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Will cashless credits sow the seeds of success for Mexican farmers?
CategoriesSustainable News

Will cashless credits sow the seeds of success for Mexican farmers?

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Mexico is one of the world’s leading food producers, but more than 90 per cent of farmers lack access to formal financing, limiting their opportunities to invest properly in their fields. But Mexican agri-fintech Verqor is hoping to change that with its digital solutions for farmers. 

The startup is working to make credit accessible to every farmer in Mexico by using a financing process that takes into account the sector’s specific characteristics. Verqor analyses the actual paying capacity of a farmer by considering various data points, including normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) factors (the greenness and density of crops), supply chain trends, weather patterns, and changes in crop prices. Unlike most traditional financial providers, Verqor also reviews information like a farm’s sales history, any contracts for selling their crops, and past inputs. This gives a more comprehensive view of a farm so Verqor can better assess credit viability.  

Verqor provides cashless credit quickly, so farmers can access the inputs they need to grow crops, including fertilisers, agrochemicals, organic products, trailers, and macrotunnels. Farmers repay the credit with their produce sales at the end of the crop cycle. This financing covers up to 90 per cent of a farmer’s initial costs, allowing them to invest in essential inputs that can help to improve produce quality and yields every cycle. 

The startup recently raised $7.5 million (around €6.9 million), including $4 million (around €3.7 million) in a pre-series A round led by Yara Growth Ventures. The funding will allow Verqor to expand its operations in Mexico and broaden its network. Verqor is also further developing its technology so that its approval process can be seven times faster than normal financing options. 

Springwise has spotted many innovations looking to digitise and reshape various industries, including an all-in-one digital health clinic for women, as well as a digital platform for energy retailers.

Written By: Anam Alam

Reference

Digital tech supports smallholder farmers in Ghana 
CategoriesSustainable News

Digital tech supports smallholder farmers in Ghana 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: There is a significant gap in agricultural production in Africa, with the continent being home to 25 per cent of the world’s arable land, but responsible for only 10 per cent of global agricultural output. Researchers point to the legacy of “export-oriented colonial agricultural production systems” that have resulted in Africa being the only region in the world where increased exports caused a reduction in food production per capita. 

Ghana-based fintech company Wami Agro is working hard to close the gap by turning smallholder farmers into stewards of high-production, yet sustainable land. Through a bundle of services, Wami Agro provides credit, access to fair trade markets and prices, and education that increases knowledge and resilience among farmers, thereby lessening shocks to supply chains and providing a steadier source of income to thousands of families. 

Many of the farmers that Wami Agro works with are women, and, given that this group has generally been underserved by traditional credit systems, the company’s input finance solution, Wami Credit, enables more and more people to become self-sufficient and provide for their families. Wami Credit supplies farmers with seeds, tools, and fertiliser via Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) that fund farmers with little to no access to commercial bank credit.  Wami Agro takes repayment of its loans via the commercial sales of a farmer’s crop.

Wami Market, meanwhile, provides reliable market access with fair prices by buying from various smallholders and selling in bulk to distributors and retailers in Europe and beyond. The buyers, for their part, receive a fully traceable product that is grown with biodiverse, regenerative methods that enrich local environments.  

Wami Info is a third solution that educates farmers on new techniques for building capacity and provides important weather updates in local dialects to help improve long-term resilience, even in changing climates.

The startup is currently focusing on further developing its technology and plans to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) for more personalised weather alerts. The company also plans to continue expanding its network of farmers, regionally and internationally.  

Smallholder farmers are such an important part of the global economy that Springwise’s library includes a variety of innovations highlighting their contributions and improvements to the world’s food and produce supply chains. Examples include using regenerative farming to sequester carbon and using microforests to retain and regrow important regions of biodiversity.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Insurance payouts based on weather data protect farmers from drought
CategoriesSustainable News

Insurance payouts based on weather data protect farmers from drought

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Agriculture is highly vulnerable to climate changes and extreme weather events, and as global warming heats the planet, this vulnerability will get worse. Seasonal climate variability already frequently undermines farm yields, reduces food availability, and lowers income. Small-scale agricultural producers, who often feed themselves from their farms as well as others, are especially affected by unpredictable rainfall. Oko was created to help farmers deal with this uncertainty.

The startup provides low-cost crop insurance for small farmers. Oko (which is the name of an African deity who protects harvests), uses the concept of index insurance. This uses data analysis and risk calculation, rather than onsite inspections, to create cheaper and more accessible insurance.

Farmers sign up and manage their insurance using their mobile phones. They pay around $20 (around €18.60) for one season’s coverage of approximately 1.7 hectares. Oko analyses the risk to each plot and the cost of insurance using historical and weather data.

The company uses real-time satellite data and rainfall monitoring to monitor for floods and check the amount of rainfall needed for a good harvest. If there is a flood or if rainfall drops below a certain amount, a payment to the farmers is triggered automatically. Because farmers only need to sign up once to receive future payouts automatically, it reduces the chances that these smallholder farmers will fall victim to fraud and fake insurance scams every time a drought hits.

Tackling climate change is partly about building resiliency, and insurance that is affordable and easy to use is one way to do this. Springwise has also spotted other innovations aimed at building climate resilience. These include improving the biodiversity of forests with fungus, and using modular greenhouses to protect farmers from the effects of extreme weather.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Shigeru Ban uses thatch and cardboard at Farmer’s Restaurant in Japan
CategoriesArchitecture

Shigeru Ban uses thatch and cardboard at Farmer’s Restaurant in Japan

By Zarkon Group,

A thatched roof and large cardboard tubes form part of the structure of the Farmer’s Restaurant on Awaji Island, designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban’s studio.

The restaurant sits in the middle of a field on the Japanese island, which is the same location as Shigeru Ban Architects‘ wooden Zenbo Seinei meditation retreat, completed earlier this year.

Thatched-roof restaurant by Shigeru Ban Architects
Shigeru Ban Architects has created the Farmer’s Restaurant on Awaji Island

Farmer‘s Restaurant was commissioned by agricultural company Pasona Agri-Partners Inc to serve food made from fresh vegetables from the field. It is also used as a music hall.

Its architectural design pays homage to traditional Japanese farmhouses, most visibly in its large thatched roof.

Night view of the Farmer's Restaurant on Awaji island
It features a thatched roof

According to Ban’s studio, its chunky structural beams and columns also pay homage to the large trees that are used to create old farmhouses in Japan.

These structural elements are made from two pieces of Japanese cypress wood, wrapped in cardboard tubes.

Shigeru Ban-designed cardboard tube structure
Large cardboard tubes form part of the structure

Farmer’s Restaurant is one of the largest-scale examples of Ban’s Paper Tube Structures system – his pioneering use of tubes made from cardboard as architectural and structural components.

Famously used across his works since 1990, the system can also be seen on projects including the Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch, the Nomadic Museum in New York and the Paper House in Yamanakako Village.

Externally, the chunky columns sit between decorative wooden panels, doors and openings that lead out onto a decked area.

Inside, Farmer’s Restaurant’s exposed structure is complemented by wooden flooring, banquet tables, and stools.

Interior of the Farmer's Restaurant in Japan
The cardboard tubes contain cypress wood

As some of the cardboard tubes are exposed to the outside, Ban’s studio has coated them in waterproof paint and designed them to be replaced over time.

Ban also famously uses cardboard as part of his modular Paper Partition System (PPS), which was developed to ensure the privacy of people seeking refuge in refugee centres.

Wooden terrace outside Shigeru Ban-designed music hall in Japan
A terrace is located outside

The PPS makes use of thin cardboard tubes as structure and textiles as partitions, with one unit taking just three people to build in five minutes.

Ban’s non-governmental organisation, the Voluntary Architects’ Network, recently used the system across Europe to help house Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.

The photography is by Hiroyuki Hirai.

Project credits:

Architects: Shigeru Ban Architects
Client: Pasona Agri-partners Inc
Structural engineer: Hirokazu Toki, Shunya Takahashi
MEP engineer: Hokuryo Denko, Kukan Koubou, Fujii Scene2
General contractor: Kukunoya, Kusakanmuri

Reference

Data supports smallholder farmers and regenerative agriculture
CategoriesSustainable News

Data supports smallholder farmers and regenerative agriculture

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Smallholder farms, those covering two acres or less, produce around a third of the world’s food. Yet, there are almost no data services aimed at small farmers. As a consequence, many smallholders are cut off from access to wider farming services, support, and policy. To support smallholders, especially those using regenerative practices, the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, Data Economics Company, and Terra Genesis International have formed Smallholder Data Services to help smallholders better utilise their data.

Smallholder Data Services (SDS) uses a platform built on DECO’s Lydion Software Engine. This is used to develop blockchain-based middleware that allows data to be converted into digital assets which can then be shared in secure, private data vaults and data economic networks. SDS operates on a decentralised Data Economic Network (DENET), wherein each smallholder farmer is in control of their own data vault. Corporate partners can then join a regional or crop-specific DENET to examine traceability, regenerative standards, broader sustainability, and community impact.

SDS focuses on those smallholders who are engaged in regenerative farming—a system of farming methods that seek to enhance the entire ecosystem—or those who are looking to move towards regenerative practices. The platform is designed to manage farm-level data that relates to regenerative farming by enabling companies, consumers, and smallholders to verify sustainability standards. By packaging farm data as Lydion assets, the SDS platform both economically empowers these smallholder farmers while providing verification tools for crop buyers.

According to SDS co-founder Tim Tensen, “This is an exciting moment for Regenerative Agriculture as more companies and brands from around the world are taking steps to act from a whole systems perspective and make bold investments in the future of agroecosystems. Web3 technologies like the platform in development by Smallholder Data Services, represent a unique opportunity to support the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and do so in a way that intrinsically develops trust and integrity throughout supply systems, from farmer to consumer.”

This project is one of the latest to leverage blockchain to monetise data. Springwise has spotted other innovations including a platform that builds transparency in coffee supply chains and brings transparency to the diamond industry.

Written By Lisa Magloff

Reference

Programme trains prisoners to be hi-tech farmers
CategoriesSustainable News

Programme trains prisoners to be hi-tech farmers

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Social justice organisation Impact Justice has recently introduced its newest initiative: Growing Justice. The programme connects incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals seeking fairly paid secure work, with the cutting-edge technology of vertical farming.

Working with vertical farming experts—Skout Strategy and Agritecture—Impact Justice is designing and building two new farms – one located in a women’s prison in central California, and the other at the organisation’s Oakland headquarters. Each farm is modular, built in a shipping container, and hydroponically grows a variety of greens for use in the prison kitchen.

Farm employees will learn about all aspects of indoor farming, from the conditions needed to grow a range of foodstuffs, to the technological and mechanical processes that run the systems. The education that employees receive is rigorous and designed to provide the necessary knowledge and expertise for a career in the industry, including the foundations for starting their own business. The food being grown should also help to improve the overall healthfulness of prison menus, as well as provide incarcerated individuals with a direct connection to nature they would otherwise be unable to access.

Springwise has spotted many vertical farm facilities run by AI and at various stages of automation. Because of this, people new to the industry learn just as much about technology as they do about farming, which in the long run, could provide improved resilience in future employment.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Building the largest network of profitable smallholder farmers
CategoriesSustainable News

Building the largest network of profitable smallholder farmers

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Smallholder farmers in many developing countries suffer from a lack of scale – they cannot compete with large conglomerates, even if they offer a high-quality product. This is due to their lack access to financing, food processors, and the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market. In Nigeria, agricultural company ThriveAgric is using technology to help small farmers compete. 

ThriveAgric uses its proprietary Agricultural Operating System (AOS) to assist farmers with financing, development and training, technology and post-harvest services, access to premium markets, and social and financial inclusion. Each season, the company onboards farmers and communities, inputting data about individual fields, soil texture, slope, proximity to water, and creditworthiness into the AOS. This data is used to calculate and disburse loans to each farmer, in the form of improved seeds, fertilisers, and crop protection products, rather than cash.

But that’s not all. ThriveAgric also gives tailored advice and tracks each farms’ progress using multiple data points, assisting, where needed, to maximise harvest. Farmers repay their loans in form of produce, based on agreed amounts. The rest of their harvest is profit. ThriveAgric stores all the produce in its own warehouses and sells it at volume at peak prices to markets where they have established relationships.

ThriveAgric recently raised $56.4 million (€58.2 million) in debt funding from local commercial banks and institutional investors. Discussing the investment, Chief Executive Officer Uka Eje said, “The new investment takes us one step closer to fulfilling our mission of building the largest network of profitable African farmers using technology to ensure food security.” 

The climate crisis has encouraged innovators to explore new ways of increasing crop yields without using intensive methods that can harm the environment. Springwise has recently seen many promising developments in this area, including a sustainable fertiliser that can be manufactured on-site and the use of extremophile bacteria to increase crop yields. 

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

An educational tool for farmers doubles as an online marketplace
CategoriesSustainable News

An educational tool for farmers doubles as an online marketplace

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Digitisation has impacted every corner of our global economy, but one sector that remains largely un-digitised is the world’s oldest: agriculture. Farmers are the bedrock of the €6 trillion agriculture and food trade market, yet they make the least profit of all the main players in the food value chain. Moreover, many farmers still use the same techniques as their ancestors and lack access to the information they need to implement profit-boosting innovations. A new platform, Wikifarmer, is attempting to tackle these challenges.

Wikifarmer seeks to improve the lot of farmers in two ways. The platform is an international online resource for agricultural information and technological developments. The library offers thousands of user-generated articles, all for free, covering a huge diversity of topics, including the latest technology information and guidelines for best practices around the world. The Wikifarmer team provides localised translations of articles into 15 languages.

The platform also acts as a global farmer’s market. For shoppers, this marketplace provides a direct link to food producers in every region. With purchases covered by a money-back guarantee, shoppers can search a long list of products and contact the company itself for personalised quotes for specific requests or high-volume orders.

For farmers, the marketplace represents a welcome simplification of the food supply chain. Selling directly to consumers means that farmers can avoid commissions paid to the multitude of intermediaries they must normally deal with. So far, around 30,000 products have been listed on the site, and more than 5,000 customers have bought products directly from farmers.

From clean energy for off-grid communities to safe herbicide development, agtech is a hot area of innovation. Springwise has previously covered other innovations that aim to connect farmers directly to marketplaces, such as one focused on smallholder farmers in Ghana.

Written by: Keely Khoury

1st August 2022

Email: info@wikifarmer.com

Website: wikifarmer.com

Reference

A Peruvian startup uses drones and AI to help farmers make better decisions
CategoriesSustainable News

A Peruvian startup uses drones and AI to help farmers make better decisions

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Farmers have always had to contend with the vagaries of the weather, but in recent years, increasing variability and extreme weather conditions have made it even harder to maintain healthy crops. Now, there’s a new tool in the fight against unpredictable conditions.

As a leading provider of agricultural technology solutions, Space Ag is using data captured from drones and mobile sensors to generate artificial intelligence models that help farmers make better decisions. This includes maximising yields, optimising the use of resources such as water and fertilisers, and reducing the impact of pests and diseases.

Space Ag’s high-precision drones can capture aerial images of fields and provide farmers with a complete vision of their crops’ state. The drones’ precise analysis of plant health also makes it possible to improve harvest forecasts and effective field inspections. And because they can also detect irrigation problems, the drones offer a comprehensive solution for maintaining healthy crops.

SpaceAG was founded in Peru in 2017 by Cesar Urrutia and Guillermo De Vivanco. As the largest exporter of blueberries and second exporter of Hass avocados in the world, the duo decided that Peru was the perfect country to launch their company from. The pair’s aim was to transform agriculture into a sustainable industry that could feed a growing population while taking care of the planet.

So far, Space Ag has over 35 customers in seven different Latin American countries with more than 1,000 active users.

Other solutions spotted by Springwise aimed at maximising farm yields include an app that provides Indonesian farmers with real-time weather information, a startup speeds up the development of safe herbicides, and a software platform that helps farmers improve their agriculutral management.

Written By: Katrina Lane

29th July 2022

Website: spaceag.co/en/home

Contact: spaceag.co/en/contact

Reference