AgroBrasília 2022 – Sardrones wins startups’ award with innovation in biopesticides

The AgroBrasília 2022 fair concluded on May 21 afternoon announcing the three winning startups of this year's InovaAgroBrasília project, whose central theme was the presentation of innovative proposals for biological control of pests and diseases.

The first prize winner was Sardrones, which presented its platform for the dispersion of biological control agents in agriculture through drones and dispensers.

Founder and General Director of Sardrones, Gustavo Scarpari, said he was thrilled and surprised. “I have tears in my eyes. Very happy and proud to have won this competition at the highest level,” said the entrepreneur upon receiving the day's grand prize.

Gustavo Scarpari, Founder and General Director of Sardrones

“The great advantages provided by the drone appear from the beginning, and this has been impressing producers who already realize, for example, that they can use more biological agents instead of chemicals, reallocate employees to less exhausting and dangerous work, access difficult areas, reduce product waste and increase accuracy,” Scarpari said in an interview to AgroPages.

According to him, there is “a connection between the growth in the use of biological agents and the use of drones. In many regions, there is enormous difficulty in finding manpower available for the release of biological agents and the fact that labor laws are at the same time being increasingly strict.”

Sardrones has developed an application that provides information such as application locations, georeferenced points of packages, the temperature at the time of flight, number of packages released per hectare, and maps of flights, among other data. “All this in the palm of your hand with information coming directly from the drones,” the founder said.

In second place was Moara Biostimulantes Agroambientais, a company that presented the “BioPro Solo” technology. The solution developed uses bacteria to solubilize phosphorus in the soil, explained the company's representative at the event, Fernando Silveira, Ph.D. in Agricultural Microbiology and director of Research and Development at Moara.

Fernando Silveira, Director of Research and Development at Moara

According to him, the product promotes plant growth, both in the root and shoot, induces resistance to dry climates, and helps the plant absorb both water and nutrients.

The third place went to Biotecland, which presented Primafert technology, a biofertilizer, and biostimulant based on live microalgae genus Chlorella.

Dágon Ribeiro, CEO of the startup, said that the idea of the project is to create sustainable agriculture. “It optimizes vegetative growth, improves soil quality, promotes plant resistance, and increases productivity,” he said.

Dágon Ribeiro, CEO of Biotecland

In his speech, the coordinator of the InovaAgroBrasília award, Ricardo Araújo, encouraged the participants who signed up for the contest. “I thank all the companies that participated in the competition, I consider them all winners,” he said.

Seven startups and teams were classified for the final stage: Avant Monitoring with Drones (Monitoring Crops with Drones – M.L.D.); Biotecland (Primafert, agricultural input based on microalgae); BSafe (RNA-based biopesticides); Life Biological Control (a first agro franchise with a 100% biological management package for agricultural pest control); MicroSoil Br (biocontrol of phytopathogenic fungi); Moara Agroenvironmental Biostimulants (Biopro Solo, phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria and inducing drought resistance for agricultural crop management), and Sardrones (biological control using drones).

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)