideas, some will fade away, and others are expected to consolidate.

Through talking to farmers, it became clear that despite the large number of companies and ideas surfacing in this segment, just a few of them are able to promote their products how it should be done. One point raised by some farmers is that companies are more concerned with using buzzwords like Internet of Things (IoT), big data, AI, algorithms, and machine-learning, than showing the real benefit to adopting the new technology.

Farmers react to new technology much like everyone else

Spreading the word on innovations in agriculture is not very different than in any other production sector or consumer group even. First, the farmers are presented with a new product (be it a new technology or production system) by a vendor, neighbor, or through an ad, after which they look for more information with their colleagues or the scientific community. The farmers then deliberate whether the new product makes sense for their farms, taking into account factors such as initial investment, financial return, and workforce needed.

Next, some farmers run their own small-scale experiments to test the agronomical value of the new technique. In doing so, farmers also gather more knowledge to evaluate the new technology/project as a whole. Once these innovative farmers then adopt a technology, others will follow suit.

The evolution of agriculture over the last decade has driven the professionalisation of the sector. Farmers have become executives who have to manage several departments at the same time: finance, human resources, legal, supply, sales, and so on. They are always looking for solutions to enhance crop yields, reduce input costs, and improve the efficiency of operations or employees.

It takes effort and clarity to capture a farmer’s attention

Most start-ups and new technologies—if not all—play into what farmers want and need. Still, farm inputs companies have to make some effort to capture their attention. Here are some considerations when communicating new AgTech to farmers:

Be clear and simple. It is very important to show the purpose of the product. Bear in mind that your product will not solve all the issues the farmer is facing. Make sure the results are presented as accurately as possible, specifying what farmers stand to gain on their own fields. Farmers are likely to test the product before exposing a big portion of their crops to it. Consider a financial impact evaluation. Quantifying the returns expected for a given amount of investment and comparing these with an ‘as-is’ situation can be helpful.

Author: Matheus Almeida