Radar Agtech points that, in Brazil, these companies grew from 1,703 to 1,953 in relation to 2022 Radar Agtech Brasil 2023, launched in a hybrid way on December 4 at Embrapa Headquarters, announced the significative growth of startups in the Northern Region of Brazil as the big news of the year. In 2022, there were 26 companies, and, in 2023, they became 116, which means that the number basically quadruplicated. This annual mapping of Brazilian agriculture startups, also known as agtechs or agritechs, was carried out by Embrapa, SP Ventures and Homo Ludens, and it is already a reference for offering updated information on these companies’ profile, segment, activity, and location in Brazil. Additionally, it identifies innovation environments and investment scenarios for the sector, enabling the connection between agtechs and many other national and international ecosystems. The full report in English is available here. The study started in 2019 and shows a constant evolution since then. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of agtechs in Brazil increased in 14.7%, or 1,703 companies to 1,953 ones. Most mapped agtechs are located in the Southeastern (56.9%) and Southern (26.0%) regions, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Distribution of agtechs in Brazil According to Cleidson Nogueira, an analyst at Embrapa, the survey is carried out based on a methodology that considers two ways: one by volunteer membership, in which companies register on the Radar Agtech website freely or by a public invitation; the other one is based on the mapping of starups interacting with the institutions that developed the study and on consulting the main lists available in Brazil done by entities such as Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), innovation environments as Ribeirão Preto Innovation and Technology Park (Supera Parque) and innovation initiatives with the startups. “The number of startups that registered voluntarily on our base doubled if compared to last year, from 200 to approximately 400”, Nogueira celebrates. Among the cities with the highest number of agtechs (Figure 2), the ten first are located in the Southeastern and Southern regions, being seven municipalities in the Southeast, of which five are in São Paulo state. It is important mentioning that Curitiba, a city in Paraná state, the second one in the rank after São Paulo, has a superior number in relation to the others. Considering the 20 cities in the ranking, there are municipalities in the Midwest, Brasília, DF, and Goiânia, GO, and some in the North, Manaus, AM, and Belém, PA. Figure 2: Brazilian cities with the highest number of agtechs Sustainability is the base of agtechs’ growth Sustainability is one of the most important topics concerning the agtechs’ growth in 2023. The growth of the agtechs in the category Sustainability Biodiversity was 124.30% (37 to 83); Bioenergy and Renewable Energy, 34.60% (26 to 35); Security and Food Traceability, 56.62% (13 to 21); Biological Control and Integrated Pest Management, 30.56% (36 to 45); and Packaging Systems, Environment and Recycling, 12.50% (24 to 27). These data show an increase of 55.15% in the number of startups with sustainable technology in the mentioned categories in relation to 2022. “It proves how sustainability is important in the current agriculture context”, the analyst reinforces. Silvia Massruhá, the president of Embrapa, highlights the importance of agtechs movement to the Brazilian Northen and Northeastern regions. According to Massruhá, this growth is related to sustainability not only from an economic point of view, but also environmental and social one. “The document shows that the appeal is reflecting in private companies too, corroborating the integration of all sectors to define numbers and metrics proving Brazilian agriculture sustainability”, she reinforces. She also calls attention to the increase of the quantity of on farm startups compared to 2022. It shows that, more and more, farmers of all scales, especially small and medium ones, are realizing the importance of innovation and technology on their farms, contributing to a more integrated ecosystem. “Radar Agtech has shown that startups are continuing the research and innovation acts the research and education institutions started, taking technology into the farms and to the market. For Embrapa, this interaction with the private sector is very important to generate innovation to Brazilian agriculture”, the president emphasizes. Another key factor is the increase of women’s participation in agriculture in Brazil. According to the president, agriculture is a predominantly male environment, but women already participate in it forcefully for years. “Surveys, as Radar Agtech, make women’s situation clearer”, the president says. For Massruhá, Radar is one of the main challenges to integrate all sectors, which includes research, private companies, startups, and investors, to strengthen innovation in the field and add value to production systems. For the fist time, study addresses talents and gender diversity Luiz Sakuda, cofounder and business partner of Homo Ludens, say that, every edition, the Radar Agtech Brasil team improves the mapping of agtechs and their profiles. “The goal is the same: provide knowledge to support entrepreneurs, public policy managers, investors, researchers, and organizations that may be interested in collaborate with startups for decision making in their organizations”. This year, Radar Agtech carried out a survey on the distribution of agtech partners and collaborators, considering gender and work areas at the companies. Among business partners, it can be seen an increase in woman participation of approximately 8.0% compared to 2022, since 28.7% of the agtechs had at least one woman in its societal structure in 2022, and, in 2023, this number was 36.4%, based on an enlarged sample of 711 startups. Additionally, with the answers of 247 agtechs, it is possible to note that among these startups, men were the majority (76.9%) and the proportion of men, women, and non-binary people was the same in all areas, with male presence varying between 75.5% and 79.0%, near the overall average of 76.9%. There is an equal allocation of employees among men, women, and non-binary people in all areas, although male presence is lower than the overall average (61.8%). In technical areas, the proportion of men is superior to the overall average, reaching 69.9% in production and operations and 71.6% in research and development. Two areas present male proportion over 50.0%, but inferior to the average: 54.1% in marketing and sells and 51.9% in other business areas. The only higher proportion of women is in administrative and financial areas, of 55.3%. A majoritarily male participation as business partners is clear in all company areas, including the technical ones. This observation raises challenges, such as the necessity of attracting and retaining diverse talented professionals as entrepreneurs or business partners, as well as in science, technology, engineering, and math areas, especially in research, development, production, and operations. Analysis considers before, on, and after farm After mapping, it is important to take advantage of the collected information to understand how the innovation agricultural ecosystem is distributed in production chains. Thus, Radar Agtech considers agtech performance in three categories: Before the farm:it involves actions a farmer should accomplish before starting the production, as getting credit or inputs, such as seeds, seedlings, fertilizers, inoculants, plant nutrition, laboratory analysis, animal nutrition and health, among others. On farm: it concerns the necessary activities to agricultural production, as management systems of the farm, irrigation, water management, drones, machines, equipment, internet of things for agriculture, beekeeping, sensing and image monitoring, telemetry, and automation. After the farm: includes activities developed after the products leave the farm, such as: distribution, storage, logistics, innovative foods, traceability, industry and 4.0 food processing, packaging, recycling, marketplaces, wholesale, retail, and consumption. The food startups, or foodtechs, are in this segment. In 2023, Radar Agtech Brasil identified 331 agtechs (16.95%) acting before farm, 815 on farm (41.73%), and 807 after farm (41.32%), as shown in Figure 3. Survey proves the importance of food transition Besides identifying the quantity of agtechs by production segments, the document provides a detailed survey on types of startups that leads each one of them. The biggest highlights are the innovative foods and new food trends category of the after farm segment, with 277 agtechs, which represents 34% of the segment total. This information confirms the food consumption trends involving less quantity of animal protein, a search for healthy diets and by certified and traced foods. The alternatives offered by the foodtechs stand out in this segment. Food transition is one of the main pillars of the new research, development, and innovation management of Embrapa, along with energy transition, socio-productive inclusion, digitalization in the countryside, and one health initiative. The categories with the highest numbers in the before farm segment are: credit, exchange, insurance, carbon credits, and fiduciary analysis, with 25%; fertilizers, inoculants, and plant nutrition, with 22%; and laboratory analysis, with 15% of the startups. Nogueira explains that on one side the categories with more participants represent trends, on the other, the ones with less participants may indicate opportunities to entrepreneurs. In 2023, the ones that had less participants were: plant (11%) and animal (6%) genomics, as well as input marketplaces (10%). Concerning the on farm category, the ones with the greatest percentage are: rural property management system (20.8%); systems, solutions, and data integrator platform (17.9%); drones, machines, and equipment (12.0%); and remote sensing, diagnostics, and image monitoring (10.3%). There are 498 agtechs in these four categories, representing 25.5% of the mapped startups in 2023. The categories with the lowest number of agtechs, which may be opportunities to new entrepreneurs of the sector are: connectivity and telecommunications, as well as beekeeping and pollination. Digitization in the field: opportunities and challenges In relation to tech and market trends, agtechs point to intensification in the use of more complex technologies, such as: artificial intelligence, internet of things (IoT), automation, digitization, machine learning, increased connectivity, and use of sensors. According to Stanley Oliveira, head of Embrapa Digital Agriculture, in São Paulo state, this movement is aligned with the digital transformation of agriculture, which is characterized by the massive usage of digital content, emerging technology, and connectivity in all links in the production chain. “Agriculture is one of the sectors with lots of opportunities to implement these new digital technologies, in order to increase resilience, productivity and sustainability, providing transparency and reliability to all chain activities, since farm production until the consumer’s table”. Despite cutting edge technology being the future of agriculture, there still are limiting factors in Brazil, such as the low infrastructure of telephone network in rural areas and the slow installation of 5G network in the country. According to José Marconcini, head of Embrapa Instrumentation, located in São Paulo state, Radar Agtech contributes to agriculture development, expanding the access to technology to small, medium, and large-scale farmers. Embrapa Instrumentation has a partnership with 13 startus, acting in diverse productive chains and exporting equipment to over 20 countries. The leading role of the Northern Region and bioeconomy The agtech growth in the Northern region reflects the strengthen of bioeconomy, especially in the Amazon, increasing the number of research, development, and innovation actions. For Ana Euler, business director of Embrapa, the bioeconomy is going to guide the development in the region. She says it is necessary to structure the value chains with investments in infrastructure, training, and technology (social, digital, biotechnological ones). Embrapa innovation ecosystem in the Legal Amazon has generated technological and social solutions for the agricultural, forestry and agro-industrial sectors, focusing on agroforestry systems, sustainable forest management (timber and non-timber products), crops and livestock integrated system, and crop, livestock and forestry integrated system for meat and milk, aquaculture, fruit, grains, among others. A study by The Nature Conservancy (TNC Brasil) estimates that, in the state of Pará, 30 products of socio-biodiversity chains accounted for an income of around 5.4 billion reais, generating 224 thousand jobs, 84% of them in family-based structures of production. For further reading: Bioeconomia inclusiva na Amazônia pode beneficiar 750 mil famílias Agtechs and SDGs Radar Agtech also conducts a survey to better understand the profile and demands of startups, since in a sample of 247 agtechs, it was observed that the most identified Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are Zero Hunger and sustainable agriculture (62.3%); Responsible Consumption and Production (54.4%); and Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (48.8%), as it was in 2022. On the other hand, the 2023 survey shows greater efforts by agtechs to achieve the SDGs. There was an increase in the average percentage of 10.6% in mentions in 13 out of the 17 SDGs.