6ª round of the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program is looking for innovative solutions to conserve standing forests
Selected startups will receive up to US$50,000 to develop their solutions
As of Tuesday, February 6, the 6th and final round of the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program is open for applications. The result of a partnership between PwC Agtech Innovation and the Land Innovation Fund, with support from Cargill, CPQD, Embrapa and Embrapii, the program seeks innovative solutions to generate value from standing forests and contribute to conserving native vegetation on farms in one of the agricultural frontier's most threatened biomes in Brazil. The selected startups will receive up to US$ 50,000 each in financial support to develop their solutions through the Startup Finance Facility, as well as technical and scientific support from a team of researchers selected for the Cerrado Fellowship, in direct contact with farmers who make up the For Farmers Program.
In this new cycle, the program hopes to bring in startups with technical and regulatory solutions for sustainable production, such as financial mechanisms, traceability and environmental compliance; the reduction of deforestation and degradation of native forests, including monitoring, maintenance of water resources and regenerative agriculture; plus revenue generation from the conservation of native vegetation, such as the carbon market, the bioeconomy and payment for environmental services. "We want initiatives that complement the projects we supported in the first five cycles and fit into a portfolio of sustainable solutions able to meet the needs of entire farms – from crop areas to standing forests," says Ashley Valle, director of the Land Innovation Fund.
The program fosters the design, development, and delivery of innovative solutions for sustainable development in the Cerrado. In 2023, the area deforested in the biome reached 7,828 km² – an increase of 43% over the previous year, and the highest figure since 2009, according to official INPE data. The region has few conservation units and demarcations of territories for traditional peoples, and only 20% of each farm is obliged by the federal Forest Code to be set aside as a Legal Reserve. "With the PSSC, we are promoting knowledge exchanges among the many links in the agricultural chain to devise solutions that encourage wider adoption of sustainable, low-carbon practices and the creation of financial mechanisms that value native vegetation, creating the conditions needed to contain further expansion of the agricultural frontier in the region," says Ashley Valle.
Partial outcomes
Since its launch in March 2021, the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program received 253 applications from 17 Brazilian states, as well as the Federal District. During the first five cycles, 28 selected startups joined the program's portfolio, with solutions spanning whole farms, from crop areas to standing forests.
Of this total, 18 projects implemented by 22 startups received grants from the Startup Finance Facility (SFF), a pioneering management and promotion initiative to develop, test and implement innovative solutions. Another USD 480,000 in matching funds is also leveraging financial and technical-scientific support for these startups.
PSSC startups have access to a team of researchers from the Cerrado Fellowship for technical and scientific support and can connect with farmers in the For Farmers Program to exchange ideas, business opportunities and cooperation. The program's innovative design allows for multiple partnership possibilities among participants. "The novel interaction between For Farmers and the Cerrado Fellowship, with financial support from the SFF, together with the participation of three of the country's leading research and development institutions – Embrapii, CPQD and Embrapa – and support from a trading company like Cargill, puts the program on the frontier of innovation in the entrepreneurial ecosystem," adds Dirceu Ferreira Júnior, COO of PwC AgTech Innovation and a partner at PwC.
This means, for example, that a unique biodiversity monitoring initiative to create a digital platform for Cerrado tree species, being developed by Bioflore, can be tested on a farm participating in For Farmers, in the interior of the state of Maranhão, with support from BrCarbon, another member of the PSSC portfolio, to supply forest inventory data collected in the same field. Four startups with different expertise – AgTrace, BrainAg, BrCarbon and umgrauemeio – are also working together to develop HyperT, an online platform in blockchain format for the socio-environmental diagnosis of farms, with a focus on the soybean supply chain, but valid for other agricultural commodities as well.
Connections among the program's strategic partners also enhance their technological solutions. An acoustic monitoring tool being developed by GreenBug received technical and financial support from CPQD, Embrapii and Sebrae experts to incorporate its own data storage algorithm. To develop a systemic regenerative agriculture solution that integrates three platforms – technical, financial, and digital – LandPrint received technical support from Bioflore for carbon and biodiversity data, and additional financial support from Cargill to carry out pilot tests in the Maranhão region.
"The PSSC has opened doors to professionalize our solution and has been a calling card for our prototyping and go-to-market process as a startup," says Fernando Souza, founder of Sintrópica Capital Natural. This startup works with research institutes, universities, and farmers to develop protocols and tools for remote sensing and artificial intelligence analyses of soil and vegetation that will be more accurate and affordable for Cerrado farmers.
Registration for the sixth cycle of the Sustainable Soy in the Cerrado Program runs until march 1st. More information here.