Agriculture is one of the main economic activities in our country and there are already several startups that are innovating not only to improve the performance of Chilean fields, but also to combat climate change.
Drones, artificial intelligence, nanobubbles, and machinery leasing platforms are some of the technologies used to revolutionize the field. On International Agriculture Day, we invite you to learn how Chilean agriculture is creating the future.
Instacrops: the Internet of Plants
Founded in 2015 by engineer Mario Bustamante, the Chilean startup Instacrops is a virtual assistant that allows farmers to visualize historical information and at the same time monitor fields in real time through an application that allows them to detect problems with water, irrigation, fertilizers, pests and diseases. Thus, farmers can receive notifications directly on their cell phones about alerts on key soil indicators, or about approaching weather events. Your goal? To keep farmers fully informed about the needs of their crops. The startup has operations in the US, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
AgroMatch: the "Airbnb" of agricultural machinery
Considered the "Airbnb" of agricultural machinery rentals, AgroMatch is a platform created in 2018, which allows small farmers to lease their machines at times of low use in other areas where the seasons do not coincide. This solves the problem of underutilization of small lessors' machinery, extending their period of occupation. All this, using artificial intelligence and the internet of things, which matches the demand for machinery with the supply and availability of leasing. The company allows leasing different types of machines, in addition to hiring or offering agricultural services, buying new or used machinery, and putting machines for lease or sale.
AgroUrbana: vertical farming with LED lights and hydroponic cultivation
Created in 2018, AgroUrbana is the first company in Latin America to introduce vertical agriculture, which per square meter produces 100 times more than traditional agriculture, and is possible thanks to the hydroponics technique, which does not use soil, but water and nutrients. Its technology, based on LED lights and hydroponic cultivation, allows vegetables to be grown with only 5% of the water required by traditional agriculture. Its founders, Cristián Sjögren and Pablo Bunster, created this company in response to two major challenges: to feed a growing population taking into account the impact of climate change; and the need of consumers to know more about the production of the products they consume.
Wiseconn: optimizing irrigation
The water crisis facing the planet has forced many industries to reinvent themselves. Agriculture is no exception. Seeking to contribute to the reduction of water consumption, Wiseconn allows farmers to optimize irrigation through automation, control and monitoring of plantations, based on software created especially for this purpose. The company, which is more than 12 years old, is already present in the United States (where they have reached 1,000 farms using their technology), and is expanding to other Latin American countries, starting with Colombia.
Altum Lab: artificial intelligence to predict phenomena in the field
The startup Altum Lab -founded in 2017- uses an artificial intelligence model called Bruna, a set of algorithms that, based on historical information from agricultural and aquaculture companies, predicts certain phenomena such as, for example, crop yields. The objective is to solve the problem of production-demand forecasting, based on the projection of sales, sales price and other variables related to production. Today, in addition to its presence in Chile, it has operations in Peru, Brazil and Mexico. But they want to reach more markets in Asia and Europe: that is why they are in the capital raising stage.
Kran Nanobubble: better performance with nanobubbles
Created in 2017 by Jaime de la Cruz, Kran Nanobubble designs sustainable solutions thanks to its technology with nanobubbles: tiny, invisible bubbles that are inserted in a liquid medium and can contain any type of gas, such as oxygen or nitrogen. They have different applications in agriculture, such as plant growth, crop health, making irrigation water more efficient, oxygenation, and water reuse. For example, in agriculture, by injecting oxygen nanobubbles into roots, they absorb nutrients more efficiently.
AgroDrone: innovating in the application of phytosanitary products
Using drones, AgroDrone Chile is dedicated to the application of phytosanitary products in an innovative way with respect to traditional spraying and fertilization techniques. This technology allows for efficient application in areas that are difficult to access, such as areas with steep slopes, where there are no roads or areas close to forests or houses; avoids soil compaction; reduces the use of phytosanitary products by 30%; and reduces the use of water.
AgroInventario: reducing agricultural losses
After discovering that $400 million a year was being lost due to poor inventory management in the Chilean agricultural sector, in 2019 Tomás Valenzuela and Vicente Pérez created the startup AgroInventariowhich, through an electronic scale with special software, manages to reduce chemical losses, in addition to optimizing time and resources in agricultural warehouses. This allows farmers to make quick decisions, buy correctly and reduce maturity. Today they work with farmers from the Metropolitan Region to the Los Lagos Region, and are looking to internationalize their business.
Patagonia Biotechnology: algae for agriculture
From Puerto Montt, in the south of Chile, Patagonia Biotechnology is a company specialized in the production of seaweed extracts from Patagonian seaweed, nourished by the cold Humboldt Current, the richest marine ecosystem in the world. These extracts are used to support the different stages of plant nutrition through more than 40 seaweed-based products, to be used in both organic and traditional agriculture. Its products are now present in Chile, Peru, USA and soon in other Latin American countries.
Food for the Future (F4F): reusing organic wastes
Addressing the need for food and reducing the amount of organic waste that ends up in landfills are the challenges that Cristián Emhart and Alejandro Tocigl decided to face with Food for the Future. How? By feeding this organic waste to an insect (the black soldier fly) that is then transformed into food for fish and animals. With this project, unique in Latin America, they avoid overexploitation of marine resources and deforestation by replacing fishmeal and soybean meal with this sustainable protein.
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