Post-IPO, Farmers Edge plans bold growth in Brazil by approaching startups

Date:08-10-2021

By Marina Salles

According to an article published by AgTech Garage, after the initial public offering (IPO) on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canadian agricultural technology company Farmers Edge is planning new steps for expansion in Brazil and abroad. Currently with 2 million hectares digitized in the country, the goal is to reach 4 million in the next 12 months.

Worldwide, the company is present in Brazil, Canada and also in the USA, Russia, Ukraine and Australia and has 12 million hectares of digitized crops. With 450 employees, Farmers Edge earned C$42 million (Canadian dollars) in 2020.

Celso Luis Lara Macedo, vice president for Latin America at Farmers Edge, says that the company has been looking at the market in a different way since the IPO in March 2021 and that, with15 years experience, it has definitely took the role of a “consolidated multinational with very bold growth plans”.

In May, Farmers Edge became a partner of AgTech Garage and, according to Macedo, is looking for solutions in the areas of climate and water management, carbon market, precision agriculture, fintechs and e-commerce to integrate into its Farm Command platform. “We are ready to think about the next investments, whether with joint ventures, acquisitions of other platforms or even startups”, says the executive.

A strategic country for world agriculture, Brazil should become the main market for Farmers Edge by 2025. Today, the company already operates in Matopiba (confluence between the states of MA, TO, PI and BA), MT, MS, GO, SP, PR and RS. In Latin America, Farmers Edge started prospecting opportunities in Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia and Chile this semester.

Digital and Smart Farming

Founded in 2005 by the agronomists Wade Barnes and Curtis McKinnon, Farmers Edge always had the data-driven agriculture in its DNA.

Throughout its history, the company has collected 85 billion unique data points, installed more than 6,500 weather stations and connected its platform to 30,000 devices in the field.

The objective is to improve the decision-making process of rural producers, so they can, for example, apply inputs at a variable rate, save money on their pesticide and fertilizer applications, or reduce the fuel cost of their machines.

The company provides monitoring of the farm through high-frequency and high-resolution satellite images (Smart Imagery); monitoring of climate data via meteorological stations (Smart Insite); tractor telemetry to visualize the performance of planting, spraying, harvesting, fuel consumption etc (Smart Full); and soil sampling as an additional tool.

In practice, the producer is the one who decides how complex his package will be and which solutions will add up.

Macedo explains that Farmers Edge’s digital platform allows farmers to manage their property from anywhere in the world, as long as they have a 3G, 4G or WiFi connection. In this case, the information can be accessed in real time via smartphone or desktop and the producer can request to receive alerts. Another option is to access this information in reports.

“We have health alerts, for example, to identify pests and diseases, and the fact that the map makes it clear where the problem is, helps the producer to save time and focus on these areas”, exemplifies Macedo.

Other tools available are custom precipitation notifications, fertility maps, plant growth stage modeling, among hundreds of other features.

In Brazil, Farmers Edge has a partnership with Sumitomo, CNH Industrial and Fairfax Brasil Seguros Corporativos. But most of its customers are directly rural producers.

Read the original article at AgTech Garage.