This week’s Brazil AgTech news begins with a familiar pleasure: who doesn’t love the smell of freshly brewed coffee? Kapeh is taking that appeal beyond the cup, turning coffee into more than 200 cosmetics and preparing a new café-and-beauty franchise model. AgSafe is using AI to protect bees from crop spraying, Broto and iRancho are bringing offline cattle management to more ranchers, and agricultural robots could help fill the sector’s growing labour gap.

In Climate Tech, Copersucar tests ethanol as a marine fuel, while Energis8 plans a $1.3 billion sustainable aviation fuel plant in São Paulo. A new study warns that ending the Soy Moratorium could add 1.4 million hectares of Amazon deforestation by 2035, while AI Pathology is using mobile AI to help screen rural workers for skin cancer.

Funding & M&A brings a retreat and an expansion. BASF is closing its dedicated Brazilian venture capital operation, while Canopy enters agricultural software through the acquisition of Maxicon, creating a platform for further consolidation across the sector.

In Macro & Markets, foreign capital is moving deeper into Brazil’s fast-growing corn ethanol industry, and the country is set to retain its lead over the US in cotton exports. Brazil is also tightening rules on antimicrobial use in livestock as exporters target more demanding international markets.

AgTech

• Kapeh Brews Coffee into Cosmetics and Franchise Growth

• AgSafe Uses AI to Protect Bees from Crop Spraying

• Broto and iRancho Launch Offline Cattle Management Platform

• Farm Robots Could Ease Agriculture’s Labour Shortage

• Biome4All Launches AI Tool to Screen Soil Microbiology

• Precision Agriculture Could Add $2.2 Billion to Farm GDP

Climate Tech

• Copersucar Tests Ethanol as Marine Fuel in Santos

• Energis8 Plans $1.3 Billion SAF Plant in São Paulo

• Soy Moratorium’s End Could Add 1.4 Million Hectares of Deforestation

• Mobile AI Screens Rural Workers for Skin Cancer

Funding & M&A

• BASF Closes Local CVC Operation in Brazil

• Canopy Enters Ag Software with Maxicon Acquisition

Macro & Markets

• Foreign Capital Expands Brazil’s Corn Ethanol Industry

• Brazil Set to Retain Global Cotton Export Lead

• Brazil Tightens Rules on Antimicrobial Use in Livestock

AgTech

Kapeh Brews Coffee into Cosmetics and Franchise Growth - Coffee may be best known for waking people up, but Kapeh is giving it a second life in the bathroom cabinet. The Minas Gerais company has developed more than 200 coffee-based cosmetics, including exfoliants, body oils and lip treatments, and now sells through more than 300 multibrand outlets and five concept stores and kiosks. Around 5% of production is already exported. Kapeh is now preparing a franchise format combining cosmetics retail with cafés, turning one of Brazil’s best-known crops into a broader beauty and lifestyle brand. read more

AgSafe Uses AI to Protect Bees from Crop Spraying - Florianópolis-based AgSafe has developed an AI-powered platform that coordinates pesticide applications between farmers, spraying contractors and nearby beekeepers. The new platform, called Coex.AI, combines spraying schedules, apiary locations, weather conditions and product information to identify risks and issue advance alerts, allowing beekeepers to temporarily close hives while helping farmers reduce spray drift. Pilot projects in southern Brazil have reportedly improved soybean productivity and honey production, although the company has not disclosed precise gains. Founded in 2020 and currently self-funded, AgSafe is using Brazil as a testing ground before pursuing international expansion. read more

Broto and iRancho Launch Offline Cattle Management Platform - Banco do Brasil’s Broto ecosystem and iRancho have launched Broto Gestão Pecuária, a beef-cattle management system that tracks individual animals and centralizes farm data. Designed to work entirely offline, the platform aims to bring tools previously concentrated among larger operations to a broader range of ranchers. The companies say users can cut herd-management time by half and potentially double farm cash turnover through earlier slaughter, while improving traceability and data-based decision-making. read more

Farm Robots Could Ease Agriculture’s Labour Shortage - Agricultural robotics will become increasingly necessary as farmers age and younger workers avoid the sector, according to China Agricultural University researcher Wen-Hao Su. China is investing in research, specialist training and policies supporting robots for tasks including harvesting, crop monitoring and livestock management. Because equipment remains expensive, Su expects service models—where farmers pay for hours worked rather than buying machines—to accelerate adoption. In Brazil, the challenge will be developing robots that are powerful enough for large farms but light enough to avoid soil compaction, particularly in wetter production regions. read more

Biome4All Launches AI Tool to Screen Soil Microbiology - Biome4All has launched Biostart, an AI-based tool that uses physical and chemical soil data to predict microbiological risks linked to crop nutrition and pathogens. Trained on 14,000 soil samples collected over eight years, the system helps farmers identify priority areas before commissioning a full microbiological analysis, which can cost up to ten times more. After an initial free period, each assessment will cost about $8. The company expects the tool to expand access across farm sizes and increase its customer base from 6,000 to 9,000 producers. read more

Precision Agriculture Could Add $2.2 Billion to Farm GDP - Expanding precision agriculture could add more than $2.2 billion to Brazil’s agricultural GDP and generate over 400,000 jobs, according to Embrapa president Silvia Massruhá. She highlighted AI, connectivity and data analytics as central to improving productivity, strengthening sustainability and preparing farms for climate risks. However, limited digital access across rural Brazil remains a major barrier. The estimate was presented at precision and digital agriculture conferences in Porto Alegre, which drew 845 participants and more than 500 technical papers. read more

Climate Tech

Copersucar Tests Ethanol as Marine Fuel in Santos - Copersucar supplied 635,000 litres of sugarcane ethanol to a CMA CGM container ship in Brazil’s first transoceanic marine trial of the fuel. The ethanol will power part of the vessel’s journey to Sri Lanka and could reduce emissions by around 70% compared with conventional bunker fuel. Wider adoption still depends on new vessels, port infrastructure, international regulation and economics: ships require about 1.6 tonnes of ethanol to replace one tonne of fossil fuel. Copersucar believes scale and carbon credits, currently estimated near $100 each, could eventually narrow the cost gap. read more

Energis8 Plans $1.3 Billion SAF Plant in São Paulo - Brazilian company Energis8 plans to invest $1.3 billion in a sustainable aviation fuel plant in Paulínia, São Paulo, targeting annual production of around one billion litres from 2031. The facility would operate through a toll-processing model, converting ethanol supplied by customers into SAF for a per-litre fee. It would require about 1.7 billion litres of ethanol annually. The company expects the model to reduce exposure to volatile SAF prices and believes renewable aviation fuel costs will eventually approach parity with fossil-based jet fuel. read more

Soy Moratorium’s End Could Add 1.4 Million Hectares of Deforestation - Ending Brazil's Soy Moratorium could increase Amazon deforestation by 1.4 million hectares by 2035 and generate 745 million tonnes of carbon-equivalent emissions, according to a study published in Science. The researchers estimate the agreement prevented 1.8 million hectares of forest loss during its first decade and found no systematic evidence that participating farmers received lower soy prices. Aprosoja disputes the analysis, arguing that recent deforestation alerts have declined and that the moratorium restricted legal production rights. The debate now moves toward Brazil’s Supreme Court, which is reviewing state laws affecting the agreement. read more

Mobile AI Screens Rural Workers for Skin Cancer - AI Pathology’s Nevo tool uses smartphone photos to assess suspicious skin lesions and identify patients who need specialist care. In a seven-month project with Senar Goiás, technicians screened 2,058 rural workers from small and medium-sized farms, leading to 75 confirmed cases that received free treatment. The company says the system identified all urgent lesions requiring referral and achieves up to 93% accuracy in risk screening, although it does not replace medical diagnosis. AI Pathology now plans to expand the program into Brazil’s South, Center-West and Northeast. read more

Funding & M&A

BASF Closes Local CVC Operation in Brazil - BASF Venture Capital has reorganized its $290 million global fund around teams in Germany, China and the US East Coast, ending its dedicated local operation in Brazil. Its South American portfolio will now be managed from Germany, although BASF says it remains an investor in existing companies and funds. Brazilian investments include Traive, Grão Direto and SP Ventures’ AgVentures II. The move reflects a broader retrenchment by corporate venture arms in the region, even as BASF continues investing globally from seed through Series B in sustainability, biotechnology and AI. read more

Canopy Enters Ag Software with Maxicon Acquisition - Brazilian software consolidator Canopy has acquired Maxicon, a Paraná-based platform serving grain originators and logistics operators. Maxicon has more than 7,000 users, processes around 35 million tonnes of grain annually and supports roughly $24 billion in transactions. The acquisition is Canopy’s third overall and its first in agriculture, following a $100 million fundraising to build software platforms through M&A. Canopy plans to use Maxicon as a base for further consolidation across farming, livestock, logistics and agro-industrial software, while Maxicon’s founders remain in the business. read more

Macro & Markets

Foreign Capital Expands Brazil’s Corn Ethanol Industry - Foreign investors are moving into Brazil’s fast-growing corn ethanol sector, attracted by abundant second-crop corn, year-round processing and multiple revenue streams from ethanol, DDGS, corn oil, electricity and biomethane. Paraguay’s Inpasa, US-backed FS and Cargill, and the UAE’s Mubadala-backed Atvos have already committed capital, while BP is assessing potential projects linked to its sugarcane assets. Brazilian corn ethanol output has risen to nearly 10 billion litres from 2.65 billion at the start of the decade. Chinese companies remain largely on the sidelines, despite opportunities in equipment, financing, joint ventures and integrated biorefineries. read more

Brazil Set to Retain Global Cotton Export Lead - Brazil is expected to remain the world’s largest cotton exporter in 2026/27, with shipments projected at 3.2 million tonnes, according to the USDA. Production was revised up to 3.9 million tonnes, still below the record 4.08 million tonnes expected for 2025/26, while ending stocks were cut to 742,000 tonnes as more fibre heads overseas. The US is forecast to produce 3 million tonnes and export 2.7 million tonnes. Global consumption is expected to remain above production, keeping the market relatively tight. read more

Brazil Tightens Rules on Antimicrobial Use in Livestock - Brazil has banned five antimicrobials from being manufactured, imported, sold or used as growth promoters in animal feed, aligning its livestock regulations more closely with international efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance. The new rules cover avoparcin, bacitracin, zinc bacitracin, bacitracin methylene disalicylate and virginiamycin, with existing registrations to be cancelled after a transition period. The measure could help Brazilian meat exporters preserve access to higher-value markets such as the EU, UK and Japan, where food safety and responsible antimicrobial use are becoming increasingly important trade requirements. read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

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It’s not just because I’ve been watching a Messi masterclass over the past few weeks that I came up with this week’s headline. “Messy job” is a term I heard recently, and it seems to describe farming perfectly.

A messy job isn’t necessarily dirty. It’s a job that is difficult to describe and almost impossible to predict. On any given day, it might involve fifty different tasks, dozens of decisions and a plan that rarely survives until lunch.

AI performs best when a job follows a predictable pattern with clearly defined steps. The easier it is to describe exactly what someone does, the easier it is to teach a machine to do it. Messy jobs are different. They are full of interruptions, exceptions and unexpected trade-offs, making them much harder to automate.

That describes a farmer’s day remarkably well, because no two are ever quite the same.

There is, of course, plenty of literal mess in farming: mud, manure, dust, grease and machinery that normally chooses the least convenient moment to stop working. But the real mess comes from trying to manage biology, weather, people, equipment, markets and money—often at the same time.

Ask someone outside agriculture what a farmer does and the answer sounds quite simple. A farmer grows soybeans, raises cattle or produces milk. That is true in roughly the same way as saying Messi scores goals. It leaves out most of what makes the job hard.

A farmer may begin the morning planning to inspect a field. Before getting there, a water trough has stopped working. He notices one cow in heat and another that looks lame. On a crop farm, rain suddenly appears in the forecast, a grain truck is stuck on the road into the farm and the bank wants one more document before releasing the credit line.

By mid-morning, the original plan has disappeared. Each problem may be relatively simple on its own, but dealing with all of them creates a job that is almost impossible to describe and even harder to predict.

None appeared on yesterday’s to-do list, yet each one changes what happens next. Every farmer reading this has lived some version of that morning. In fact, it is probably what most farmers would describe as a fairly normal day.

Farming is not really one job. It is hundreds of small tasks wrapped around dozens of decisions. Technology has been replacing those tasks for more than a century. Tractors replaced horses. Combines replaced teams of people harvesting crops. Milking machines removed one of the most repetitive jobs on the farm.

Machines took far more jobs away from farming than AI ever will. AI won’t replace the farmer—it will replace parts of the farmer’s job.

As machines took over more of the physical work, the farmer’s role shifted towards managing equipment, people, capital and risk. Farming needed less muscle, but more judgment. And this is exactly where AI can help most.

AI can analyse a crop, predict disease and compare marketing options. But its real value is helping the farmer make sense of all those signals together.

The difficult part of farming has never been finding the answer. It is deciding what to do when weather, biology, machinery, markets and money are all pointing in different directions.

The best agronomic decision may still be too expensive. The ideal planting date may arrive while the planter is being repaired. The most profitable decision may simply involve more risk than the business can absorb.

AI can make those trade-offs clearer, but it cannot remove them. The farmer still has to decide which risk to take and live with the consequences.

Many sectors of the economy are worried that AI will take all the jobs. Agriculture is increasingly asking where the next generation of workers will come from. Across much of the world, there simply aren’t enough people willing to do farm work. Skilled machinery operators are difficult to find, while rural populations are ageing fast.

If AI can remove some of the repetitive, manual and messy parts of farming, the remaining work becomes more valuable. Workers become more productive. Farm managers spend less time gathering information and more time acting on it. Skilled employees become more valuable, not less.

That may also change how the next generation sees farming.

For many, farming has been more of a vocation than a job. Long hours, physical labour and constant firefighting are not especially attractive, even when the family farm comes with a four-wheeler.

But a farming business built around robotics, automation and AI looks very different. Not just because young people naturally like technology, but because the technology allows them to spend more time solving problems than repeating tasks.

Farming will always be a messy job.

The weather will change. Markets will surprise us. Machines will break down at exactly the wrong moment. And biology will continue to ignore our carefully prepared plans.

AI won’t remove that mess. It will simply make farmers better equipped to deal with it.

The future of farming isn’t about replacing farmers. It’s about making farming a job more people want to do.

Thanks for reading.

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups in Latin America.

This week’s Brazil AgTech Report looks at how AI and digital tools are moving into practical operations. Embrapa has developed a molecular fingerprint to authenticate meat, Belo Monte will use AI to monitor fish in the Xingu river and Oracle is helping AI startups reach large corporate clients.

Climate Tech brings a more circular and biological angle. Better Beef is turning sweet potatoes into ethanol and cattle feed, Biotrop is using AI to accelerate biological discovery, Petrovina has launched a carbon-neutral soybean seed, and BrasilAgro is betting on irrigation to raise farmland value.

In Funding & M&A news, InLida raised $200,000 to expand its digital cattle management platform, Limber and Infogen are combining their AgTech businesses, Grupo Aroeira secured financing for a new cereals ethanol plant and Inpasa is seeking $200 million for expansion.

In Macro & Markets, Stine is targeting second place in Brazil’s soybean seed market, ETG plans its first fertilizer plant in the country, and the government is considering cheaper rural credit for farmers who buy crop insurance.

AgTech

• Embrapa Creates Molecular Fingerprint for Meat

• Belo Monte to Use AI for Fish Monitoring

• Oracle Launches AI Startup Growth Program

Climate Tech

• Better Beef Turns Sweet Potatoes into Feed and Fuel

• Biotrop Uses AI to Accelerate Biological Discovery

• Petrovina Launches Carbon-Neutral Soybean Seed

• BrasilAgro Bets on Irrigation to Raise Land Value

Funding & M&A

• InLida Raises $200,000 to Expand Digital Cattle Platform

• Limber and Infogen Merge to Build Ag Platform

• Grupo Aroeira Secures Financing for Ethanol Plant

• Inpasa Seeks $200 Million for Expansion

Macro & Markets

• Stine Targets Second Place in Soybean Seeds

• ETG to Build Fertilizer Plant in Tocantins

• Credit Discount Could Boost Rural Insurance

AgTech

Embrapa Develops 20-Minute Molecular “Fingerprint” to Authenticate Meat - Embrapa and university researchers have developed a mass-spectrometry method that identifies whether meat comes from cattle, pigs, chickens or tilapia in about 20 minutes. The protein-based molecular fingerprint can also distinguish Nelore from Angus beef and works after freezing or frying. The expandable database could support premium-meat certification, biological traceability, sanitary inspections and fraud detection, offering regulators and exporters a faster alternative to genetic testing. read more

Belo Monte to Use AI for Real-Time Fish Monitoring in the Xingu River - Hydroelectric plant, Belo Monte, will deploy an AI-powered computer vision system from April 2027 to identify and count fish passing through its fish transposition system. Developed with Instituto Atlântico, the model is expected to classify migratory and Amazonian species with more than 90% accuracy, replacing a labor-intensive process currently handled frame by frame by a six-person team. The roughly $1.4 million project could eventually be adapted for other Brazilian dams, improving environmental reporting and monitoring of hydroelectric impacts on aquatic biodiversity. read more

Oracle Launches Program to Help AI Startups Reach Corporate Clients - Oracle has launched the Startup Growth Engine in Latin America to help scaling B2B AI startups overcome one of their biggest barriers: access to large corporate customers. The program offers technical and business mentoring, up to $60,000 in Oracle Cloud credits, visibility at company events and potential access to Oracle’s marketplace and customer ecosystem. Startups must already have active clients and demonstrated growth potential, with benefits unlocked as their relationship with Oracle develops. read more

Climate Tech

Better Beef Turns Sweet Potatoes into Feed and Fuel - The Better Beef feedlot is developing a circular production model that converts off-spec sweet potatoes into ethanol, high-protein cattle feed and, eventually, biomethane for its own fleet and industrial operations. The project is expected to process about 36,000 tons of sweet potatoes annually, producing 15 million liters of alcohol and around 7,000 tons of cattle feed. The company says the initiative reduces waste, creates a new market for regional farmers and strengthens cost control across its vertically integrated beef business. read more

Biotrop Uses AI to Accelerate Biological Discovery - Brazilian biotech company, Biotrop, has integrated a proprietary AI system into its soil metagenomics platform, drawing on years of tropical soil data to identify microbial patterns, generate hypotheses and accelerate the development of new biological products. The company is also applying AI across technical, regulatory, legal and administrative processes. Biotrop says one internal tool saved 350 employee hours in a month and delivered a return 15 times its cost, freeing specialists to focus on research, innovation and higher-value decisions. read more

Petrovina Launches Carbon-Neutral Soybean Seed - Mato Grosso seed company Petrovina has launched what it says is Brazil’s first carbon-neutral soybean seed, following three years of investment in sustainability practices, emissions measurement and carbon offsetting. The product will be sold through its premium Prime and Prime Tech lines without a price premium, while the company targets 20%–25% of total sales within three years. Petrovina sold 1.3 million bags last season and says its earlier RTRS certification investments paid back in three years through annual credit revenues of roughly $180,000–$200,000. read more

BrasilAgro Bets on Irrigation to Raise Land Value - BrasilAgro is investing in irrigation at its 11,700-hectare Arrojadinho farm in Bahia to test whether higher productivity can unlock a new model for land appreciation. The company plans to irrigate 4,200 hectares, with 2,900 hectares already operating and completion expected in 2027. Management estimates the investment at about $5,000 per hectare and sees potential to raise land values from roughly 200 to as much as 1,000 bags of soybeans per hectare. By enabling two annual crops, including a soybean-cotton rotation, the project could achieve payback in five to six years. read more

Funding & M&A

InLida Raises $200,000 to Expand Digital Cattle Platform - Piracicaba-based InLida has raised more than $200,000 since its founding, with backing from cattle producers Bernhard Kiep and Marcos Ermírio de Moraes. The startup’s herd-management platform has registered more than 30,000 farms, 300,000 animals and 90,000 inseminations. Its new subscription-based version targets small and midsized cattle producers, with plans starting at about $6 per month and offline field data capture. Around 10% of registered farms have migrated to the upgraded platform, which adds reproductive indicators, calving forecasts and herd analytics. read more

Limber and Infogen Merge to Build Larger Ag Platform - Limber Software has merged with Santa Catarina-based Infogen Informática, creating one of Brazil’s largest technology verticals focused on agribusiness. Operating as Infogen by Limber, the combined business serves more than 400 clients and 12,000 active users across companies generating around $25 billion in annual revenue. Infogen founder Ernani Zottis will continue leading the ag division, which includes AI-enabled tools for grain storage, livestock monitoring, logistics, farm relationships and industrial operations. read more

Grupo Aroeira Secures Financing for Cereals Ethanol Plant - Grupo Aroeira will build a cereals ethanol plant in Tupaciguara after securing $124 million in BNDES financing. Operated by Biomil Etanol, the unit is expected to begin production in 2028 and process 330,000 tons of corn and sorghum annually, producing 146 million liters of ethanol and around 92,000 tons of DDGS for animal feed. The project expands Aroeira’s existing sugarcane, ethanol, sugar and energy complex in the Triângulo Mineiro. read more

Inpasa Seeks $200 Million for Expansion - Inpasa is seeking about $200 million through debentures to finance expansion and improve its capital structure as it pushes deeper into Brazil’s corn ethanol market. The company points to its $320 million Sinop expansion, which doubled the plant’s capacity, as backing for the raise. New units in Rio Verde and Rondonópolis are also under development and are expected to lift Inpasa’s total production capacity by 50% to 8.6 billion liters annually by 2027. read more

Macro & Markets

Stine Targets Second Place in Brazil’s Soybean Seed Market - US seed company Stine is expanding into southern Brazil as it seeks to become the country’s second-largest soybean seed brand by 2030. After separating its Brazilian operation from the rest of Latin America, the company is adding commercial partners and now works with more than 40 multipliers nationwide, including 14 in the South. Stine says its market share has risen from near zero three years ago to about 6% for the 2026/27 season. read more

ETG to Build Fertilizer Plant in Tocantins - Global fertilizer company ETG will install its first Brazilian industrial plant at VLI’s logistics complex in Palmeirante, Tocantins. The $5 million unit will have annual production capacity of 200,000 tons and storage for 45,000 tons, with operations expected to begin in February 2027. Imported inputs will arrive through the Port of Itaqui and travel by rail to Tocantins, strengthening the fertilizer corridor serving Matopiba. read more

Credit Discount Could Boost Rural Insurance - Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry plans to propose lower rural credit rates for producers who buy crop insurance, with a discount of up to one percentage point on controlled credit lines under the 2026/27 Plano Safra. The goal is to expand protection ahead of an expected El Niño period, but the initiative faces budget constraints after rural insurance subsidies were cut from an initial roughly $200 million to just over $100 million. The ministry is also considering linking insurance coverage to access to subsidized credit, although that would require legal changes. read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

This week’s Brazil AgTech Report looks at how Amazon researchers are using genomics to accelerate açaí breeding, while TIM pushes its rural connectivity strategy toward ag data intelligence. Carbon Exchange and GreenBug are combining sensors and bioacoustics for real-time fire detection, and Brazil’s House approved longer protection for plant cultivars.

In Climate Tech, Uberaba is set to receive a new biomethane plant that will turn sugarcane residues into renewable gas. Brazil also regulated payments for environmental services, but limited what farmers can be paid for under the federal program. Volvo and Potencial Agro are expanding B100 biodiesel trucking, while China’s new soy sustainability guide accepts Brazilian environmental law as the core standard.

In Funding & M&A, Suzano closed its $1.3 billion Kimberly-Clark tissue JV acquisition, giving it control of a new consumer-facing platform. DeepAgro raised $3 million to expand AI-powered selective spraying in Brazil, Grupo Zanchetta acquired Ceratti, and Biotrop reached $1.3 million in first-year US sales.

In Macro & Markets, Goiás announced a $60 million applied AI hub, reinforcing the race to build local AI infrastructure. Brazilian meatpackers are cutting slaughter as China’s beef quota nears its limit, most Latin American VCs now use AI to analyze investments, and Sicredi plans $14.4 billion in rural credit for the 2026/27 crop season.

AgTech

• Amazon Researchers Sequence Açaí Genome

• TIM Shifts From 4G Coverage to Ag Data Intelligence

• Carbon Exchange and GreenBug Target Real-Time Fire Detection

• Brazilian House Approves Longer Protection for Plant Cultivars

Climate Tech

• Uberaba Biomethane Plant to Turn Sugarcane Waste Into Renewable Gas

• Brazil Limits Agro Eligibility in Environmental Services Payments

• Volvo and Potencial Agro Expand Biodiesel Truck Fleet

• China Accepts Brazilian Environmental Law as Soy Sustainability Standard

Funding & M&A

• Suzano Closes $1.3 Billion Kimberly-Clark Tissue JV Acquisition

• DeepAgro Raises $3 Million to Expand Selective Spraying in Brazil

• Grupo Zanchetta Acquires Ceratti to Expand Processed Meat Portfolio

• Biotrop Reaches $1.3 Million in First-Year US Sales

Macro & Markets

• Goiás to Invest $60 Million in Applied AI Hub

• Brazilian Meatpackers Cut Slaughter as China Beef Quota Nears Limit

• Most Latin American VCs Now Use AI to Analyze Investments

• Sicredi Plans $14.4 Billion in Rural Credit for 2026/27 Crop Season

AgTech

Amazon Researchers Sequence Açaí Genome - Researchers from UFPA and Embrapa Amazônia Oriental sequenced the açaí genome for the first time, creating a tool to accelerate genetic improvement of one of Brazil’s most important bioeconomy crops. The work can help identify genes linked to productivity, anthocyanin content, fruit color and disease resistance, reducing the time needed to select desirable traits. The research may also support new biotech routes for producing natural colorants, antioxidants and other molecules of interest for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, while advancing Embrapa’s long-running effort to adapt açaí for cultivation on non-flooded land. Read more

TIM Shifts From 4G Coverage to Ag Data Intelligence - TIM Brasil is moving into the next phase of its agribusiness strategy after connecting 27.3 million hectares with rural 4G and more than 54 million hectares with NB-IoT. The operator says growth will now come less from coverage expansion and more from turning farm data into services for AI, cloud computing, automation and operational management. Its B2B portfolio totals about $200 million in contracts, with clients including BP Bioenergy, SLC Agrícola, Jalles, Citrosuco, Amaggi and Adecoagro. The recent acquisition of V8.Tech strengthens its push into data integration, analytics and AI. Read more

Carbon Exchange and GreenBug Target Real-Time Fire Detection - Carbon Exchange and GreenBug are developing hardware to monitor fires in real time by combining environmental sensors with bioacoustic detection. Carbon Exchange’s device tracks variables such as pressure, humidity, temperature and smoke, while GreenBug adds sound monitoring capable of identifying human presence, vehicles, chainsaws, gunshots and other activity even in areas without internet or power. Field tests are planned for September, with the product expected to be available in 2027. Carbon Exchange is also raising at least $1 million to help build a factory in Belém. Read more

Brazilian House Approves Longer Protection for Plant Cultivars - Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill extending cultivar protection from 15 to 25 years for grapevines, fruit trees, forest trees, ornamental plants, rootstocks and sugarcane, while keeping the 15-year term for annual crops such as soy, corn, beans and rice. The proposal aims to align Brazil more closely with international plant variety protection standards and improve legal certainty for long-cycle breeding investments. Supporters say the change is especially relevant for planted forests and sugarcane, where new varieties can take many years to develop and commercialize. The bill now returns to the Senate. Read more

Climate Tech

Uberaba Biomethane Plant to Turn Sugarcane Waste Into Renewable Gas - Gasmig and Geomit signed a contract to build a biomethane plant in Uberaba that will produce 50,000 cubic meters per day of renewable fuel from sugarcane residues supplied by Companhia Mineira de Açúcar e Álcool. The project is expected to begin commercial operations in May 2028 and will supply industries and fleets in Uberaba, Uberlândia, Indianópolis and Araxá. Gasmig plans to invest about $200 million in 400 kilometers of new gas pipelines, helping replace fossil fuels such as diesel, fuel oil and LPG across the Triângulo Mineiro. Read more

Brazil Limits Agro Eligibility in Environmental Services Payments - Brazil regulated its National Policy for Payments for Environmental Services five years after the law was approved, creating clearer rules for contracts, payers, beneficiaries and eligible activities. The decree allows payments for conservation, restoration, agroforestry, sustainable management, water protection and recycling, and recognizes technologies such as remote sensing for MRV. But the federal program will not pay farmers for preserving areas already protected under the Forest Code, such as Legal Reserves and APPs, limiting payments to legally deforestable native vegetation kept standing. The market is still waiting for a national PSA registry and tax incentives. Read more

Volvo and Potencial Agro Expand Biodiesel Truck Fleet - Volvo delivered five more FH B100 Flex trucks to Potencial Agro, bringing the Paraná-based company’s fleet of 100% biodiesel-capable vehicles to 43 units. Potencial plans to invest about $1.2 billion by 2030 in biodiesel, corn ethanol and biomethane, targeting 1.7 billion liters of biodiesel, 500 million liters of corn ethanol, 1 billion liters of ethanol and 9 million cubic meters of biogas. Volvo says it has sold 300 FH B100 trucks since 2024 and sees faster adoption depending on ANP rules for biodiesel distribution and incentives for B100 freight decarbonization. Read more

China Accepts Brazilian Environmental Law as Soy Sustainability Standard - China’s food import chamber released a sustainable soy supply-chain guide for Brazil that recognizes Brazilian environmental law as the main benchmark for assessing legality and sustainability. Earlier drafts had proposed stricter rules, including zero-deforestation criteria and references to the Soy Moratorium, but those were removed after pressure from Brazilian producer groups, including Aprosoja MT. The guide now cites instruments such as the CAR and deforestation authorizations, and highlights Aprosoja MT’s Soja Legal program as a case study. Aprosoja MT plans to sign an agreement in Beijing to operationalize a traceability program. Read more

Funding & M&A

Suzano Closes $1.3 Billion Kimberly-Clark Tissue JV Acquisition - Suzano completed the acquisition of 51% of FampPro Tissue Holdings from Kimberly-Clark for $1.3 billion, giving the pulp and paper company control of the joint venture, which will now be renamed Arbex. The initial capital structure includes about $1 billion in net debt linked to the transaction financing. Suzano and Kimberly-Clark also signed governance, management and operating agreements, along with transition-service and licensing contracts to support continuity after closing. The deal had been announced in June 2025 and updated in May 2026. Read more

DeepAgro Raises $3 Million to Expand Selective Spraying in Brazil - Argentina’s DeepAgro is raising $3 million in a pre-Series A round led by a large Brazilian fund to scale its AI-powered selective spraying technology in Brazil. The startup validated its SprAI system with Amaggi, where tests across more than 22,000 hectares of soy and cotton delivered an average 71% reduction in herbicide use. DeepAgro is also testing with Adecoagro in sugarcane, negotiating a machinery partnership and targeting the BR-163 corridor in Mato Grosso as a key growth region. The company says its system can be adapted to sprayers of any brand or year. Read more

Grupo Zanchetta Acquires Ceratti to Expand Processed Meat Portfolio - Grupo Zanchetta acquired Ceratti, the 90-year-old cold cuts and processed meats company previously controlled by Hormel Foods since 2017. The deal gives Zanchetta a stronger position in pork-based processed products and expands its consumer-facing portfolio beyond its existing brands Alliz, Mondelli and Frangoeste. Ceratti will keep its industrial unit in Vinhedo, São Paulo, and both companies will continue operating independently until the transaction is approved by Cade. The acquisition value was not disclosed. Read more

Biotrop Reaches $1.3 Million in First-Year US Sales - Biotrop reached $1.3 million in US sales during its first year in the market, as the Brazilian biologicals company expands into the world’s largest agricultural inputs market. The Biofirst-owned company is offering biofungicides, bionematicides and soil conditioners for crops including soy, corn, wheat, cotton and peanuts. Biotrop has opened a research unit in Gainesville with the University of Florida, is building a local field team and has begun registering 14 biological products in the US. In 2025, the company ran 185 field trials in North America and is carrying out more than 170 experiments this year. Read more

Macro & Markets

Goiás to Invest $60 Million in Applied AI Hub - Goiás will invest about $60 million over five years to create an AI and Innovation District in Goiânia and expand the Federal University of Goiás’ AI Excellence Center. The district will cover 91 hectares and aims to attract companies, research centers and startups through incentives, including lower ISS taxes and direct subsidies. Of the total, about $16 million will go to the CEIA, including around $8 million for Nvidia GPUs. The strategy focuses on applied AI, model adaptation, SLMs, autonomous mobility, public-sector solutions and startup acceleration. Read more

Brazilian Meatpackers Cut Slaughter as China Beef Quota Nears Limit - Brazilian meatpackers are reducing slaughter and granting collective vacations as China’s annual tariff-rate quota for Brazilian beef approaches its 1.106 million-ton limit. Companies including Frigol, Better Beef, Iguatemi Beef and Plena Alimentos are suspending or cutting production, with Chinese buyers expected to return only in October for shipments that would count toward the 2027 quota. Brazil had filled 65.4% of the quota by late June, and volumes above the limit face a sharply higher tariff. The slowdown highlights the sector’s exposure to China despite efforts to redirect supply to the US, Middle East, UK and domestic market. Read more

Most Latin American VCs Now Use AI to Analyze Investments - More than 90% of Latin American venture capital firms now use AI to analyze deals, according to Hi Ventures’ State of AI Latin America 2026 report, up from 45% two years ago. The survey of 54 managers found AI is being used for market research, competitive intelligence, portfolio monitoring, financial modeling, LP communications, contract review and compliance. Startups with AI at the core are also becoming a priority, with 61% of funds saying more than 60% of their investments over the past year had AI at the center. The report also highlights rapid adoption of AI agents across portfolios. Read more

Sicredi Plans $14.4 Billion in Rural Credit for 2026/27 Crop Season - Sicredi plans to provide $14.4 billion in rural credit during the 2026/27 crop season, up 4.4% from the previous cycle, across about 340,000 operations. The cooperative expects to allocate $5.5 billion to working capital, $3.1 billion to investment, $400 million to commercialization and industrialization, $3.6 billion through CPRs and $1.8 billion through dollar-linked credit lines. Sicredi is also watching rising rural delinquency and says growth will depend on portfolio quality, with more cautious lending and greater use of insurance, consórcios and diversified funding. Read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

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For the past 20 years, software has been eating the world, to borrow Marc Andreessen’s famous line. For venture capital, this was close to the perfect model. Code was easy to distribute, margins were high, and the best software companies could grow exponentially without factories, inventory, servicing networks or working capital.

Hardware sat on the other side of the fence. It was slow, capital intensive, hard to iterate and usually needed manufacturing, logistics, maintenance, leasing or equipment finance. That made it a difficult fit for classic venture capital, not only in agriculture, but across most sectors.

Software transformed banking, media, advertising, retail and logistics because those industries already generated digital data. A payment, ad click, loan application or e-commerce purchase already lives inside a digital system. The data was already there. Software simply organized it, analyzed it and monetized it.

Farming was a different animal altogether. Much of the information is still analog, local and often sitting inside the farmer’s head. To make software useful, the farmer had to input data, learn another system, interpret the output and then connect it back to real decisions in the field.

A truly digital farm also required hardware. Soil sensors, cameras, drones, weather stations, storage and connectivity all had to be paid for before the software could really start working. Dashboards then had to turn that data into something useful. Even then, the payback was not always obvious.

In Brazilian agriculture, where margins are thin, interest rates are high, weather risk is constant and cash flow is seasonal, that was always a tough sell.

This is where AI comes in, increasing the value of tractors, robots and sensors by allowing them to generate intelligence while they work. Farm machinery was originally designed to replace muscle. Software tried to make those machines more efficient and connected. AI may finally make them more intelligent and profitable.

A machine that only performs one physical task has one main source of return. A machine that performs the task and produces useful intelligence at the same time can support several parts of the farm business. It can improve the operation, reduce risk, document what happened and create data that has value beyond the field.

The milking robot on my family farm is a good example. The main reason to buy it was labor shortage, as fewer people want to do repetitive dairy work anymore. But the robot does more than milk. It analyses milk quality, detects early signs of mastitis, tracks animal behavior and productivity and helps the farmer spot health issues well before they become visible.

The same logic applies in the field. A combine has traditionally been judged by its size and harvest speed, but modern machines also collect GPS, yield, moisture and performance data as they move. With AI, that information can become valuable beyond the harvest itself, helping identify field variability, detect operational problems, estimate crop quality, update inventories, improve logistics and provide evidence for lenders, insurers or buyers.

The pattern also shows up in smaller, less obvious hardware. Belgian startup SoundTalks uses AI-enabled microphones in pig barns to monitor cough patterns and other respiratory signals, detecting disease and respiratory risk weeks before symptoms are visible to the farmer.

That is an important difference from the last software wave. Traditional software worked best with structured data: numbers in rows, fields in forms and inputs that were already cleaned and organized. AI can work with messier signals: sound, images, movement, heat, vibration, color, behavior and patterns that may not be obvious to the human eye or ear. Farms are full of signals long before they become data.

Once those signals become useful intelligence, the value of the hardware changes. A microphone, camera or machine is no longer just a tool doing one job. It becomes a way to turn the physical world into decisions, documentation and risk reduction.

The investment case for venture capital may start to change as a result. Hardware is still hard because it needs manufacturing, inventory, servicing, distribution and financing. When one physical asset can create value across several workflows and several beneficiaries, the calculation looks different. The farmer gets a shorter payback period. The startup can build more than one revenue stream, and the hardware itself provides a natural competitive moat.

The broader return of interest in deep tech also matters. Investors are starting to look again at companies that combine software with complex physical systems, from robotics and industrial automation to aerospace and farm hardware. The record-breaking SpaceX IPO has pushed deep tech back into the center of the venture conversation. Farming has always been physical, and AI may finally make that physical layer more valuable.

AgTech hardware will still be difficult to build and finance, but a machine that does the job while creating useful intelligence can serve more parts of the value chain, support more business models and pay back faster. For farmers, startups and investors, these machines are still heavy, but the extra returns can help carry the load.

Thanks for reading.

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups in Latin America.

This week’s Brazil AgTech Report looks at grain markets moving after hours, as Grão Direto and ADM test 24-hour trading. Brazil’s new regional radar shows the country dominates Latin American agtech, Pyka turns Brazil into its main market for autonomous agricultural aircraft, and the AI race highlights agriculture’s data gap.

In Climate Tech, Viter expands from agricultural limestone into foliar nutrition and biologicals, while Danone links dairy productivity to ESG, protein growth and regenerative agriculture. Biotrop pushes Brazilian biologicals into the U.S. market, Petrobras advances renewable fuels, Komet studies water droplets to improve irrigation efficiency, and biomass cogeneration faces Brazil’s first curtailment test.

Funding & M&A brings another active week for farmland, credit and corporate deleveraging. SLC Agrícola moves to secure Radar farmland in Mato Grosso, JiveMauá raises a new Fiagro for ag credit, Cosan weighs further asset sales, and rural insurance budgets tighten again despite the need for broader climate risk protection.

In Macro & Markets, Mato Grosso gains new rail capacity to move more grain toward Santos, Brazil’s soy area expansion slows to its weakest pace in 20 years, and the country’s beef export quota to China moves close to saturation.

AgTech

• Grão Direto opens 24-hour grain trading with ADM pilot

• Brazil leads Latin America with 78% of regional agtech startups

• Pyka makes Brazil its main market for autonomous agricultural aircraft

• AI adoption in agriculture exposes the field data gap

Climate Tech

• Viter expands from agricultural limestone into foliar nutrition and biologicals

• Danone ties dairy to ESG, protein growth and regenerative agriculture

• Biotrop targets U.S. growth in biological inputs from Brazilian base

• Brazil’s first biomass curtailment raises concerns for sugarcane cogeneration mills

• Petrobras approves $1.2 billion renewable aviation fuel and diesel plant

• Komet opens irrigation efficiency lab to reduce water losses in Brazil

Funding & M&A

• Rural insurance budget cut again despite push to expand coverage

• SLC Agrícola buys Radar farmland in Mato Grosso for about $370 million

• JiveMauá raises first Fiagro to expand private credit for agribusiness

• Cosan weighs further asset sales after Radar deal

Macro & Markets

• Mato Grosso rail link expands grain logistics corridor to Santos

• Brazil soy expansion slows to smallest annual increase in 20 years

• China beef quota nears saturation as Brazil exports accelerate

AgTech

Grão Direto Opens 24-Hour Grain Trading - Grão Direto and ADM have tested a new Mercado 24h feature that lets farmers and traders close grain deals outside traditional market hours, including at night and early morning. In less than three months, the pilot moved 55,000 tons of soy and corn, enough to fill a grain vessel, with more than 100 trades completed. The feature complements Grão Direto’s AI assistant AIrton, reducing timing friction in a market still heavily shaped by manual processes and limited trading windows. Read more

Brazil Leads Latin America in AgTech Startups - Brazil accounts for 2,075 of the 2,653 agtech startups identified in the new Radar Agtech Latin America and Caribbean study, representing 78% of the regional total. The report, an extension of Embrapa’s Brazilian mapping effort, shows Brazil far ahead of Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay, supported by its stronger research, university and innovation infrastructure. Most startups operate “inside the farm gate,” with systems integration, data platforms, fertilizers, inoculants, plant nutrition, drones, machinery and equipment among the largest categories. Read more

Pyka Makes Brazil Its Main Autonomous Aircraft Market - Pyka is expanding rapidly in Brazil as large agribusiness groups adopt its autonomous Pelican aircraft for aerial spraying. The company now has 12 aircraft operating in the country and expects to reach 22 to 25 by year-end, with clients including SLC Agrícola, Amaggi, Natter Agro, ACP Bioenergia and Terra Agro. Brazil already represents 80% of Pyka’s agricultural aircraft market, helped by demand for night spraying, labor efficiency and regulation that has moved faster than in the United States. Read more

AI Push Exposes Agriculture’s Data Gap - Agriculture’s AI adoption still depends on a less glamorous foundation: clean, connected and usable field data. At SP Ventures’ Harvesting Innovation event, Grão Direto CEO Alexandre Borges warned that digitizing bad processes only scales mistakes, while GoFlux CEO Rodrigo Gonçalves said offline freight negotiations still disappear from the digital data layer. Both argued that AI in ag will require hands-on client work, better process design and a mix of off-the-shelf and proprietary models, especially where local rules and strategic data matter. Read more

Climate Tech

Viter Expands Into Foliar Nutrition - Viter, the agribusiness unit of Votorantim Cimentos, is moving beyond agricultural limestone into foliar nutrition, fertilizers and future biological products. The company has invested about $60 million between 2020 and 2026 to expand capacity and broaden its portfolio, including new foliar products launched in May. Viter says limestone demand remains stable despite tighter farm margins, with sales up 13% in 2025, but sees faster growth ahead in “mixtures” that combine calcium, magnesium, sulfur and other nutrients. Read more

Danone Ties Dairy Productivity to ESG and Protein Growth - Danone is making Brazilian dairy a core part of its 2030 strategy, linking demand for protein and functional nutrition with regenerative agriculture and decarbonization targets. More than 60% of the milk used in Brazil already comes from farms using regenerative practices, while its Jornada Flora program works with suppliers on emissions reduction, animal welfare, productivity and access to credit. The company says intensification, not herd expansion, is the goal, with supported farms reaching close to 24 liters per cow per day versus a national average of around six. Read more

Biotrop Targets U.S. Biologicals Growth - Biotrop is expanding in the United States after its first year of commercial operations generated just over $1 million in sales and presence across 23 states. The Brazilian biological inputs company, controlled by Belgium’s Biofirst, says early traction is measured less by revenue and more by product trials, repeat purchases and distributor relationships in regions including the Corn Belt and the southern peanut belt. Biotrop aims to reach $160 million in U.S. revenue by 2034, supported by university partnerships, local R&D and future plans for U.S. production. Read more

Brazil’s First Biomass Curtailment Raises Concerns - Brazil’s energy operator ONS ordered its first-ever curtailment of type 3 plants, including sugarcane biomass cogeneration units, cutting 1 GW of generation for four hours on June 7. The impact on sugar and ethanol production was limited, but mills warned that biomass cuts are more complex than solar or wind curtailment because bagasse also generates steam used in industrial operations. Tereos said it adapted without relevant losses, while sector groups fear repeated curtailments could disrupt milling schedules and reduce revenue from power exports. Read more

Petrobras Approves $1.2 Billion Renewable Fuels Plant - Petrobras has approved a $1.2 billion investment to build a renewable aviation fuel and renewable diesel plant at its Presidente Bernardes refinery in Cubatão, São Paulo. The unit is expected to start operations in 2030, with capacity to produce up to 15,000 barrels per day of renewable fuels. The project was already included in Petrobras’ 2026–2030 strategic plan and now moves into the final contracting phase, adding another large-scale signal that Brazil’s biofuels platform is expanding beyond ethanol and biodiesel. Read more

Komet Opens Irrigation Efficiency Lab in Brazil - Komet Irrigation has opened a $400,000 research lab in Brazil to study how water droplets behave between leaving a sprinkler and reaching the soil. The goal is to improve irrigation efficiency by measuring evaporation, wind drift, droplet size, water distribution and equipment wear over time. Brazil accounts for about 23% of Komet’s global revenue and has around 40,000 center pivots in operation, creating a large modernization opportunity as the company develops sensors to turn sprinklers into real-time data sources for irrigation management. Read more

Funding & M&A

Rural Insurance Budget Cut Again - Brazil’s rural insurance subsidy program lost another roughly $11 million after the federal government shifted funds to another Agriculture Ministry initiative. The move reduces the 2026 budget for the program to about $95 million, down from around $106 million after an earlier fiscal freeze and below the roughly $116 million executed in 2025. The cut comes as policymakers are also discussing ways to expand insurance adoption, highlighting the tension between broader climate risk protection and shrinking public subsidy capacity. Read more

SLC Agrícola Buys Radar Farmland in Mato Grosso - SLC Agrícola has exercised its right of first refusal to buy 41,200 hectares of farmland in Mato Grosso from Radar, the rural land company controlled by Cosan and Nuveen, for about $370 million. The properties had been under negotiation with Grupo Bom Futuro, but SLC already leased 17,600 hectares of the area and moved quickly to secure the full “Mato Grosso Block.” The deal marks a strategic shift from SLC’s recent asset-light leasing model, suggesting the land was too important to let go. Read more

JiveMauá Raises First Fiagro for Private Agribusiness Credit - JiveMauá has raised about $83 million for its first Fiagro, JMAG, focused on private credit for agribusiness. The fund is already half allocated, with deals typically starting at about $5 million, averaging three and a half years and costing borrowers around CDI + 5% per year. To attract producers and investors, JMAG offers two years of principal grace and a senior/subordinated structure, meaning the manager absorbs first losses before retail investors in the senior tranche, which raised about $70 million. Read more

Cosan Weighs Further Asset Sales After Radar Deal - Cosan is continuing its deleveraging strategy after the sale of Radar farmland assets in Mato Grosso, with SLC Agrícola’s purchase covered separately in this edition. The transaction is expected to generate about $117 million for Cosan’s holding company, while the broader Radar portfolio sold for about $370 million. Cosan may still pursue additional divestments, including stakes in Rumo and Compass, although after Compass’ IPO the company said there are no current talks or studies involving another Compass stake sale. Read more

Macro & Markets

Mato Grosso Rail Link Expands Grain Logistics - Rumo has started operations on the first 162 km stretch of Mato Grosso’s state railway, linking Rondonópolis to Dom Aquino and bringing rail closer to key grain-producing regions. The new BR-070 terminal is expected to handle up to 10 million tons of grain per year at full capacity, strengthening the corridor to the Port of Santos and reducing reliance on long-distance trucking. Future phases would extend the line to Nova Mutum, Lucas do Rio Verde and Cuiabá, although licensing is still pending. Read more

Soy Expansion Slows to 20-Year Low - Brazil’s soybean area is expected to grow just 0.9% in 2026/27, reaching a record 49 million hectares but marking the smallest annual expansion in 20 years, according to AgRural. The slowdown reflects tighter margins, high production costs, rising debt, expensive credit and caution over El Niño, which could delay planting in some states. The forecast suggests Brazil’s soy frontier is still expanding, but the era of easy area growth is getting harder to finance. Read more

China Beef Quota Nears Saturation - Brazil’s beef export quota to China could reach 94.5% by the end of June, according to Terra Investimentos, leaving only about 60,000 tons available under the annual limit. China set a 1.106 million-ton quota for Brazilian beef in 2026, and volumes already cleared, shipped or in the logistics pipeline are expected to bring the total committed volume to about 1.045 million tons. The quota could be exhausted at Brazilian ports by mid-July, potentially triggering additional tariffs and affecting Chinese buying decisions in the months ahead. Read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

This week’s Brazil AgTech Report sees Justoken bringing tokenized agro and energy derivatives outside traditional exchange infrastructure, drone use expanding quickly in the field, Phibro pushing custom vaccines to reduce antibiotic use, and ClickHouse bringing real-time AI database technology to Brazil.

In Climate Tech, Nestlé expands regenerative coffee sourcing, Petrobras, Bunge and Vibra certify deforestation-free soy to supply aviation fuel, Brazilian corn ethanol gets a low carbon score from the International Maritime Organization, and Mato Grosso eases its timeline for phasing out native biomass.

Funding and M&A sees Möbius buying its first farm through a Fiagro, Imaflora planning a cattle traceability Fiagro in Pará, FS announcing a new corn ethanol plant in Mato Grosso, Daabon beginning operations after acquiring Agropalma, and BTG increasing its exposure to Eucatex preferred shares.

Macro and markets focuses on land, logistics and infrastructure. SLC Agrícola’s farmland portfolio slows as the land market cools, Bom Futuro offers to buy Radar farmland, and the USDA warns that logistics bottlenecks could become the main limit to Brazilian agribusiness growth.

Table of Contents

AgTech

• Justoken Looks to Tokenize Agro and Energy Derivatives

• Drone Use in Brazilian Agriculture Jumps Tenfold

• Phibro Expands Custom Vaccines to Reduce Antibiotic Use

• ClickHouse Brings AI Database Platform to Brazil

Climate Tech

• Nestlé Expands Regenerative Coffee Sourcing in Brazil

• Certified Deforestation-Free Soy to Supply Aviation Fuel

• IMO Sets Low Carbon Score for Brazilian Corn Ethanol

• Mato Grosso Eases Timeline for Native Biomass Phaseout

Funding & M&A

• Möbius Buys First Farm Through Fiagro as Agro AUM Nears $200M

• Imaflora Plans Fiagro to Support Cattle Traceability in Pará

• FS Announces $400M Corn Ethanol Plant in Mato Grosso

• Daabon Begins Brazil Operations After Agropalma Acquisition

• BTG Increases Exposure to Eucatex Preferred Shares

Macro & Markets

• SLC Farmland Portfolio Slows as Land Market Cools

• Bom Futuro Offers $370M for Radar Farmland

• USDA Says Brazil Ag Logistics Bottlenecks Cost $14B

AgTech

Justoken Looks to Tokenize Agro and Energy Derivatives - Justoken and Vox Capital say tokenization could move more agro and energy derivatives into private markets outside traditional exchange infrastructure. Justoken, which began with tokenized soy, corn and wheat assets, is expanding into renewables, thermal energy, gas and oil, arguing that digital assets can simplify credit, traceability and trading of physical assets that are hard to commercialize or use as collateral. The company also sees barter, which represents around 40% of Brazilian agribusiness transactions, as a major opportunity for digitization. Read more

Drone Use in Brazilian Agriculture Jumps Tenfold - Drone use in Brazilian agriculture jumped from 3,000 to 25,000 units between 2021 and 2024, driven by lower input use, better field coverage and reduced crop losses. Embrapa says drones can help avoid crop crushing from tractors, saving up to 7% in soybeans and 4% in rice. The technology is also being used in soil quality research, while operators must follow rules from Mapa, Decea and other agencies covering spraying, training, registration and airspace access. Read more

Phibro Expands Custom Vaccines to Reduce Antibiotic Use - Phibro Saúde Animal is expanding its focus on alternatives to antimicrobials, including autogenous vaccines tailored to the specific pathogens found on each farm. The company says revenue from these customized vaccines nearly tripled last year, mainly in fish and swine, while its broader monogastrics business grew 13% in 2025. The strategy reflects rising pressure to reduce antibiotic use in animal protein supply chains and a shift toward more preventive tools, including vaccines, nutritional additives and immunomodulators. Read more

ClickHouse Brings AI Database Platform to Brazil - ClickHouse, a deeptech company valued at more than $15 billion, is entering Brazil with a focus on banks, fintechs and financial institutions that need to process large volumes of data in real time. Its analytics database platform supports AI-driven use cases such as credit, antifraud, risk management and transaction monitoring, processing billions of records in seconds. ClickHouse says AI agents can replace parts of traditional BI workflows, moving companies from static dashboards to continuous decision-making. The company operates in 24 countries and counts Meta, Netflix, Nvidia, Microsoft and Anthropic among its clients. Read more

Climate Tech

Nestlé Expands Regenerative Coffee Sourcing in Brazil - Nestlé says 53% of the green coffee bought for Nescafé now comes from farms adopting regenerative agriculture practices, up from 32% in 2024. Its Nescafé Plan reached 100,000 farmers in 15 countries last year, including more than 3,800 farms in Brazil, with practices such as pruning, agroforestry, cover crops, biological inputs and intercropping. The company aims to source all raw material from certified suppliers by 2030 and cut industrial emissions by 50% versus 2018. Read more

Certified Deforestation-Free Soy to Supply Aviation Fuel - Petrobras, Bunge and Vibra have certified the first global batch of sustainable aviation fuel made with soy grown in areas without recent deforestation. The pilot will supply 4 million liters of co-processed aviation kerosene at Rio’s Galeão airport, with 1% from certified soy oil crushed by Bunge in Rondonópolis. The certification shows emissions 70% below fossil kerosene, versus only 30% under default data, and Petrobras says refinery certifications could allow it to meet Brazil’s SAF demand by 2029. Read more

IMO Sets Low Carbon Score for Brazilian Corn Ethanol - The International Maritime Organization has set the default carbon intensity of Brazilian corn ethanol at 20.8 grams of CO2e per megajoule, far below the current maritime fuel average of 93.3 grams. Industry executives say the decision could help position Brazil’s second-crop corn ethanol as a future low-carbon fuel for shipping. Production has expanded sharply, nearing 10 billion liters in 2025/26, up from 2.65 billion at the start of the decade, with producers also investing in biomass and carbon capture. Read more

Mato Grosso Eases Timeline for Native Biomass Phaseout - Mato Grosso has eased the timetable for phasing out native biomass in large industrial users, including corn ethanol plants. A revised environmental agreement allows up to 40% native biomass use until 2034, with zero use required from 2035, replacing an earlier phase-down that would have started in 2031. The change follows industry pushback over feasibility, but keeps pressure on ethanol producers to expand planted forests, with demand expected to require forest area to grow from about 200,000 to 700,000 hectares by 2040. Read more

Funding & M&A

Möbius Buys First Farm Through Fiagro as Agro AUM Nears $200M - Möbius Capital has made its first direct farmland acquisition, buying a 5,500-hectare property in Mato Grosso through a new Fiagro structure. The manager, founded by former Credit Suisse executives, is nearing $200 million in AUM, with about 40% already tied to agribusiness. The strategy is to buy underdeveloped or degraded land, invest in infrastructure and sell after two or three years, using proprietary software to screen farms across land, environmental, logistics, climate and geomorphological factors. Read more

Imaflora Plans Fiagro to Support Cattle Traceability in Pará - Imaflora is planning a Fiagro to support cattle tagging in Pará, aiming to raise between $2 million and $10 million to finance inputs at better rates for producers who join the state’s traceability program. The idea is to use rural retailers and distributors as intermediaries, making compliance more attractive for small and mid-sized ranchers. The fund would link environmental conditions directly to credit, supporting Pará’s goal of identifying its entire cattle herd by 2030 and expanding certified, deforestation-free beef supply. Read more

FS Announces $400M Corn Ethanol Plant in Mato Grosso - FS will invest about $400 million to build its fifth corn ethanol plant, in Querência, Mato Grosso, with operations expected to begin in July 2027. The new unit will be able to process 1.3 million tons of corn and produce 580 million liters of ethanol per year. The announcement follows a recent $100 million credit line for another FS plant in Campo Novo do Parecis, reinforcing the company’s expansion in Brazil’s fast-growing second-crop corn ethanol industry. Read more

Daabon Begins Brazil Operations After Agropalma Acquisition - Colombian group Daabon has officially started operating in Pará after completing the acquisition of 100% of Agropalma’s Brazilian palm oil operations. The deal includes Agropalma’s plantation and forest reserve areas, six extraction plants in Tailândia and a refinery in Belém, while the Limeira refinery remains outside the transaction. Daabon, known for organic food production and integrated supply chains, says it will maintain traceability, zero-deforestation commitments and community programs, while opening a new investment cycle in Pará. Read more

BTG Increases Exposure to Eucatex Preferred Shares - BTG Pactual now indirectly holds almost 49.95% of Eucatex’s preferred shares through Econômico Agro Pastoril, which reduced its stake in the company’s non-voting shares. Eucatex is one of Brazil’s traditional producers of building materials, flooring and wood-based products. The notice says BTG owns 100% of Econômico Agro Pastoril indirectly, but there was no change in BTG’s holding of Eucatex ordinary shares, meaning the move affects economic exposure rather than voting control. Read more

Macro & Markets

SLC Farmland Portfolio Slows as Land Market Cools - SLC Agrícola’s farmland portfolio was valued at about $2.7 billion in 2026, but the average value of its arable hectares rose just 1%, far below the company’s 20-year average appreciation of 12.7% per year. The slowdown reflects weaker soy and corn prices and a more cautious rural land market. SLC is now looking to create value less through land appreciation and more through expansion, partnerships and irrigation, with plans to grow irrigated area from 19,000 to 58,000 hectares. Read more

Bom Futuro Offers $370M for Radar Farmland - Bom Futuro has offered about $370 million for 41,200 hectares owned by Radar, the Cosan-Nuveen farmland joint venture, in another sign of strong appetite for prime Mato Grosso land. The deal still depends on SLC Agrícola, which leases around 60% of the area and has a 30-day right of first refusal. For Cosan, the sale would support its deleveraging strategy and could bring in almost $120 million in cash, while SLC must decide whether to defend strategic land access. Read more

USDA Says Brazil Ag Logistics Bottlenecks Cost $14B - A USDA report says logistics bottlenecks could become the main constraint on Brazilian agribusiness growth through 2034, with storage, roads, ports, railways and waterways struggling to keep pace with production. The report estimates these limitations cost about $14 billion in 2025, while logistics already represent around 30% of farm production costs. Grain storage covers only 60–70% of national output, the deficit is especially severe in the Center-West and Matopiba, and licensing delays continue to slow new terminals. Read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

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In the past, private equity’s modus operandi in Brazilian agriculture was fairly clear: buy the companies selling to farmers, consolidate them, improve the management, and hope scale could turn a fragmented input market into a more profitable platform.

It made sense from Faria Lima because farmers buy seeds, fertilizer, crop protection, credit and services every season. The market is huge, many distributors were regional or family-owned, and a fund could bring capital, systems, purchasing power and professional management.

It is safe to say the model has not been a clear success. AgroGalaxy’s troubles, pressure at Lavoro and the wider stress in agricultural input distribution show how hard it is to turn farmer relationships into a scalable financial platform.

Selling to farmers is not just distribution. It is trust, advice and engagement. The input salesman is not just moving product. He is often part agronomist, part credit analyst, part relationship manager and part debt collector. He knows who pays late but pays, who is overextended, who is planting too much, and who should not receive another truckload on credit.

That knowledge does not fit neatly into a roll-up model. You can centralize purchasing. You can improve logistics. You can install better software. But you cannot easily replace the local human layer that makes the whole system work.

Private equity used to chase the farmer’s wallet. Now it is moving closer to the farm.

That does not mean buying land and waiting for appreciation, which is hardly a new idea in Brazil. The more interesting model is operational: buy, lease or back productive land, improve how it is managed, bring in capital and technology, and create value through better execution.

Argentina offers a useful precedent, although not a perfect comparison. Its pooles de siembra showed years ago that agriculture could be run as a managed operating system, using leased land, professional agronomy, outsourced machinery and outside capital.

Brazil’s version will not be a copy. The land market, credit system, crops, regulation and scale are different. But the basic idea is familiar: farming can be organized as a platform, not only as a family business.

A farm is not just land. It is soil, water, people, machines, biology, credit, logistics, weather, timing and risk. It is a production system and a financial system sitting on top of a living system. That is why farming is so hard to manage from far away.

Traditional farmers have always been protected by knowledge outsiders could not easily see. The best farmers know the land, the people, the rhythm of the season, and the risks that never appear properly in a spreadsheet. Capital alone has never been enough.

Technology will not suddenly replace farmer experience. That would be a lazy argument and, more importantly, wrong. Agriculture is too local, too biological and too uncertain to run from an office in São Paulo, New York or London.

There will still be labor. There will still be judgement. There will still be mistakes that only someone close to the field can catch. What technology can do is make more farm work visible, measurable and programmable.

Satellite imagery can show crop stress before it is obvious from the road. Weather models can improve planting decisions. Farm management systems can connect field activity to financial results. AI can help interpret data, spot anomalies and guide decisions.

Robotics and automation will not remove labor overnight. They will probably start with specific tasks, in specific crops, in specific regions where the pain is highest. Spraying, scouting, irrigation, harvesting and monitoring will not all change at the same speed.

The pace will vary by crop, region and task, but farming is becoming more data-rich. The more data it produces, the easier it becomes to manage with discipline. Not perfectly, but better than before.

For private equity, the equation changes when more of the operating model can be measured. Capital works best when management can scale. In input distribution, the relationship was hard to scale. On the farm, technology may make parts of the operating model more scalable over time.

Most farms do not underperform because one big thing is wrong. They underperform because many small things are slightly off. Poor machinery use. Late input decisions. Weak storage. No irrigation. Bad financial planning. Limited data. Thin margins leave little room for these mistakes.

If technology makes the mistakes easier to see, and capital makes them easier to fix, farmland becomes a different kind of asset. Not just something to own, but something to upgrade.

The weakness of the old model explains the push. The stronger pull is that new farm operating models are becoming more investable.

Transition agriculture is one of them. The world is asking more from food and agriculture. Not just volume, but proof. Not just yield, but traceability. Not just cheap calories, but lower carbon, better soil, cleaner inputs, safer supply chains and more transparent production.

That kind of agriculture takes money. Regenerative practices, biological inputs, irrigation, certification, MRV systems, storage, renewable energy and better data infrastructure all require investment. The farmer may want to transition, but the cash flow does not always allow it.

Many farmers cannot finance that shift alone. Private equity can carry upfront costs, finance the transition, measure the outcomes and connect production to buyers who care about more than volume.

This will not happen everywhere at once. The future of farming will not suddenly become a Faria Lima model of efficiency, spreadsheets and Patagonia vests. Agriculture does not move like software.

It will start at the edges. Specialty crops. Export chains. Sustainable commodities. High-value buyers. Farms with succession problems. Degraded land that can be improved. Regions where water, carbon, traceability or logistics create a clear economic reason to change.

Over time, those edges can set a new standard. Once a buyer starts paying for traceability, others follow. Once lenders price better-managed farms differently, others notice. Once data proves lower risk, capital moves.

Commodity thinking starts to look too narrow when food needs more identity. Commodities will not disappear. The world still needs soy, corn, beef, sugar, coffee, cotton and cheap calories. But the old logic of volume above all else may become less dominant.

The old commodity system was designed to make food anonymous. One ton looked like another ton. The next system may demand identity. Where did it come from? How was it produced? What was the carbon footprint? What inputs were used? Can the buyer prove it?

AI may push this further. If AI makes food demand more personalized, consumers may care more about taste, nutrition, sustainability, origin and health. Food may become less average. The farm will still produce physical goods, but those goods may need more attributes attached to them.

Data becomes the proof layer behind those attributes. Not because dashboards are exciting. They are not. Data matters because it tells the buyer, lender, insurer, regulator and investor what is actually happening on the farm.

The farm becomes the place where finance, biology and technology meet. If the data is strong, capital can price risk better. Buyers can pay for attributes. Insurers can understand exposure. Farmers can improve decisions. Investors can see whether the operating model is working.

The danger is that private equity repeats the same mistake in a new place. If it treated input distribution as simple distribution, it may now treat farms as simple assets. That would be wrong again.

Farms are not office buildings with rainfall. They are living systems. The soil does not care about an IRR target. The rain does not read an investment memo. A crop failure does not wait for the next board meeting.

But that difficulty is also the opportunity. Easy trades get crowded. Hard operating problems are where returns can hide.

The next strong agro investor may not be the one with the cheapest money. It may be the one that becomes a better owner of land, data, risk and transition. Better at knowing what to automate, what to measure, what to finance and what still needs human judgement.

That shift will not replace farmers. But it may change who sets the standard. The best farms of the future may be those with enough capital to transition, enough technology to measure, and enough management discipline to turn data into better decisions.

In the end, the field is where the model has to prove itself. Not in the fund deck, not in the spreadsheet, and not in the press release.

In the dirt.

Thanks for reading.

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups in Latin America.

This week’s Brazil AgTech Report starts with practical farm-level innovation. iRancho is using voice AI to make cattle management easier in the field, researchers in Paraná are preparing a hull-free pumpkin seed, Dux is tackling ammonia buildup in poultry houses, and VivaTerra is building a new agtech venture platform.

In Climate Tech, a group of Brazilian biologicals companies will take the country’s bioinputs model to California, Embrapa has added more Brazilian seeds to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and a new tropical soil carbon model could unlock carbon credits in agriculture. At the same time, the government is pushing back against proposed changes to the Forest Code.

In Funding and M&A news, Leaf raised a $13 million Series B to expand its farm data infrastructure, Polato Sementes completed a dollar-linked financing structure and Amaggi raised $700 million in financing through the capital markets.

On the Macro & Markets side, Brazil’s protein trade keeps breaking records, but pressure is building in dairy. The federal government blocked nearly half of the rural insurance subsidy budget, while a possible strong El Niño is creating mixed signals for different markets.

And while Brazil and Morocco played out a 1-1 draw in their opening World Cup game over the weekend, trade between the two countries has never been stronger, with food exports flowing one way and fertilizer imports the other.

Table of Contents

AgTech

• iRancho Bets on Voice AI

• Hull-Free Pumpkin Seeds Near Market

• Dux Targets Ammonia in Poultry

• VivaTerra Builds MS AgTech Hub

Climate Tech

• Brazil Takes Biologicals Model to California

• Brazil Seeds Stored in Svalbard

• Brazil Builds Tropical Carbon Model

• Government Fights Forest Code Changes

Funding & M&A

• Leaf Raises $13M Series B

• Polato Raises Dollar-Linked CPR

• Amaggi Raises $700M CPR

Macro & Markets

• Protein and Dairy Trade Pressures

• Rural Insurance Budget Cut

• El Niño Splits Commodity Outlook

• Brazil-Morocco Trade Deepens

AgTech

iRancho Bets on Voice AI - iRancho, a cattle management and animal traceability startup, expects revenue to reach $2 million in 2026 after closing 2025 at $1.3 million, driven by growing demand for livestock digitization. The company says its new AI tool, which allows farm workers to record information by voice directly in the field, including in areas without internet access, is helping accelerate adoption and sales. iRancho also operates SafeBeef, a blockchain-based traceability platform, and is developing new tools for natural language processing, automation and real-time data analysis. Read more

Hull-Free Pumpkin Seeds Near Market - Researchers at the State University of Ponta Grossa have developed a hull-free pumpkin seed with commercial potential, after two decades of genetic crossing based on seed material originally obtained through a partnership with Austrian researchers. The seed is ready to eat without shelling, has a pleasant flavor, germinates in soil and contains higher levels of cucurbitacin, a compound associated with vermifuge properties. The team is finalizing laboratory tests before seeking registration with Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry, with potential uses in food, oil extraction and smallholder production. Read more

Dux Targets Ammonia in Poultry - Green chemistry company Dux Grupo is targeting a potential $400 million opportunity in Brazil’s poultry industry with Amonix, a biodegradable product designed to reduce ammonia formation in chicken houses. In tests in Brazil and Peru, the product generated average gains of 60 grams per bird, while reducing ammonia levels and improving shed conditions. High ammonia can affect bird health, feed and water consumption, immunity and weight gain. Dux, already present in animal protein chains with clients including JBS, MBRF and Aurora, plans to add real-time environmental monitoring to the solution. Read more

VivaTerra Builds MS AgTech Hub - VivaTerra Ventures is racing to raise $30 million in six months for a new fund and ecosystem designed to back early-stage agtech startups in Mato Grosso do Sul. Inspired by California’s Reservoir model, the initiative combines venture capital with AgroValley MS, a local platform for testing, validating and incubating technologies with producers, universities and research partners. The first incubated startups include Carbon Vantage, focused on soil carbon credit measurement, and Kerow, which applies imaging and biometrics to livestock traceability and disease detection. Read more

Climate Tech

Brazil Takes Biologicals Model to California - Brazilian bioinput companies, researchers and industry groups will present the country’s experience with biological products at the Salinas Biological Summit 2026, held on June 23 and 24 in California. The delegation includes Ideelab, Grupo Vigna Brasil, Lallemand, ANPII Bio and Esalq/USP, with panels on research, regulation, adoption and commercialization. Organizers say Brazil has become a global reference in biologicals thanks to regulatory progress, stronger links between science and industry and rising farmer adoption. The event should also expand cooperation between Brazilian and US organizations in bioinput research and innovation. Read more

Brazil Seeds Stored in Svalbard - Brazil has delivered 24 new seed samples to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, bringing Embrapa’s total deposits there to 8,149 samples since 2012. The latest shipment includes cashew, fava bean, peanut, castor bean and sesame seeds, stored at -18°C inside the Arctic mountain facility as a backup for Brazil’s agricultural biodiversity. Embrapa president Silvia Massruhá personally delivered the samples, highlighting the vault’s role in protecting genetic resources from climate risk, conflict and institutional failure. Brazil first joined the vault with rice and corn samples. Read more

Brazil Builds Tropical Carbon Model - Embrapa is finalizing ProCarbon-Soil, a new model designed in Brazil to estimate soil carbon dynamics in tropical farming systems and support agricultural carbon credit projects. Developed with Bayer, the tool uses Brazilian agricultural data, 4,290 soil samples and information from 370 scientific studies, aiming to simplify monitoring by focusing on total carbon stock and decomposition. Researchers say Procs performed similarly to Century in 50-year simulations, while reducing uncertainty versus direct field measurements. The next step is formal validation, including submission to Verra, a leading voluntary carbon market certifier. Read more

Government Fights Forest Code Changes - Brazil’s environment minister João Paulo Capobianco said the government will use legal tools to block changes to the Forest Code approved by the lower house in May. The bill still needs Senate approval and presidential sanction, but Capobianco said the government will seek a Senate rejection, a presidential veto or, if needed, a Supreme Court challenge. He argues the proposal weakens protections for the Pantanal, Cerrado, Pampas, parts of the Amazon and high-altitude Atlantic Forest areas by allowing vegetation removal in certain rural areas without prior authorization or compensation. Read more

Funding & M&A

Leaf Raises $13M Series B - Leaf Agriculture raised a $13 million Series B co-led by Leaps by Bayer and strategic industry investors to expand its farm data infrastructure for AI-driven agribusiness. Founded in 2021, Leaf connects, cleans and structures farmer-owned data from machinery, soil labs, weather stations, satellites and farm management systems, helping insurers, retailers, input companies and compliance platforms build tools on top of fragmented agricultural data. The company says it processes data covering more than 20% of global crop acres annually and helps partners support faster insurance payouts, field-specific recommendations and sustainability programs. Read more

Polato Raises Dollar-Linked CPR - Polato Sementes raised R$137 million through Brazil’s first public offering of a financial CPR linked to exchange-rate variation, giving the Mato Grosso seed company access to capital in reais while aligning the instrument with dollar-driven commodity markets. The raise follows a R$100 million investment in a new seed-processing unit in Pedra Preta, designed to double annual production capacity to 1 million bags. Founded in 1981, Polato produces soybean, cotton and sorghum seeds and says the funds will support growth, governance upgrades and more sophisticated agribusiness financing. Read more

Amaggi Raises $700M CPR - Agropecuária Maggi, part of the Amaggi group, issued its first financial CPR, raising R$3.54 billion through a single-series, book-entry operation distributed exclusively to professional investors. The instrument pays 100% of the DI rate plus a 1.08% annual spread, with semiannual payments and debt amortization over ten years from 2031 to 2036. Proceeds will be used for working capital, investments and support for the company’s own agricultural production. The CPR is backed by soybean and cotton volumes, with Itaú acting as settlement bank and bookrunner. Read more

Macro & Markets

Protein and Dairy Trade Pressures - Brazil’s poultry and pork exports hit record levels in May, with chicken exports topping US$1 billion and pork shipments reaching 129,400 tons and US$302.1 million. China, Japan, the EU and Saudi Arabia led chicken demand, while the Philippines remained the top pork buyer and Japan increased purchases sharply. At the same time, dairy imports reached the equivalent of 220 million liters in May, taking year-to-date purchases above 1 billion liters for the first time, as Brazil weighs antidumping tariffs on milk powder from Argentina and Uruguay. Read more on protein exports and dairy imports

Rural Insurance Budget Cut - Brazil’s federal government has blocked R$461.7 million from the Rural Insurance Premium Subsidy Program, almost half of the R$999.1 million allocated to MAPA for agricultural protection in 2026. The rural insurance line accounts for 45.7% of the ministry’s total budget freeze, part of a wider R$788.4 million cut that also affects agricultural development, technology research and Embrapa-related programs. The cut comes in an El Niño year and affects a program designed to help producers pay for policies covering losses from droughts, floods, frost and storms. Read more

El Niño Splits Commodity Outlook - A possible very strong El Niño could put 30% of global agricultural production at risk, but recent reports from Cogo Inteligência and Bradesco BBI suggest the impact will vary sharply by crop and region. Soybean and sugarcane may see modest productivity gains in Brazil, while corn faces risks if rains delay second-crop planting in the Center-West. Coffee appears more exposed, with high risk for arabica in Minas Gerais and robusta in Bahia and Rondônia. Bradesco BBI sees limited price impact overall, while Cogo is more bullish on sugar. Read more

Brazil-Morocco Trade Deepens - Brazil and Morocco moved US$2.8 billion in trade in 2025, with agriculture central to the relationship. Brazilian exports to Morocco totaled US$1.4 billion, led by sugar and molasses, which represented 58.1% of sales, alongside corn, live animals, coffee, fruit and spices. Imports reached a similar level, but were heavily concentrated in chemical fertilizers, which accounted for 84.8% of Brazilian purchases from Morocco. Trade has continued growing in 2026, with Brazilian exports up 9.6% through May and imports up 34.4%, reinforcing Morocco’s role as both food buyer and fertilizer supplier. Read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

In Brazil AgTech news this week, automation and data move further into the field. Tevel’s fruit-harvesting robots are being tested in Brazilian citrus farms, ID-Scan brings cattle biometrics to Brazil, and researchers are using AI and satellites to forecast soybean productivity. A new Abstartups and USP study shows a more mature AgTech ecosystem, but one still facing a clear funding gap.

In Climate Tech developments, productivity and sustainability are increasingly linked. Embrapa found that native mandaguari bees can boost arabica coffee production, while Be8’s first large-scale wheat ethanol plant could create a new market for winter cereals in Rio Grande do Sul. FGV Agro also mapped a path for Brazil to cut beef emissions intensity by more than 90% by 2050.

On the funding front, AgroForte is scaling credit for the animal protein chain, Trag raised capital to expand AI-driven parametric insurance, and erural secured funding to build a one-stop cattle marketplace. BNDES also expanded access for individual farmers and rural entrepreneurs to existing credit lines for innovation, automation, AI, connectivity and farm software.

In Macro & Markets, Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld restrictions on rural land purchases by foreign-controlled companies, while the EU formalized new limits on Brazilian animal-origin exports from September 2026. In strategic minerals, the U.S. government will take a stake in USA Rare Earth, the company acquiring Serra Verde.

Table of Contents

AgTech

• Orange Robots Enter Brazil

• Cattle Biometrics Reach Brazil

• AI Forecasts Soy Productivity

• AgTech Study Shows Funding Gap

Climate Tech

• Native Bees Boost Coffee Yields

• Wheat Ethanol Opens Market

• Brazil Maps Low-Carbon Beef Path

Funding & M&A

• AgroForte Pushes Protein Credit

• Trag Raises for Climate Risk AI

• erural Raises for Cattle Marketplace

• BNDES Opens Credit for Farm Tech

Macro & Markets

• STF Upholds Foreign Land Limits

• EU Restricts Brazil Animal Exports

• US Takes Stake in Rare Earth Miner

AgTech

Orange Robots Enter Brazil Israeli startup Tevel’s autonomous fruit-harvesting robots are being tested in large Brazilian orange farms after being imported by Dal Tecnologia. The drone-like robots fly through orchards while connected by cable to a mobile ground base, using cameras, sensors and software to identify fruit by size, color and maturity before picking them with suction arms. A full system has six drones and can operate 24/7, with each drone harvesting one fruit every 12 seconds. The technology is already used commercially in Europe, especially for apples, and in Brazil is being positioned first for oranges, with potential future use in guava, pear and peach. read more

Cattle Biometrics Reach Brazil South African cattle biometrics technology ID-Scan is entering Brazil through DX Data Experience, with a focus on traceability, security and herd governance. The platform uses smartphone video to capture each animal’s muzzle print, creating a permanent digital identity linked to biometric data and herd information. The system can work offline during field capture and later sync data when connectivity is available, making it relevant for farms with limited internet coverage. DX says the technology could support origin verification, insurance, breeder associations, cooperatives, meatpackers and rural credit by creating a more reliable way to individualize cattle and use herd data in financial operations. read more

AI Forecasts Soy Productivity Brazilian researchers developed an AI-based model that combines Sentinel-2 satellite images, climate variables and historical IBGE data to estimate soybean productivity before harvest. The study, conducted by Esalq/USP and partners, analyzed municipalities in Goiás, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul across the 2019/20 to 2021/22 seasons. The model reached 72% accuracy, with an average error below 302 kilograms per hectare, and performed best around 150 days after planting, during the grain-filling stage. Researchers say the approach could support public policy, regional planning and future monitoring tools, although farm-level data gaps still limit precision for individual properties. read more

AgTech Study Shows Funding Gap A new study by Abstartups and the University of São Paulo mapped 170 Brazilian agtechs and found a more mature but still underfunded ecosystem. Around 32.9% of the startups have been operating for more than five years, while only 10% have reached the scale-up stage. SaaS leads as the main business model, used by 39.2% of companies, and 50.6% operate in B2B markets. The ecosystem remains concentrated, with São Paulo home to 38.8% of mapped startups, followed by Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais. Access to capital remains the main constraint, with 52.4% of agtechs never having received investment. read more

Climate Tech

Native Bees Boost Coffee Yields A new Embrapa study found that managed colonies of mandaguari, a native stingless bee, can increase arabica coffee fruit production by up to 67% on branches located near the colonies. Researchers installed around ten colonies per hectare before flowering and compared productivity on nearby and more distant branches, linking the gains to pollinator activity. The study found that the approach worked even in self-compatible coffee cultivars and that pesticide use, when applied according to technical recommendations, did not generate measurable harm to the colonies. The findings point to managed pollination as a nature-based strategy to raise coffee productivity without expanding planted area. read more

Wheat Ethanol Opens Market Brazil’s first large-scale wheat ethanol plant is under construction in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, creating a new market for winter cereals in the state. The Be8 project will have capacity to process 525,000 tons of grain per year and could supply around 23% of Rio Grande do Sul’s ethanol demand, reducing dependence on imports from other regions. The plant is expected to create additional demand for wheat, triticale and other winter crops, while also producing coproducts such as DDGS, wet bran and vital gluten for animal feed and food industries. The project could connect agriculture, livestock and biofuels in a new regional value chain. read more

Brazil Maps Low-Carbon Beef Path A new study by FGV Agro, launched by ApexBrasil and Abiec at FAO headquarters in Rome, says Brazil could reduce the carbon intensity of beef production by more than 90% by 2050 under ambitious mitigation scenarios. The report highlights productivity gains already achieved: between 2004 and 2024, national beef production rose more than 240% while pasture area fell 11%, creating what researchers call a “land-sparing effect.” Under the most ambitious scenario, technologies such as integrated crop-livestock-forest systems and pasture recovery could cut emissions intensity to 5 kg of CO2 equivalent per kilo of beef, while stabilizing production and reducing required pasture area by more than 35%. read more

Funding & M&A

AgroForte Pushes Protein Credit AgroForte, a Yield Lab Latam portfolio company, reached about US$200 million in credit originated for Brazil’s animal protein sector and now aims to originate another US$200 million by the end of 2026. Founded around poultry and pork financing, the company has expanded into dairy and beef cattle after acquiring Rumicash, which added more than 20 dairy partners and access to roughly 20,000 additional producers. AgroForte now originates around US$6 million per month, with tickets ranging from about US$10,000 to US$400,000. Its main fund is expected to reach US$53 million to US$57 million in net worth by year-end, while the Paraná Fiagro, an agribusiness investment fund, could drive over US$110 million in additional disbursements. read more

Trag Raises for Climate Risk AI Parametric insurance startup Trag raised about US$500,000 in a round led by DOMO.VC, extending its 2024 raise and taking total funding to roughly US$1 million. The company uses satellite data, climate indicators and proprietary AI models to structure parametric insurance products for agribusiness, where payouts are triggered automatically when predefined climate conditions are met. Trag now operates across eight Brazilian states and eight crops, with insured value rising 47% in recent months to about US$15 million and more than 300,000 hectares analyzed. The startup plans to expand beyond insurance into a broader climate intelligence platform for producers, cooperatives, insurers and financial institutions. read more

erural Raises for Cattle Marketplace Brazilian livestock marketplace erural raised about US$1 million from Lighthouse and SP Ventures to accelerate investments in technology, AI, credit and logistics. Founded by Matheus Ladeia nearly a decade ago, the company has shifted from supporting traditional cattle auctions to concentrating transactions inside its own platform. It has already moved about US$58 million in animal transactions, including more than US$19 million in 2026, and its “one-stop-shop” model now represents around 60% of deals. erural is focused on beef cattle genetics today, but plans to expand into dairy genetics, breeding, rearing, fattening, inputs, services and financial solutions. read more

BNDES Opens Credit for Farm Tech Brazilian individual farmers and rural entrepreneurs will now be able to access existing BNDES credit lines for innovation, digitalization and technological modernization. The measure, approved by Brazil’s National Monetary Council, does not create new credit lines, but expands eligibility for programs such as BNDES Mais Inovação, BNDES Finame and Finame Baixo Carbono. Eligible investments include digitalization, automation, artificial intelligence, rural connectivity, precision agriculture, drones, sensors, traceability, telemetry, remote monitoring and farm management software. The change could increase demand for machinery, equipment, AgTech solutions and digital infrastructure across farming, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture. read more

Macro & Markets

STF Upholds Foreign Land Limits Brazil’s Supreme Court unanimously upheld the restrictive regime for the acquisition and lease of rural land by foreigners and Brazilian companies controlled by foreign capital. The ruling confirmed the constitutionality of Law No. 5,709/1971, meaning companies with majority foreign ownership continue to be treated like foreign legal entities for rural land transactions. The decision also invalidated a São Paulo registry opinion that had allowed different treatment in that state, creating a uniform national interpretation. For foreign investors, agribusiness companies and funds with international capital, planned or previously structured rural land deals may now require closer legal review. read more

EU Restricts Brazil Animal Exports The European Union formalized Brazil’s removal from the list of countries authorized to export certain animal-origin products to the bloc, including beef, poultry, fish, honey, casings and other products. The measure takes effect on September 3, 2026, and is linked to EU rules on antimicrobial use in livestock, rather than a specific contamination or sanitary incident. Brazil was the only country removed from the list, while Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay remain authorized, reducing the political impact on the EU-Mercosur agreement. In 2025, Brazil exported US$32.3 billion in animal-origin products, of which US$1.6 billion went to the EU. read more

US Takes Stake in Rare Earth Miner USA Rare Earth signed a US$1.6 billion financing package with the U.S. Department of Commerce, giving the U.S. government an equity stake in the Nasdaq-listed company that agreed to acquire Brazil’s Serra Verde. The Goiás-based miner is described as the only operation outside Asia extracting, at commercial scale, four of the most sought-after rare earth elements. The package includes US$277 million in grants, US$1.3 billion in federally guaranteed loans and warrants for additional shares. The deal reflects Washington’s push to reduce dependence on China for minerals critical to AI, energy transition technologies and defense systems. read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

Pilot Valley

One of the key takeaways from our Intelligent Ag event in São Paulo last week was that more than 90% of AI pilots in agribusiness never make it to adoption.

This doesn’t mean the technology is bad, corporates are not interested, or startups are building the wrong things. In many cases, the problem is more basic: the pilot wasn't set up with a clear enough path to become part of the business.

AI is already being used in agriculture for remote sensing, satellite imagery, weather forecasting, pest and disease detection, precision agriculture and machinery automation. These are no longer futuristic use cases. They are already being tested and deployed across the sector.

So the real question becomes: if AI is already useful, available and increasingly proven, why do so many pilots still fail to become part of the business?

Our keynote speaker Jose Damico of SciCrop called it the “valley between pilot and scale.” For most startups, the valley of death usually appears when they try to scale. In AgTech, the first valley often comes earlier. It sits between pilot and customer adoption.

The second panel, moderated by Mauricio Infantini from CNH, kept coming back to the same issue. Corporates, startups and investors are no longer talking only about technology. They are talking about data readiness, internal ownership, ROI, integration, governance and culture. Less sparkle, more plumbing. Less demo, more delivery.

Agriculture understands preparation better than most sectors. Nobody plants because the seed brochure looks good. You check the soil, the machinery, the forecast, the financing, the team and the window. AI pilots deserve the same discipline.

No Auto-Pilot

Corporate innovation has a weakness for pilots. They are visible, contained and easy to announce. A business unit has a problem. A startup has a solution. A project is launched. Everyone can point to movement.

But AI adoption does not run on auto-pilot.

Pilots in agriculture are unusually hard because the field does not wait for the project plan. Seasonality limits how often a solution can be tested. A crop cycle does not wait for procurement. A pest outbreak does not wait for legal. A logistics bottleneck does not wait for the next steering committee. Miss the window, and the company may lose months before it can try again.

Then come the practical issues. Field teams may not buy in. Data may be messy or inaccessible. Connectivity may fail. The real operation may not behave like the neat version described in the kickoff meeting. The startup may discover that the problem is different from the one it was asked to solve.

That is why a pilot can work technically and still fail commercially. It can produce a dashboard nobody opens, a prediction that arrives too late, or an insight that does not connect to a decision. It can excite the innovation team but never reach the operational team that owns the budget, the people or the process.

The usual assumption is that the main risk is technological. Will the model work? Will the AI produce a better answer? Those questions matter, but they are rarely enough. In agribusiness, the bigger risks are often organizational and operational: who owns the result, which workflow changes, what metric justifies expansion, and who has authority to move from test to rollout.

Without those answers, even strong technology can stall. The pilot may generate activity, but activity is cheap. Adoption requires time, trust, budget, behavior change and internal alignment.

Built In, Not Bolted On

AI only matters in agribusiness when it changes a decision.

Many companies are still testing tools around the edges of the business: LLMs, dashboards, agents, image recognition, predictive models and workflow automation. Some create useful quick wins, especially when they remove manual work or speed up analysis. But too many remain disconnected from the core systems and daily decisions that actually drive the business.

The symptoms are easy to recognize: isolated projects, uncertain ROI, shadow IT and no data integration. AI becomes something to test on the side, rather than something that changes how the company operates.

That is where many pilots lose momentum. They prove that something can be analyzed, predicted or automated, but they do not prove that the result will be used. A dashboard nobody opens does not change much. A recommendation that arrives after the decision has been made is just a very smart post-mortem.

Agriculture is full of decisions where better intelligence can make a real difference: when to spray, how to price credit, which freight route to choose, or which producer needs support before a small issue becomes a larger loss. AI can help with these decisions, but only if it sits close enough to the workflow to influence action.

The better question is no longer “What AI tool should we test?” It is “Which business decision would become faster, cheaper, safer or more valuable if better intelligence were built into it?”

ROI Roots

For an AI pilot to become part of the business, it needs to prove ROI. Everything else is a nice-to-have.

That may sound obvious, yet many pilots still begin with fuzzy goals like “improve efficiency,” “generate insights,” or “support ESG.” These can be useful directions, but they rarely close a budget discussion. In agribusiness, value needs to show up in familiar terms: reais per hectare, sacks per hectare, input reduction, days saved, risk avoided, freight costs lowered, claims reduced, working capital released or field visits optimized.

This is where Damico’s three pillars of data, integration and culture become practical. Data gives the model something useful to work with, but only if it is organized, accessible and tied to the real problem. Integration matters because an AI output sitting outside the workflow usually becomes another report. Culture matters because field teams, managers and operators need to trust the recommendation enough to act on it.

That trust is especially important in agriculture, where many decisions still depend on local knowledge and experience. A model may detect a pattern, but someone still needs to believe it enough to change a route, adjust an application, approve a credit line or call a farmer before a small problem becomes a larger loss.

ROI is also a useful discipline because it forces clarity. It makes the company define what the pilot is supposed to change, who needs to use it, which data matters, and whether the result is strong enough to justify moving forward.

The more concrete the metric, the easier it is to decide whether a pilot deserves to move forward.

Pilot Prep

A better AI pilot starts before anyone chooses a startup.

The first step is to define the problem properly. What decision needs to improve? Who owns that decision? What is the cost of getting it wrong today? Too many pilots begin with broad ambition, such as “use AI for ESG” or “improve productivity,” when they need a sharper business question.

The second step is to understand the solution landscape. Many corporates know they want AI, but have little visibility on what is already available, which startups are credible, and which tools are mature enough for their context. A good pre-pilot process should help separate real solutions from impressive demos.

The third step is to design the pilot for adoption from day one. That means defining success metrics, data requirements, internal owners, user workflows and next steps before the test begins. A pilot should not end with everyone asking, “Now what?”

We are developing a new initiative, the Pilot Readiness Program, to help agribusiness companies prepare AI pilots before they start, with a focus on problem definition, solution curation, internal alignment and ROI targets. More on that soon. For now, the point is simple: AI in agro does not need more pilots. It needs better-prepared ones.

Thanks for reading.

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups in Latin America.

In Brazil AgTech news this week, Aravita is using AI to reduce produce waste in supermarkets, while the Ministry of Agriculture is launching a digital system to speed agrochemical and bioinput approvals. E-ctare is pivoting from rural credit to data infrastructure, biological seed treatments are gaining ground, and CCAB is bringing e-commerce logic to the agricultural inputs market.

In Climate Tech developments, Brazil’s data-center boom is becoming a new source of clean power demand as Microsoft, AWS and TikTok expand infrastructure in the country. Belterra is preparing new financing structures to scale cocoa agroforestry on degraded pasture, Flying Rivers Capital is backing low-carbon assets across biomethane, green fertilizers and recycling, and Atvos is investing in its first corn ethanol unit in Mato Grosso do Sul.

On the funding and M&A front, Brazil’s EcoInvest program is preparing a new round focused on green fuels and fertilizers, with the potential to mobilize up to US$10.9 billion through bank leverage. MBRF is investing about US$99 million in Gelprime to expand collagen and gelatin production, deepening its push into higher-value animal protein ingredients.

In Macro & Markets, Brazilian companies face rising security risks as AI-agent adoption accelerates. Glyphosate is facing a legal challenge, lawmakers approved tax incentives to support domestic fertilizer production, Brazil’s venture capital market is entering a more selective rebound after the startup winter, and JBS’ potential inclusion in the Russell 3000 could attract passive capital and support a major valuation rerating.

Table of Contents

AgTech

• Aravita cuts produce waste with AI

• Agrochemical approvals go digital

• E-ctare pivots from credit to data infrastructure

• Biological seed treatments gain ground

• CCAB brings e-commerce logic to inputs

Climate Tech

• Data centers drive clean power demand

• Belterra scales agroforestry finance

• Flying Rivers backs low-carbon assets

• Atvos adds corn ethanol in MS

Funding & M&A

• EcoInvest targets green fuels and fertilizers

• MBRF expands into collagen and gelatin

Macro & Markets

• AI adoption raises security risks

• Glyphosate faces legal challenge in Brazil

• Brazil backs fertilizer factories

• Brazil VC enters selective rebound

• JBS eyes Russell rerating

AgTech

Aravita cuts produce waste with AI Aravita is using artificial intelligence to help supermarkets reduce waste in fruits, vegetables and legumes by calculating the ideal purchase volume from suppliers. Founded in 2022 by Marco Perlman, Bruno Schrappe and Aline Neves de Azevedo, the company focuses on ultra-perishable foods, where forecasting errors can mean either lost sales from empty shelves or waste from excess inventory. Its models combine data such as seasonality, supplier availability, weather, promotions and consumer payment cycles to guide purchasing decisions. According to the company, its technology has reduced supermarket produce waste by 25% while improving supply-chain efficiency. read more

Agrochemical approvals go digital Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture will launch Sispa, a unified electronic system designed to streamline the registration and review of agrochemicals and bioinputs. Created under Brazil’s 2023 pesticide law, the platform will centralize petitions, post-registration changes and technical dossiers in a single digital workflow, replacing fragmented submissions across different federal agencies. The system was developed with support from private-sector partners, including Abrapa and IBA, which invested more than US$6 million in the project. The goal is to reduce bureaucracy, enable real-time process tracking and help meet legal approval deadlines, including up to 24 months for new products. read more

E-ctare pivots from credit to data infrastructure Minas Gerais agtech E-ctare is shifting its strategy from rural credit origination to data infrastructure and operational intelligence for agribusiness. Founded in 2015 with a real-time coffee price quotation platform, the company later moved into financing solutions, including receivables advances, CRAs and FIDC origination. After rising interest rates and higher default risk made rural credit less attractive, E-ctare identified its real asset in the data connections built across producers, cooperatives, agroindustries and management systems. The company now offers CRM, traceability, logistics, inventory control, field apps and commercial tools that plug into existing ERPs. read more

Biological seed treatments gain ground Biological products are now used to treat about 25% of seeds sold in Brazil, according to a Notícias Agrícolas report from ENSOJA 2026. The trend reflects growing demand for seed technologies that improve protection, nutrition and early plant development, especially in soybeans. Vittia highlighted its Raiz Forte program, which combines biological solutions designed to support seed vigor and root development, positioning biological seed treatment as part of a broader shift toward more efficient and sustainable crop management. The adoption level also shows how biologicals are moving from niche inputs into mainstream farm practice. read more

CCAB brings e-commerce logic to inputs CCAB part of the French InVivo group, is launching Farmi, a digital platform designed to bring more transparency, speed and predictability to Brazil’s agricultural input market. Inspired by the customer experience of Amazon and Mercado Livre, the platform will give farmers real-time information on product availability, credit, prices, logistics and delivery timing, starting with CCAB’s own portfolio of crop protection products. The system uses data intelligence across commercial, credit, tax and logistics areas, with plans to move from a web portal to WhatsApp and eventually add services such as finance and insurance. CCAB reported around US$320 million in revenue in 2025. read more

Climate Tech

Data centers drive clean power demand Brazil is emerging as Latin America’s leading data-center market as Microsoft, AWS and TikTok expand cloud and AI infrastructure in the region. According to DataCenter Hawk, Latin America contracted 328 MW of data-center capacity in the first quarter, already double the level seen in 2025, with Brazil leading hyperscaler demand. Campinas has tripled contracted capacity since 2023 and will host Microsoft server parks designed to train AI models with Nvidia chips. read more

Belterra scales agroforestry finance Belterra is preparing new investment structures that could raise more than US$159 million to convert degraded pasture into agroforestry systems focused on cocoa. The startup, founded by Valmir Ortega, already has around 2,800 hectares contracted across Pará, Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Maranhão, with about 600 hectares planted. After securing around US$20 million from BNDES’ Climate Fund and roughly US$15 million from MOV, Rise, Bold and Germany’s Ecosia, Belterra plans to use SPEs, or special-purpose vehicles, to finance expansion. The goal is to add 15,000 hectares over five to six years and reach around 20,000 hectares by 2033 or 2034. read more

Flying Rivers backs low-carbon assets Flying Rivers Capital, a climate-focused asset manager created from the climate vertical of eB Capital, has built a portfolio focused on Brazil’s low-carbon economy, including biomethane, green fertilizers, PET recycling and healthcare equipment platforms. The firm already has around US$198 million under management and recently had one of its funds approved under BNDES’ climate funding program, which could add up to US$99 million to the vehicle. Portfolio company Bioo also secured around US$2.9 million from Brazil’s Climate Fund to build a biomethane plant, while Cirklo raised about US$52 million through green debentures for PET recycling. read more

Atvos adds corn ethanol in MS Atvos will invest more than US$198 million in its first corn ethanol unit, expanding the Santa Luzia facility in Nova Alvorada do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul. The plant is expected to begin operations in 2028 and will be integrated with the company’s existing sugarcane ethanol operation, allowing year-round production and better asset utilization. The unit will process 642,000 tons of corn per year and produce 273,000 cubic meters of ethanol, along with 183,000 tons of DDG for animal nutrition and 13,000 tons of corn oil. The project strengthens Brazil’s bioenergy platform beyond sugarcane. read more

Funding & M&A

EcoInvest targets green fuels and fertilizers Brazil’s Treasury will allocate about US$1.8 billion across six new EcoInvest theses, a program designed to provide FX hedging for foreign impact capital, including dedicated lines for biofuels and green fertilizers. With bank leverage, the round is expected to mobilize between US$7.9 billion and US$10.9 billion, bringing the program close to US$39.7 billion across five editions if targets are met. The structure is designed to reach companies at different stages, from innovation funds linked to venture capital to corporate credit for larger firms, while requiring recipients to invest 10% of funds raised in research projects with universities and research centers. read more

MBRF expands into collagen and gelatin MBRF, the meat company formed by the combination of Marfrig and BRF, will invest about US$99 million in Gelprime, the gelatin and collagen company in which it holds a 50% stake. The investment will expand production at Gelprime’s Londrina facility in Paraná, including a new functional collagen line expected in the second half of 2026 and an expansion of hydrolyzed collagen production planned for 2027. MBRF said the project should double Gelprime’s capacity and take it to around 30,000 tons by 2030, potentially placing the company among the world’s five largest gelatin and collagen producers. The move deepens MBRF’s strategy around higher-value animal protein ingredients. read more

Macro & Markets

AI adoption raises security risks Brazilian companies expect a 113% increase in AI-agent identities over the next 12 months, the highest growth expectation in the Americas and behind only Israel and Hong Kong globally, according to Palo Alto Networks’ 2026 Identity Security Landscape Report. The study also found that 91% of Brazilian companies reported identity-related security breaches over the past year, close to the global average of 90%. More and more agribusinesses, cooperatives, banks and input companies are automating workflows with AI agents, increasing the need for secure digital identity, permission controls and data governance. read more

Glyphosate faces legal challenge in Brazil Brazil’s Labor Prosecutor’s Office has filed a civil lawsuit against Anvisa and the federal government seeking a nationwide ban on glyphosate, one of the country’s most widely used herbicides. The action asks for the cancellation of all glyphosate-based product registrations and a prohibition on production, commercialization, import, export and use, citing alleged health risks to rural workers, environmental damage and water contamination. The lawsuit also accuses Anvisa of a “double regulatory standard” by moving quickly to approve pesticides while taking longer to review or ban substances considered risky. Bayer and CropLife Brasil defended science-based regulatory reviews. read more

Brazil backs fertilizer factories Brazil’s lower house approved a bill creating up to US$2 billion in federal tax incentives over five years to support new fertilizer plants and modernize existing facilities. The proposal, which now returns to the Senate, would create the Profert program and use federal tax credits with an annual cap of about US$397 million. The bill also sets gradual local-content targets for fertilizers produced in Brazil, starting with a 2% mandatory national blend in 2027 and rising to 10% to 30% by 2037. Brazil currently imports around 85% of its fertilizer needs, leaving farmers exposed to global supply shocks and price volatility. read more

Brazil VC enters selective rebound Brazil’s startup market is moving into a more disciplined investment cycle after the “startup winter,” according to Thiago Maceira, head of technology at Itaú BBA. He says the funding drought forced companies to manage cash, improve governance, seek profitability and build more mature business models. Investor interest remains steady rather than explosive, with foreign capital still tracking Brazil as a large, under-digitized market where structural inefficiencies create space for innovation. The strongest opportunities over the next 12 to 24 months are expected in B2B software, fintech, data applications, AI tools, customer service automation, onboarding, credit and workflow automation. read more

JBS eyes Russell rerating JBS’ inclusion in the preliminary Russell 3000 index could unlock up to US$15 billion in market value, according to Citi estimates. The move follows JBS’ dual listing in Brazil and New York, one of the company’s main goals for improving liquidity, passive ownership and valuation. Citi expects Russell inclusion to attract US$1 billion to US$4 billion in capital flows over the next 12 to 24 months as ETFs, passive strategies and asset managers normalize exposure. Morgan Stanley also noted that Russell inclusion could help pave the way for future eligibility for the S&P 500. read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

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In AgTech news this week, US startup Ascribe Bioscience chose Brazil for the global launch of its Asian soybean rust biological, while Culttivo expanded from coffee credit into a broader financial platform and Cowmed projected strong growth for its dairy monitoring collars. ICL passed 10,000 NutroScan analyses in Brazil, and Agrimatching winners showed how AI is moving into fire detection, aquaculture and animal monitoring.

In Climate Tech developments, degraded pasture in Pará is being converted into agroforestry systems for premium cacao and chocolate. Embrapa showed how AI models can help predict weed pressure in integrated crop-livestock systems, supporting more preventive management and potentially reducing herbicide use.

On the Funding & M&A front, Cosan signaled it may eventually exit Raízen as the sugar and ethanol joint venture works through a financial restructuring. AgriConnection and Mosaic launched a fertilizer-focused Fiagro to finance purchases by small and mid-sized input distributors.

In Macro & Markets, Brazil’s strategic position in food, biofuels and clean energy drew fresh attention from Bradesco, while new EU antimicrobial rules added pressure to Brazilian meat exporters. A separate AI identity report placed Brazil among the global leaders in expected growth of enterprise AI agents.

Table of Contents

AgTech

• Ascribe Chooses Brazil for Global Launch

• Culttivo Expands Beyond Coffee Credit

• Cowmed Scales Smart Collars for Dairy

• ICL Scales NutroScan in Brazil

• Agrimatching Winners Highlight AI in the Field

Climate Tech

• Amazon Cacao Turns Pasture into Premium Chocolate

• Embrapa Uses AI to Predict Weeds

Funding & M&A

• Cosan May Exit Raízen as Holding Winds Down

• AgriConnection and Mosaic Launch Fertilizer Fiagro

Macro & Markets

• Brazil Gains Global Strategic Appeal

• EU Rules Pressure Brazilian Meat Exports

• Brazil Leads AI Identity Growth in the Americas

AgTech

Ascribe Chooses Brazil for Global Launch – New York-based Ascribe Bioscience, a Yield Lab portfolio company, will launch its first commercial biological product in Brazil before the United States, targeting Asian soybean rust with a natural molecule derived from soil microbiome compounds called ascarosides. The product works by activating the plant’s own immune defenses rather than attacking the fungus directly, and has already been tested in around 400 field trials across Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná and Minas Gerais. The company says its Brazilian launch reflects faster regulatory momentum, technically advanced farmers and a large bioinputs market. Ascribe expects US$10 million in Brazil revenue this year, with longer-term potential of US$100 million. read more

Culttivo Expands Beyond Coffee Credit – Culttivo, a fintech focused on credit for coffee growers, is using AI to automate credit analysis and expand into a broader financial platform for the sector. Culttivo, a Yield Lab Latam portfolio company, granted about US$60 million in credit to coffee producers in 2025 and aims to reach US$100 million in 2026 across Mogiana, South of Minas, Espírito Santo, Matas de Minas and Cerrado Mineiro. AI agents have reduced some document checks from 40 minutes to seconds, helping lower operating costs as the company grows. Culttivo has also launched a digital account, group-purchase financing, crop insurance, FX services and coffee price protection products, while preparing for a new funding round. read more

Cowmed Scales Smart Collars for Dairy – Cowmed expects revenue to grow 65% in 2026 as demand rises for its smart collars used to monitor dairy cows. The Brazilian livestock tech company should reach about US$6 million in revenue this year, up from roughly US$3.6 million in 2025, with a subscription model charged per animal monitored. Its collars track feeding, rumination, activity, rest, estrus, health signals and heat stress, with data processed by Vic, an AI system developed in-house. Cowmed already monitors 100,000 animals and aims to reach 1 million cows within five years, with Brazil driving most growth and expansion underway in Paraguay, Mexico and Uruguay. read more

ICL Scales NutroScan in Brazil – ICL has passed 10,000 field analyses in Brazil with NutroScan, its real-time plant nutrition diagnostic tool for soy and corn. The system combines in-field analysis with laboratory validation, giving ICL a growing agronomic database while helping producers identify nutrient deficiencies faster. Since its field launch in November 2025, NutroScan has reached 70% to 85% accuracy versus lab results, according to the company, with each new analysis improving the model. ICL is now expanding the technology to coffee, with sugarcane and cotton planned by the end of 2026, while also taking the model to other Latin American markets. read more

Agrimatching Winners Highlight AI in the Field – Umgrauemeio, Cadoma and Herdian won the Agrimatching startup competition at the Rural Tech Summit in Piracicaba, after 90 applicants and 45 selected startups competed across Pré-seed, Seed and Série A categories. Série A winner Umgrauemeio, a Yield Lab Latam portfolilo company, uses computer vision to detect smoke and heat in agricultural areas through its Pantera system, trained on more than 15,000 images. Seed winner Cadoma applies AI to automate fish feeding and monitor fish behavior, with revenue projected to reach US$2 million by 2028. Pré-seed winner Herdian monitors sow maternity pens with cameras to reduce piglet losses from post-birth crushing. read more

Climate Tech

Amazon Cacao Turns Pasture into Premium Chocolate – Producers in Castanhal, Pará, are turning degraded pasture into agroforestry systems that combine cacao, açaí and other crops with premium chocolate production. At Fazenda Monte Castelo, Osny de Azevedo Ramos converted former cattle land into cacao and açaí production, using fermentation and drying protocols to sell fine cacao at around US$8 to US$11 per kilo, compared with about US$2 for conventional cacao in the region. The farm now has 22 hectares planted and plans to reach 50 productive hectares. Nearby Fazenda Dom Manoel has 35 hectares in agroforestry systems and supplies Gaudens Chocolate, while planning its own chocolate factory and rural tourism project. read more

Embrapa Uses AI to Predict Weeds – Embrapa Milho e Sorgo and the Universidade do Vale do Itajaí are testing machine learning models to predict weed dynamics in integrated crop-livestock systems in the Cerrado. The study used climate, soil, crop rotation and weed population data from systems combining corn, sorghum, soy and brachiaria pasture in Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais. Algorithms including Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Random Forest and K-Nearest Neighbors were tested, with Decision Tree and Random Forest reaching 99% accuracy in identifying crops more prone to weed emergence. The work could support more preventive weed control, lower herbicide use and more precise field decisions. read more

Funding & M&A

Cosan May Exit Raízen as Holding Winds Down – Cosan CEO Marcelo Martins said the company may sell its minority stake in Raízen after a planned financial restructuring of the sugar and ethanol joint venture with Shell. Negotiations with Raízen creditors are advancing around a possible debt-to-equity conversion, which could dilute Cosan’s position and end its shareholder agreement with Shell. Martins said Cosan does not intend to remain a long-term Raízen shareholder and may dissolve the holding company within three to five years, distributing stakes in invested companies directly to shareholders. Raízen is seeking to avoid court-supervised restructuring while managing debt of about US$13 billion. read more

AgriConnection and Mosaic Launch Fertilizer Fiagro – AgriConnection and Mosaic have launched a fertilizer-focused Fiagro, a Brazilian agribusiness receivables fund, targeting up to US$20 million to finance fertilizer purchases by small and mid-sized input distributors. The vehicle was structured with Exa Capital and XP Investimentos and will be offered to professional investors. The fund gives AgriConnection a path into fertilizer distribution while giving Mosaic access to smaller regional distributors that are harder to reach through traditional channels. The first prospect list includes 307 resellers, with 30 invited to São Paulo for the launch. The partners say the first year will focus on learning, with expansion expected in years two and three. read more

Macro & Markets

Brazil Gains Global Strategic Appeal – Bradesco agribusiness economist Priscila Trigo said high interest rates, biofuels and geopolitical instability have helped place Brazil back on the global radar as a strategic supplier of food and energy. Speaking at the Rural Tech Summit in Piracicaba, she said the country combines food production, biofuel leadership, clean energy generation and distance from major conflict zones. Recent shocks, from the pandemic to the Russia-Ukraine war and Middle East tensions, have increased concern over energy and food security. Trigo also said Brazil’s still-high Selic rate, even after cuts, continues to attract foreign capital. read more

EU Rules Pressure Brazilian Meat Exports – Brazil is racing to send the European Union documentation on antimicrobial controls after the bloc removed the country from its list of authorized exporters of live animals and animal-origin products. The measure, set to take effect on September 3, affects beef, horses, eggs, fish, honey and poultry, although Brazil may return to the list if it provides the required guarantees. The government agreed with European officials to submit information within 10 to 15 days and has also issued new guidelines on antimicrobial use in livestock. Beef faces the highest risk of a slower reversal, with restrictions potentially extending into 2027. read more

Brazil Leads AI Identity Growth in the Americas – Brazilian companies expect the number of identities linked to AI agents to grow 113% over the next 12 months, according to Palo Alto Networks’ 2026 Identity Security Landscape Report. The figure puts Brazil ahead of the rest of the Americas and behind only Israel and Hong Kong globally, as companies move faster toward so-called “agentic enterprises” powered by autonomous AI tools. The same shift is also raising cybersecurity concerns, with 91% of Brazilian companies reporting security violations. The report points to a growing challenge for corporate governance as AI agents gain access to systems, data and workflows. read more

Notice: This Thursday afternoon, May 28, we will host the second edition of the Agro Inteligente event series at Cubo Itaú in São Paulo, with online access available through the SRB YouTube channel. The event will be held in Portuguese and will focus on real AI use cases that are improving profitability, sustainability and operational performance in agribusiness. More information is available here, and registration is available here.

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

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Green Gap

One thing is universal about farmers: they are doers, not sayers. They do most of their talking in the field. They plant, test, adjust, harvest and deliver the best product they can. In general, they expect quality to do the talking, and they expect the market to pay accordingly.

That instinct makes sense in agriculture, where results are visible in the soil, the crop and the final product. But sustainability does not always work that way. Global buyers increasingly ask for cleaner food, cleaner fuel, lower-carbon supply chains, better traceability and stronger environmental practices. The demand is there, but the willingness to pay is often less clear.

Brazil sits right in the middle of this paradox. The country has built real advantages in renewable energy, ethanol, biodiesel, no-till farming, biological inputs, integrated crop-livestock systems and preserved native vegetation on private land. It is not a perfect story, and the challenges around deforestation, land use and enforcement are real. But there are also important moves in the right direction.

That was the sharper point behind a recent CNN interview with Brazilian agricultural analyst Marcos Fava Neves. Brazil already has many of the things global markets say they want. The question is no longer only whether Brazil can produce cleaner food, cleaner fuel and lower-carbon supply chains. The question is who will pay for them.

That is where the green gap sits. Brazil does not lack green initiatives. It lacks the business models to connect green value in the field with buyers, investors and lenders who say they want it. Corn ethanol, biological inputs and renewable-powered data centers all point to the same challenge: Brazil has the assets, but still needs better ways to capture the value.

Beyond the Bushel

Soybeans, corn, sugar, coffee, cotton and beef have turned Brazil into one of the world’s top agricultural powerhouses. But producing volume and capturing value are not always the same thing.

The recent move by Amaggi, one of Brazil’s largest grain and agricultural groups, to buy 40% of FS, a major corn ethanol producer in Mato Grosso, shows how that may be changing. Brazil’s agricultural giants are starting to look beyond the bushel, turning crops into fuel, feed, energy and potentially lower-carbon products closer to where they are produced.

That’s important in a state like Mato Grosso, where distance is always part of the business model. Even an efficient farmer can see margins squeezed by freight, storage and port bottlenecks. Local processing does not solve every problem, but it gives the system another outlet before logistics costs eat too much of the upside.

Corn ethanol fits neatly into Brazil’s broader green stack. It supports biofuel supply, creates byproducts for animal protein, uses biomass and can open the door to carbon-linked opportunities if emissions are properly measured and rewarded. For Brazil, the bigger prize is keeping more value close to where the crop is grown.

Micro Margins

Brazil is already one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing markets for biological inputs, and this growth is much more than a niche sustainability trend. It reflects a practical shift in how farmers are managing cost, risk and resilience in tropical agriculture. Many traditional inputs are imported, which exposes farmers to currency swings, supply shocks and high prices, while many products were originally developed for Northern Hemisphere agriculture, where soils, seasons and pest pressure are very different. What works in Iowa or France does not always work the same way in Mato Grosso or Bahia.

Biological inputs offer a more local and adaptive path because they use living organisms, natural compounds or biological processes to support crops and soil health, instead of relying only on fossil-based chemistry. When they work well, they can help reduce chemical dependency, improve soil biology, manage pests and diseases, and make production more resilient. For farmers, the appeal is practical rather than ideological. Lower cost, healthier soil and fewer surprises in the field usually beat a nice ESG slide.

This is also where AI could become useful, especially because biologicals are complex and highly dependent on local conditions. Performance can vary according to the microbe, the crop, the soil, the weather, the timing and the farm practice around it. Better data and AI tools can help identify promising strains, match products to local conditions and reduce some of the trial-and-error that still slows adoption. The opportunity is not only in discovering better products, but in helping farmers and agronomists understand where, when and how to use them.

The missing piece is still the business model. If a farmer improves soil biology, reduces chemical use or builds more resilient production, there should be a clearer path to economic recognition through cheaper credit, better insurance, stronger contracts or preferred access to buyers. Biologicals show that greener tools can scale when they solve real farm problems. The next step is building the credit, data, insurance and buyer models that reward those choices more directly.

Cleaner Data

Brazil’s renewable energy advantage is starting to create opportunities beyond farms, mills and fuel plants, especially as solar, wind and biomass generation expand faster than parts of the grid can absorb. Sugarcane mills are a good reminder that Brazil’s green stack is already more connected than many outsiders realize. They do not only produce sugar and ethanol; they also generate electricity from bagasse, the fibrous residue left after crushing cane, and can sell excess power back into the grid.

Minter, a mobile data center startup, is tackling a similar value-capture problem in renewable power by installing container-based units directly at generation sites. The units process data close to where electricity is produced, helping power producers monetize energy that might otherwise be curtailed when the grid cannot absorb supply. The company already operates a 20 MW site in Xique-Xique, Bahia, and plans to reach 40 MW by the end of 2026 and 500 MW by 2029.

The model follows the same logic as corn ethanol and biological inputs. It takes an existing green asset and finds a better way to monetize it. In a country with growing renewable generation, transmission bottlenecks and rising demand for computing power, that kind of business model can turn stranded or underused energy into a new revenue stream.

Larger data center projects, including Omnia’s renewable-powered project in Ceará, point in the same direction at a different scale. Brazil’s clean energy base can attract new industries, but the more important question is what gets built around them. For agriculture, better data can help prove and price what is happening in the field, from traceability and carbon intensity to biological input performance and credit risk.

Green Gains

The problem is not that farmers and agribusinesses need another lecture on sustainability. Most already understand where the pressure is coming from: buyers want cleaner supply chains, banks want lower risk, regulators want more data, and consumers want reassurance that the food and fuel they buy are not creating hidden environmental costs. The harder question is how those expectations become a better price, a better contract or a lower cost of capital for the people doing the work.

Better business models will have to connect what happens in the field with how value is shared across the chain. A farmer who improves soil health, uses biological inputs, reduces chemical dependency or lowers carbon intensity should have a clearer path to cheaper credit, better insurance, preferred supplier status or longer-term offtake. A biofuel producer with a lower-carbon product should be able to capture that difference through the fuel market. A renewable energy producer with stranded power should have more ways to turn that electricity into revenue.

This is where technology becomes useful, but only if it stays close to the money. Traceability, satellite monitoring, carbon accounting, farm data, AI tools and digital credit models all sound impressive, but they only matter if they help reduce risk, prove performance, open a market or support payment. Otherwise, they become another layer of reporting that farmers are asked to carry without seeing the benefit.

Brazil has plenty of green activity already. What it needs now are more bridges between practice and payment. Corn ethanol, biological inputs and cleaner data all show different versions of the same opportunity: take value that already exists in the system, prove it better, process it smarter and make sure more of the upside reaches the people and companies creating it.

Thanks for reading.

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups in Latin America.

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In AgTech news this week, Zeit is taking lab analysis to the field with portable AI tools, while Semear Digital and Embrapa Agricultura Digital are using drones and computer vision to improve cattle slaughter timing. Brazilian researchers also advanced nanotechnology for slower urea release and biological control for soybean pests.

In Climate Tech developments, Copersucar is preparing two new biomethane plants tied to sugarcane mills, while LOTS Group and Cocal will use biomethane-powered trucks to transport vinasse and reduce diesel use.

On the Funding & M&A front, Aimirim raised capital from Indicator Capital and SP Ventures, Amaggi agreed to buy 40% of FS, Cleam Capital acquired control of Grano Alimentos, and Oby Capital is raising a new farmland Fiagro. Fertalvo and Novatech also formed Alvotech to expand specialty fertilizers in the Cerrado.

In Macro & Markets, StoneX Leite Brasil launched a dairy hedging platform with Cepea, Brazil’s meat exporters pushed back against new EU antimicrobial rules, and the National Monetary Council softened rural credit environmental requirements after farm-sector pressure.

Table of Contents

AgTech

• Portable Lab Speeds Farm Decisions

• Beef Timing Gets Smarter

• Nano Nutrients Reduce Waste

• Biologicals Battle Soy Pest

• AI Maps Farmland

Climate Tech

• Biomethane Buildout Expands

• Green Logistics Cuts Emissions

Funding & M&A

• Factory Automation Funded

• Corn Ethanol Consolidates

• Frozen Food Funded

• Farmland Fund Raises

• Fertilizer JV Expands Footprint

Macro & Markets

• Milk Market Modernizes

• EU Meat Rules Threaten Brazil Exports

• Credit Rules Recalibrated

AgTech

Portable Lab Speeds Farm Decisions – Zeit, a deeptech startup from Rio Grande do Sul, is bringing chemical analysis out of the lab and into the field with portable devices and embedded AI. Founded in 2020 by researchers from the Federal University of Santa Maria, the company expects to reach about US$1m in revenue in 2026, five times more than in 2025, after growing its client base by 300% since January. A joint venture with Nira monitors commodity quality in soymeal and milk, with more than 250,000 tons already tracked, while its Zeit K tool measures potassium in plants in under five minutes to guide fertilizer decisions. read more

Beef Timing Gets Smarter – Researchers are testing drones and AI to identify the ideal slaughter timing for feedlot cattle, potentially reducing feed costs and improving herd management. The system was tested at Fazenda Campanário in Laguna Carapã, Mato Grosso do Sul, tracking 110 Nelore cattle over 112 days. Using computer vision, the technology identified that animals were ready for slaughter up to one week earlier than traditional methods, creating an estimated feed saving of about US$2,700 for that lot. Applied across Fazenda Campanário’s 14,600 confined cattle, the efficiency gain could reach roughly US$360,000. The study was developed by Semear Digital in partnership with Embrapa Agricultura Digital. read more

Nano Nutrients Reduce Waste – Brazilian researchers developed a biodegradable nanotechnology coating that slows the release of urea, aiming to improve fertilizer efficiency and reduce nitrogen losses. The work, led by Embrapa, the University of Ribeirão Preto, Unesp, and USP, combines castor-oil-based polyurethane with mineral nanoclay to encapsulate urea granules. In water-release tests, conventional urea released more than 85% of its nitrogen in four hours, while the nanoclay-coated version released only 22% over nine days. In greenhouse tests with capim-piatã, the coated fertilizer improved dry matter production and nitrogen uptake, with absorption reaching twice the level seen under conventional fertilization. read more

Biologicals Battle Soy Pest – Brazilian researchers identified a new use for the bacterium Bacillus altitudinis to control brown stink bug, one of the hardest pests to manage in Brazilian soybean fields and linked to estimated losses of about US$2.2 billion per season. The discovery by INCT NanoAgro, connected to Unesp, showed near 80% mortality in lab tests, compared with the 30% to 40% efficiency range cited for many chemical products. The bacterium works through contact with the insect’s legs rather than ingestion, offering a different biological pathway. The technology is still at proof-of-concept stage and could take three to six years to reach the market. read more

AI Maps Farmland – Researchers from U.S. universities have built a global AI-powered agricultural field map that identifies farm boundaries from satellite images, creating a standardized dataset for crop monitoring, food security, and land-use analysis. The Fields of The World project mapped 1.55 billion agricultural polygons across 241 countries and territories in 2025, using Sentinel-2 imagery and a machine-learning model trained on field-boundary data from 24 countries, including Brazil. The tool could support more granular analysis of farms, crops, deforestation risk, and climate programs, although the project appears to be global research rather than a Brazil-specific deployment. read more

Climate Tech

Biomethane Buildout Expands – Copersucar plans to build two new biomethane plants at associated sugarcane mills from late 2026 or early 2027, adding momentum to its renewable gas strategy. Each unit is expected to cost between about US$40 million and US$60 million, bringing total investment for the two plants to as much as US$120 million. The company already has biomethane plants linked to Cocal in Narandiba and Paraguaçu Paulista, using vinasse and filter cake from sugarcane processing. Its BioRota project has replaced around 5 million liters of diesel, avoided more than 8,000 tons of CO2 emissions, and completed over 13,000 truck trips since April 2024. read more

Green Logistics Cuts Emissions – LOTS Group and Cocal will launch Brazil’s first industrial-scale operation using biomethane-powered trucks to transport vinasse, an organic fertilizer produced from sugarcane ethanol residues. The project will use 44 trucks running entirely on biomethane and is expected to replace more than 19 million liters of diesel over five years, avoiding about 41,000 tons of CO2 emissions. The companies estimate a 91% reduction in pollutants compared with an equivalent diesel truck operation. The partnership could later expand biomethane use to other areas of Cocal’s agricultural operations, including sugarcane transport between fields and industrial plants. read more

Funding & M&A

Factory Automation Funded – Aimirim raised about US$2 million in a round co-led by Indicator Capital and SP Ventures to scale automation tools for agroindustries. Founded ten years ago by mechanical engineer Renato Pacheco Silva and incubated at the Federal University of Uberlândia, the deeptech company combines hardware and software for industrial monitoring, including sensors that measure grain volumes in silos and devices that help reduce energy use in sugarcane boilers. The funding will support larger orders of its IoT devices, expand its commercial team, and help the company move beyond large clients such as BAT, Raízen, and VLI into mid-sized agroindustrial customers. read more

Corn Ethanol Consolidates – Amaggi agreed to acquire 40% of FS, marking one of the most significant deals in Brazil’s corn ethanol industry. The transaction, filed with Cade for approval, includes a US$100 million primary share issuance by FS, while the value of Amaggi’s secondary purchase from existing shareholders was not disclosed. FS and Amaggi will remain separate companies, but the agreement gives Amaggi board representation and exclusivity for future corn ethanol investments through FS. FS is building its fourth plant in Campo Novo do Parecis, has two additional Mato Grosso sites, and expects to open a carbon capture and storage unit in Lucas do Rio Verde in September. read more

Frozen Food Funded – Cleam Capital acquired control of Grano Alimentos, Brazil’s leading frozen vegetable company, opening a new growth cycle after a decade under Arlon. The transaction value was not disclosed and Rabobank advised the process. Based in Serafina Corrêa, Rio Grande do Sul, Grano holds more than 40% of the Brazilian frozen vegetable market, according to Nielsen, and expects to reach about US$55 million in revenue in 2026. The company aims to grow toward roughly US$180 million in annual revenue by expanding geographically, especially into the Center-West, Northeast, and North, while strengthening retail, food service, and co-packer channels. read more

Farmland Fund Raises – Oby Capital is seeking about US$23 million for a new Fiagro focused on buying and leasing farmland to producers and sugarcane mills. The Ribeirão Preto-based manager has around US$360 million under management and already runs a listed farmland Fiagro, LAFI11, with about US$16 million in assets. The new fund will use a buy-to-lease strategy and target qualified investors, with XP as distributor. Its initial pipeline includes 5,000 hectares across São Paulo and Minas Gerais, valued at roughly US$70 million, mostly linked to sugarcane production. The fund aims to acquire three properties. read more

Fertilizer Footprint Expands – Fertalvo and Novatech formed Alvotech, a joint venture focused on bringing specialty fertilizers to Cerrado producers in crops such as soybeans, corn, and cotton. The company is building a factory in Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso, expected to begin operations in September with capacity of 3 million to 5 million liters per year and investment of about US$2.2 million to US$2.6 million. Alvotech expects to generate around US$5.5 million in revenue in 2026 and sees a potential specialty fertilizer market of about US$620 million. It has also opened a commercial base in Rio Verde, Goiás, to support expansion across the Cerrado. read more

Macro & Markets

Milk Market Modernizes – StoneX Leite Brasil launched a new hedging tool for Brazil’s dairy market in partnership with Cepea, giving producers, cooperatives, dairies, traders, and retailers a way to lock future prices and protect margins. The OTC platform offers four contracts: producer milk and UHT milk, each at 40,000 liters, mozzarella at 4,000 kilos, and industrial whole milk powder at 5 tons. Settlement will use Cepea price indicators, with no physical delivery. The tool arrives as Brazil’s dairy chain faces price volatility, low planning visibility, and a dumping investigation into milk powder imports from Argentina and Uruguay. read more

EU Meat Rules Threaten Brazil Exports – Brazil’s meat industry reacted after the European Union removed the country from its list of nations that comply with the bloc’s rules on antimicrobial use in animal production. If the decision is not reversed, exports of beef, chicken, honey, eggs, and other animal-origin products could face restrictions from September 3. Brazil exported about US$1.8 billion in meat to the EU in 2025, including 128,000 tons of beef and 230,000 tons of chicken. Industry groups ABIEC and ABPA said exports continue normally for now and that Brazil is working with officials to meet the EU’s technical requirements. read more

Credit Rules Recalibrated – Brazil’s National Monetary Council delayed and softened environmental requirements that had restricted rural credit for producers flagged by Prodes satellite deforestation monitoring. The rule, which began in April, had drawn strong opposition from farm groups and triggered a legal challenge by CNA at the Supreme Court. The CMN will now phase in the measure by farm size, with larger properties starting in January 2027, and will accept additional documents such as vegetation suppression authorizations and environmental commitment terms to prove compliance. Farm leaders called the move a partial victory but said they will keep pushing for broader changes in Congress and the courts. read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

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In AgTech news this week, São Joaquim turns apples into a premium “caviar” ingredient, Olho do Dono targets Australia and China with AI cattle weighing, Jacto launches Brazil’s first autonomous sprayer, Solinftec tests a new robot adoption model in the US, TIM moves from farm connectivity into AI, and a new study links irrigation to stronger rural GDP.

In Climate Tech developments, Unicamp transforms passion fruit waste into bioactives for food and cosmetics, Embrapa tests struvite from swine waste as a phosphate fertilizer alternative, Brazilian corn ethanol gains approval for maritime fuel use, NaturAll Carbon partners with Fazenda Nova Piratininga on regenerative carbon credits, and CTC wins approval for herbicide-resistant GM sugarcane.

On the Funding & M&A front, Marfrig and BRF create Sadia Halal, a US$2.07 billion joint venture focused on halal protein production and distribution, with a potential IPO in Saudi Arabia planned by 2027.

In Macro & Markets, Brazil’s soybean crop could hit a record 181.6 million tons, urea prices ease after two months of gains, China’s beef quota could redirect Brazilian exports, ag exports help lift Brazil’s trade surplus, and the sector watches Lula-Trump trade talks for progress on beef, ethanol and tariffs.

Table of Contents

AgTech

• Apple Caviar Showcases São Joaquim Fruit Innovation

• Olho do Dono Targets Australia and China Expansion

• Jacto Launches Brazil’s First Autonomous Sprayer

• Solinftec Launches Freedom Per Acre in the US

• TIM Pushes from Farm Connectivity into AI

• Irrigated Regions Show Higher Rural GDP

Climate Tech

• Unicamp Turns Passion Fruit Waste into Bioactives

• Embrapa Tests Struvite as Fertilizer Alternative

• Brazilian Corn Ethanol Cleared for Maritime Fuel Use

• NaturAll Carbon Partners with Nova Piratininga

• CTC Wins Approval for Herbicide-Resistant GM Sugarcane

Funding & M&A

• Marfrig and BRF Create US$2B Sadia Halal Venture

Macro & Markets

• Brazil Soy Crop Could Hit Record 181.6M Tons

• Urea Prices Ease After Two-Month Rally

• China Beef Quota Could Redirect Brazil Exports

• Ag Exports Help Lift Brazil Trade Surplus

• Brazil Ag Eyes Lula-Trump Trade Talks

AgTech

Apple Caviar Showcases São Joaquim Fruit Innovation – A pastry chef in São Joaquim, Santa Catarina, has created “apple caviar” as part of a campaign to promote the city’s National Apple Festival and its role as Brazil’s apple capital. Bianca Goulart Zanete used molecular gastronomy techniques to turn Fuji apples into small spheres that resemble caviar, with a firm outside and liquid center. São Joaquim harvested 250,000 tons of apples in 2024, representing 25% of Brazil’s production and 58% of Santa Catarina’s crop, according to IBGE. read more

Olho do Dono Targets Australia and China Expansion – Brazilian startup Olho do Dono (Eye of the Owner) is preparing international expansion plans for Australia and China as it advances its cattle weighing technology in Brazil. The company uses 3D cameras and artificial intelligence to estimate cattle weight without conventional scales, helping ranchers monitor animals with less handling and lower operational friction. The startup has received new investment and is now negotiating entry into foreign markets. With beef supply chains under pressure to improve productivity, animal management and data capture, the company’s model points to growing demand for AI tools that turn visual field data into practical farm decisions. read more

Jacto Launches Brazil’s First Autonomous Sprayer – Brazilian machinery maker Jacto launched what it says is the first autonomous sprayer in the Brazilian market during Agrishow 2026. The Arbus 4000 JAV, developed since 2010 with orange juice company Citrosuco, is designed for citrus orchards and costs from about US$350,000. The machine can move through fields alone, apply crop protection products, stop when it detects obstacles and operate for up to 24 consecutive hours, with capacity to treat more than 1,000 hectares per month when properly configured. Jacto expects to produce 12 units this year, with four already delivered. read more

Solinftec Launches Freedom Per Acre in the US – Solinftec is launching a new “freedom per acre” model in the United States to accelerate adoption of its Solix farm robots through direct, on-farm experience rather than traditional sales pitches. The program will place robots for one week on farms, with a two-person team installing the equipment and translating machine performance into data on productivity, cost reduction and field coverage. Solinftec has mapped 10 producers across Indiana, Iowa and Illinois for the first phase, while operating 150 robots in the US and 100 in Brazil. The model is expected to arrive in Brazil in the second half of 2026, starting with sugarcane. read more

TIM Pushes from Farm Connectivity into AI – TIM Brasil says it has reached about US$74 million in IoT contracts with agribusiness clients and now wants to move deeper into data and artificial intelligence services for the sector. The company’s agricultural connectivity footprint reached 27.3 million hectares, up 32% from a year earlier, with potential to benefit 357,000 rural properties. TIM says agriculture now represents 36% of its IoT business, with clients including SLC Agrícola, Amaggi, Jalles Machado, BP Bionergy and Citrosuco. Its acquisition of V8.Tech, approved at about US$29 million, is part of a strategy to help farms connect data, reduce cloud costs and train AI for operational decisions. read more

Irrigated Regions Show Higher Rural GDP – Brazilian regions that use irrigation have stronger economic and social indicators than other rural municipalities, according to a study by Abimaq and ESALQ/USP. The survey found that GDP per capita in irrigated regions can be up to 256% higher, with Mato Grosso reaching more than US$37,000 per person in one example. Brazil currently has about 8.2 million hectares equipped for irrigation, but official data suggest the total could grow more than fivefold, adding up to 55.85 million hectares, much of it on pastureland. The study estimates that every 1,600 hectares added could increase agricultural gross value by about US$1.7 million initially, rising to around US$2.9 million over time. read more

Climate Tech

Unicamp Turns Passion Fruit Waste into Bioactives – Researchers at FEA-Unicamp have developed a sustainable process to extract natural bioactive compounds from passion fruit bagasse, a byproduct made mostly of seeds and peel that can represent up to 70% of the fruit’s weight. The technology uses supercritical CO2, water and ethanol instead of petroleum-based solvents to recover compounds such as tocopherols, tocotrienols and phenolics with antioxidant and anti-aging potential. The patent was licensed by the startup Rubian Extratos, a Unicamp incubator graduate, which has already launched the ingredient in cosmetic formulations and is now exploring international markets and nutraceutical applications. read more

Embrapa Tests Struvite as Fertilizer Alternative – Embrapa Agrobiologia is testing struvite, a slow-release fertilizer produced from swine farming waste, as a domestic alternative to imported phosphate fertilizers. Field trials in soy showed the material could supply up to 50% of phosphorus demand while maintaining productivity near Brazil’s 2025 average, at about 3,500 kg per hectare. Brazil imports around 75% of its phosphate fertilizer needs, making local alternatives strategically important. Embrapa estimates that adoption on farms with more than 5,000 pigs could generate around 340,000 tons of struvite per year, while also reducing nutrient pollution from animal waste. read more

Brazilian Corn Ethanol Cleared for Maritime Fuel Use – Brazilian second-crop corn ethanol has received an important approval from the International Maritime Organization, opening the door for its use in maritime transport. The IMO defined a carbon emissions baseline of 20.8 grams of CO2 equivalent per megajoule for Brazilian corn ethanol, compared with 93.3 grams for traditional marine fuel. The recognition gives shipping companies a technical reference for using the biofuel in decarbonization plans. Brazil is also seeking IMO approval for sugarcane ethanol and biodiesel made from soy and beef tallow for maritime use. read more

NaturAll Carbon Partners with Nova Piratininga – NaturAll Carbon has signed a partnership with Fazenda Nova Piratininga, one of Brazil’s largest farms, to develop a regenerative agriculture carbon credit project across 12,300 hectares in Goiás and Tocantins. The project will focus on converting pasture areas and adopting practices such as no-till farming, crop rotation, cover crops and crop-livestock integration to increase soil carbon sequestration. The companies expect the project to generate up to 30,000 carbon credits, with first issuances planned for 2027 after registration and verification by Verra. NaturAll is targeting 150,000 hectares under management by 2027, with potential sequestration of up to 300,000 tons of CO2 per year. read more

CTC Wins Approval for Herbicide-Resistant GM Sugarcane – Brazil’s biosafety commission CTNBio has approved a new genetically modified sugarcane variety developed by Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira, resistant to both sugarcane borer and herbicides such as glyphosate. The variety, commercially called VerdPro2, is expected to reach the market in the 2026/27 harvest after final legal steps. CTC plans to develop 14 varieties with the technology and initially introduce them with selected customers under technical monitoring. The company says the new sugarcane can simplify weed control, reduce phytotoxicity risks and help address borer-related losses estimated at about US$1.6 billion per year, while weed control costs exceed US$1.2 billion annually. read more

Funding & M&A

Marfrig and BRF Create US$2B Sadia Halal Venture – Marfrig and BRF have completed the creation of Sadia Halal, a joint venture bringing together halal protein production in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The new company has an enterprise value of US$2.07 billion and is preparing for a potential IPO on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul exchange by 2027. BRF’s subsidiary will hold 90% of Sadia Halal, while HPDC, linked to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, will hold 10%, with the option to raise its stake to as much as 40% before the IPO. BRF also signed a renewable 10-year supply agreement from its Brazilian units. read more

Macro & Markets

Brazil Soy Crop Could Hit Record 181.6M Tons – Brazil’s 2025/26 soybean crop could reach a record 181.6 million tons, according to StoneX, after favorable weather supported yields and the harvest neared completion across most of the country. The consultancy also raised its forecast for Brazil’s first corn crop to 28.32 million tons, up from 27.18 million tons previously. For second-crop corn, now still developing in the field, StoneX projected 106.15 million tons, a slight increase from last month’s estimate. Even so, total corn output is expected to fall by about 3 million tons compared with the previous cycle. read more

Urea Prices Ease After Two-Month Rally – Urea prices have started to weaken after two months of sharp gains, as softer demand begins to outweigh supply concerns linked to logistics restrictions in the Middle East. In Brazil, StoneX said urea prices have fallen for a second consecutive week, with deals closing slightly below US$770 per ton, around 4% lower than reference prices two weeks earlier. Price declines have also been seen in the United States, China, the Middle East and Egypt, pointing to a broader global correction. StoneX expects further declines to be limited in the short term, as Middle East bottlenecks continue to restrict international supply. read more

China Beef Quota Could Redirect Brazil Exports – Brazil is nearing its annual beef export quota to China, creating pressure on local meatpackers to redirect shipments to other markets. China imposed import quotas in early 2026 to protect domestic producers, and additional volumes above the quota face a 55% tariff. According to Bloomberg, China imported more than 510,000 tons of Brazilian beef in the first quarter, equal to 46% of the quota, and the share may have reached 65% by the end of April. Datagro expects the limit to be reached in June, which could slow Brazilian slaughter and increase supply to markets such as the United States. read more

Ag Exports Help Lift Brazil Trade Surplus – Brazil’s trade surplus rose 43.5% year over year from January to April 2026, reaching US$24.78 billion, according to Secex data. Total exports reached US$116.55 billion, up 9.2%, while imports totaled US$91.77 billion. Agriculture remained one of the main contributors, with ag exports reaching US$26.39 billion in the first four months of the year, up 6.6%. On the import side, agricultural purchases fell 21.4% to US$1.80 billion, widening the sector’s positive contribution to the trade balance. The extractive industry also grew strongly, while manufacturing posted a smaller export gain. read more

Brazil Ag Eyes Lula-Trump Trade Talks – Brazil’s agribusiness sector is watching the Lula-Trump recent meeting for possible progress on beef quotas, ethanol tariffs and broader trade risks linked to the US Section 301 investigation. Brazilian beef exporters want changes to the US quota system, as the current shared quota allows around 50,000 tons at reduced tariffs before a 26.4% tariff applies. US imports of Brazilian beef reached 107,000 tons from January to March, up 13.4% from a year earlier, according to Abiec. Ethanol was also expected to be discussed, after Trump criticized Brazil’s 18% tariff on US ethanol while the US charges 2.5% on Brazilian ethanol. read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

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Hungry Capital

AI has already swallowed the venture capital agenda. According to Crunchbase, AI funding reached $211 billion in 2025, up 85% from $114 billion in 2024, representing roughly half of all global venture funding. OECD data puts the figure even higher, estimating that AI firms captured 61% of global VC investment in 2025, equal to $258.7 billion out of $427.1 billion.

This huge wave of investment was needed to build models, infrastructure and computing power before AI can be applied widely across the economy. But as this layer becomes more consolidated and harder for new entrants to win, venture capital will start looking for other places where AI can create real business value.

The next wave of AI investing will flow to where models can be applied to large markets, complex workflows and expensive problems. Legal, healthcare, finance and logistics are already attracting attention. Agriculture will also be part of that search, and this is where Brazil comes in.

Brazilian agriculture has scale, complexity, data, pain points and global relevance. It is also full of workflows that are manual, fragmented, relationship-driven and only partially digitized. The same complexity that made agriculture hard for traditional software may be what makes it so attractive for AI.

Big Field

Agriculture is often described as one sector, but that misses the point. It is really a dense network of decisions that stretch from the soil to the port, from the farm gate to the balance sheet, and from weather risk to working capital.

A farmer is not only deciding what to plant. He is managing weather risk, input costs and market timing. A cooperative is not only selling inputs. It is advising producers, extending credit and coordinating logistics. A grain trader is not only buying soybeans. It is managing freight, price risk and counterparty exposure.

Vertical AI becomes interesting in agriculture because so many of these decisions already shape margins, risk and cash flow. Selling grain, approving credit and spotting disease pressure are all high-value areas where better intelligence can make a measurable difference.

Brazil gives this thesis unusual scale. Agribusiness exports reached a record $169.2 billion in 2025, accounting for 48.5% of Brazil’s total exports. Brazilian agriculture is not a small market waiting to be discovered by technology investors. It is already one of the country’s core economic engines and one of the most important food and agricultural systems in the world.

Messy Moats

Every investor likes the word moat. In agriculture, the moat may come from the mess.

Brazil’s ag economy still runs through a blend of WhatsApp messages, field visits, invoices, satellite images, phone calls, spreadsheets, informal knowledge and long-term relationships. For traditional software, that can be difficult to organize. For AI, it is raw material.

To work in a vertical like agriculture, AI needs more than a strong model. It needs industry context, proprietary data and access to processes that outsiders cannot easily understand or copy. Agriculture has all three, although they rarely come neatly packaged. Information is often scattered across people, machines, fields, buyers, lenders and service providers, which makes the problem harder but the opportunity more defensible.

Moving grain in Brazil, for example, is a seasonal, regional and highly volatile decision system shaped by harvest timing, rail capacity and port lineups. A platform that understands those variables is doing more than digitizing freight. It is building intelligence around one of the biggest cost centers in the value chain.

The same idea applies across animal protein, biological inputs and crop monitoring. The companies that can capture and interpret signals from these activities will not only have better software. They will have a stronger position in the value chain.

Agrifoodtech funding has been through a painful reset globally, but investor interest is moving toward technologies that can create real defensibility, including AI, robotics, biotech and advanced sensing. That should favor companies solving hard problems, not those adding a thin AI layer to old software.

Credit Gateway

The easiest bridge between AI capital and agriculture may be the fintech route.

Latin America’s venture story has already been shaped by fintech. Many of the region’s most successful startups used better data, better interfaces and better underwriting to reach customers that traditional financial institutions ignored, misunderstood or priced poorly.

Agriculture has a similar opportunity, but with more variables and muddier boots. In consumer fintech, credit risk depends on income, spending patterns and repayment history. In agriculture, repayment also depends on production, weather and commodity prices. A farmer may be a good borrower and still have a bad year because yields fall, prices move or freight costs eat into margins.

That makes ag credit harder to model, and more valuable when done well. Traditional credit models are often too blunt for agriculture, while AI can process richer signals from satellite imagery, production history, invoices, market prices and logistics data.

Agfintech is already one of the most venture-compatible categories in agriculture because it has clear pain, large markets, recurring demand and business models investors understand. In The Yield Lab’s Latam portfolio, around 40% is already made up of agfintech companies. Much of the other 60% could eventually offer some form of embedded finance, because many already have customer relationships, operational visibility and rich data.

That may be the real unlock. Credit does not need to remain a standalone product. A marketplace can offer credit, a logistics platform can finance freight, and a sustainability platform can support transition finance. The first wave of agfintech digitized access to capital. The next wave could use AI to predict risk, price capital and personalize finance around the real economics of the farm.

Seed Scale

If global AI investors start looking seriously at Brazilian agriculture, they will not arrive searching for ideas. They will be looking for companies with traction, proprietary data, scalable distribution and enough maturity to absorb large Series A or Series B rounds.

That creates both an opportunity and a risk. The opportunity is that Brazilian agriculture fits what vertical AI capital will likely want next: large problems, complex workflows, valuable data and real economic pain. The risk is that many AI-native agriculture startups may still be too early when that capital arrives.

This is why early-stage conviction matters. Brazil needs more founders building AI-native solutions for large, scalable problems in agriculture. It needs more data-driven pilots with farmers, corporates, cooperatives and financial institutions. It also needs more events, demos and practical use cases that move the market from general AI excitement to measurable business value.

That is exactly the kind of momentum we hope to build at our next AI in Ag event on May 28 in São Paulo, with participation available both in person and online for Portuguese speakers. The goal is to showcase real use cases, connect the right people and help move AI in agriculture from potential to practice.

When capital moves from models to markets, Brazilian agriculture should be ready to serve.

Thanks for reading.
KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups in Latin America.

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Summary

In Brazil AgTech news last week, startups are turning farm machines into data platforms, Roncador is converting rock from its mines into fertilizer, Agriodor is targeting Brazil with aroma-based pest control, China's XCMG is preparing to launch tractors in Brazil, and Bayer is expanding FieldView, prescription tools and machine integrations.

In Climate Tech developments, updated Zarc data shows climate risk has shifted planting windows in nearly 60% of Brazilian municipalities, machinery makers are testing ethanol and biomethane equipment at Agrishow, InPlanet is scaling basalt-based carbon removal, and FPT is investing in ethanol, biomethane and natural gas engines in Brazil.

On the Funding & M&A front, Agrorobótica raised US$2 million to scale soil carbon analysis, Finep received a US$620 million capital boost, EY agreed to buy MB Agro, Brazil launched US$1.8 billion in farm fleet credit, and Sicredi expanded its agro loan book to US$9.4 billion.

In Macro & Markets, John Deere called for a long-term state plan for Brazilian agriculture, while high interest rates, weaker machinery sales and election-year politics dominated the Agrishow agenda.

Table of Contents

AgTech

• Roncador Turns Rock into Fertilizer

• Agriodor Raises €15M to Target Brazil

• XCMG Prepares Brazil Tractor Launch

• Bayer Expands Digital Farming Tools

• Startups Powering Smarter Farm Machines

Climate Tech

• Climate Risk Shifts Planting Calendar

• Cleaner Machines Debut at Agrishow

• InPlanet Uses Rock Dust for Carbon Removal

• FPT Invests in Ethanol and Biomethane Engines

Funding & M&A

• Agrorobótica Raises US$2M for Soil Carbon

• Finep Gets Capital Boost

• EY Buys MB Agro Consultancy

• Brazil Launches Farm Fleet Credit

• Sicredi Expands Agro Credit Portfolio

Macro & Markets

• John Deere Calls for Long-Term Ag Plan

• High Rates and Politics Dominate Agrishow Agenda

AgTech

Roncador Turns Rock into Fertilizer – Grupo Roncador is entering the fertilizer market with a natural remineralizer made from crushed rock extracted from its limestone mines in Mato Grosso. After geochemical analysis with the Federal University of Goiás, the group found the rocks contained nutrients including potassium, magnesium, silicon, phosphorus and calcium. Field tests in 2020 showed nine extra bags of soybeans per hectare where rock powder replaced potassium chloride. The product, registered in 2025 as “silicálcio,” is now used across 53,000 hectares, and Roncador plans to produce 2 million tons per year. read more

Agriodor Raises €15M to Target Brazil – French agtech Agriodor has raised €15 million in a Series A round to scale its natural aroma-based pest control technology, with Brazil identified as one of its key markets outside Europe. The startup develops “olfactory biocontrol” products that use plant-based aromas to attract, repel or disrupt insect pests, offering a complement to conventional insecticides. Its first commercial product was developed with Syngenta for sugar beet in Europe. In Brazil, Agriodor plans to start with fruit, vegetable and flower crops through local partners, while adapting its technology to local pests, regulations and farming practices. read more

XCMG Prepares Brazil Tractor Launch – Chinese equipment giant XCMG is preparing to sell agricultural tractors in Brazil, expanding beyond its established presence in construction and mining machinery. The company plans to commercialize two lower-horsepower models, with 86 hp and 100 hp, to test demand in the Brazilian market, with first sales expected at the start of the next crop season. XCMG already operates a factory in Pouso Alegre, Minas Gerais, and is gradually localizing production, including a development center focused on adapting equipment to Brazilian conditions. Its main reseller, Grupo Extra, is investing about US$8.9 million to expand its local footprint. read more

Bayer Expands Digital Farming Tools – Bayer used Agrishow to present new digital agriculture tools built around FieldView, agronomic recommendations and sustainability-linked business models. The company’s FieldView Drive 2.0 will be available for the 2026/27 season, with data transfer up to 12 times faster than the current version. Bayer says FieldView now connects 31 million hectares, while its Valora Milho recommendation platform already has more than 650,000 hectares enrolled for the 2026 safrinha (second-crop corn). New integrations with John Deere will allow FieldView prescriptions to be sent wirelessly to machine operation centers, reducing manual steps and errors. read more

Startups Powering Smarter Farm Machines – Brazilian startups are gaining ground in agricultural machinery, drones and equipment, with 115 agtechs now active in the segment, according to Embrapa’s Radar Agtech 2025, up 47.5% from 2022. Brazil now has 2,075 agtechs, the first time the survey has passed 2,000 companies, and “inside the farm” solutions account for 41.1% of the total. Startups such as Velos and GeoIA are helping turn machines into data platforms, using sensors, telemetry, computer vision and algorithms to monitor operations, detect field problems and generate executable files for equipment. read more

Climate Tech

Climate Risk Shifts Planting Calendar – Climate risk has changed planting windows in almost 60% of Brazilian municipalities, according to updated data from the Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning system, known as Zarc. The new database shows changes in 3,285 cities, equal to 58.9% of Brazil’s 5,569 municipalities, based on climate series from 1992 to 2022. Of those, 1,474 cities saw shorter planting windows, mainly in the Southeast and Northeast, while 1,811 gained longer windows, mostly in the North and South. Embrapa says the next step is ZarcNM, which will combine climate risk with soil management quality. read more

Cleaner Machines Debut at Agrishow – Agricultural machinery makers brought more low-carbon equipment to Agrishow this year, with new models powered by ethanol, biomethane and other renewable fuels. Case IH showed advances in ethanol-powered machines, including a two-row sugarcane harvester with more than 600 hours of testing and a Puma 230 tractor that has passed 800 hours in sugarcane operations. Valtra presented a biomethane engine for sugarcane and grain farms, while New Holland’s T6.180 Methane Power can cut regulated pollutant emissions by up to 80% and CO2 emissions by 84% compared with diesel engines. read more

InPlanet Uses Rock Dust for Carbon Removal – InPlanet is scaling an enhanced rock weathering model that applies finely ground basalt to agricultural soils to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and improve soil quality. Founded by Niklas Kluger and Felix Harteneck, the Brazil-Germany climatetech now concentrates 100% of its operations in Brazil, where tropical rainfall, basalt reserves, large-scale agriculture and regulation for remineralizers support adoption. Farmers receive the rock powder without paying for the input, while InPlanet monitors the impact and sells verified carbon credits internationally. The company recently signed a Microsoft agreement to remove more than 28,500 tons of CO2 from 2026 to 2028. read more

FPT Invests in Ethanol and Biomethane Engines – FPT, the Italian engine maker owned by Iveco Group, will invest about US$45 million in Brazil through 2028, more than previously planned under a cycle that began in 2023. The company said the money will support factory improvements, new products, innovation and localization, with a focus on ethanol, biomethane and natural gas engines as alternatives to diesel in agriculture. FPT supplies the ethanol engine being tested by Case IH and says commercialization of ethanol-powered farm machines could begin in 2027. Biomethane engines are more advanced, with New Holland already selling some tractors using FPT technology. read more

Funding & M&A

Agrorobótica Raises US$2M for Soil Carbon – Agrorobótica has raised about US$2 million from VOX Capital, who manage Banco do Brasil’s corporate venture capital fund, to scale its soil analysis and carbon certification technology. Incubated by Embrapa, the startup uses LIBS laser spectroscopy, proprietary sensors and AI software to analyze 27 soil parameters in around 20 seconds, compared with up to 20 days for traditional lab analysis. Its technology already covers more than 1 million hectares and serves clients including Amaggi and Atvos. Agrorobótica says the platform could unlock at least US$178 million in soil carbon credits over two decades. read more

Finep Gets Capital Boost – Brazil’s government has sanctioned a capital increase for Finep, the country’s main public innovation financing agency, with approximately US$620 million from the Treasury using shares in Banco do Nordeste and Banco da Amazônia. The move is designed to expand Finep’s lending capacity for innovation projects across strategic sectors, including semiconductors, energy transition and AI. Finep says demand has accelerated under the Nova Indústria Brasil program, with nearly 3,000 financing requests totaling around US$7.1 billion over the past two years. read more

EY Buys MB Agro Consultancy – EY has signed an agreement to acquire MB Agro, one of Brazil’s best-known agribusiness strategy and market intelligence consultancies. The deal brings Alexandre Mendonça de Barros, José Carlos Hausknecht and the MB Agro team into EY, strengthening its advisory capabilities across market analysis, credit, risk, investment and M&A in the Brazilian agribusiness chain. MB Agro’s subscription reports and sector analysis products will continue to be distributed through EY Brazil, while its active client and project portfolio will also be incorporated. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. read more

Brazil Launches Farm Fleet Credit – Brazil’s government announced a US$1.8 billion Move Agriculture program at Agrishow 2026 to finance tractors, harvesters and farm implements with single-digit interest rates. The resources will be operated by Finep, with participation from Banco do Brasil, cooperatives and private financial institutions. The initiative follows an earlier Move Brasil program for trucks, whose funds were fully absorbed in about 90 days. São Paulo also announced about US$7.1 million in subsidies under Pró-Trator, targeting small producers and covering part of the interest cost on machinery financing. read more

Sicredi Expands Agro Credit Portfolio – Sicredi’s agro credit portfolio reached about US$9.4 billion in the first nine months of the 2025/26 crop year, up 16.5% from the same period last season. Growth was led by dollar-linked credit lines, which rose about 70% to roughly US$710 million, focused on farmers with export-linked revenues. Sicredi says its cooperative model and consultative relationship with members helped expand lending despite high interest rates, tighter credit and rising defaults in the broader market. The institution also handled about 80% of São Paulo’s Pró-Trator disbursements and around US$1.6 billion in BNDES-backed agro credit. read more

Macro & Markets

John Deere Calls for Long-Term Ag Plan – John Deere executive Alfredo Miguel Neto says Brazilian agriculture needs a long-term state plan rather than shifting government programs to address chronic bottlenecks in storage, logistics, credit, insurance and irrigation. He noted that agribusiness represented 25.1% of Brazil’s GDP in 2025, but still faces structural gaps, including storage capacity equal to only 70% of production and heavy dependence on road transport. The debate comes as the machinery sector faces tighter credit, lower commodity prices and weaker sales, with Abimaq revising its 2026 agricultural machinery outlook from 3.4% growth to a 5% decline. read more

High Rates and Politics Dominate Agrishow Agenda – High interest rates and the 2026 election cycle dominated discussions at Agrishow, with machinery companies warning that expensive credit is delaying investment decisions by farmers. Brazil's Agricultural Machinery Association, Abimaq, now projects an 8% drop in agricultural machinery sales in 2026, while first-bimester sales fell 17% from a year earlier. Executives said tight margins, lower dollar-linked revenues and high CDI-linked debt have made financing harder, especially after years of cheap credit. The debate also became political, with presidential pre-candidates using the fair to argue for lower public spending and lower interest rates. read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.

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Digital Dream

Agrishow, Brazil’s largest agricultural machinery fair, took place this week in Ribeirão Preto, about four hours from São Paulo. For one week, more than 200,000 people descend on the city to look at tractors, planters, sprayers, combines, drones, and whatever else promises to make farming a little more productive or a little less painful.

If you have never been, it is hard to describe the scale. There are machines everywhere. Huge machines. Machines that look more like mining equipment than farm tools. For decades, that was the point. Agrishow was where Brazilian agriculture came to show its muscle.

I was there this week for two panels, one on AI in agriculture and another on the evolution of the AgTech ecosystem. Machinery still dominated the landscape. Farmers still need to plant, spray, harvest, haul, store, and sell. No app is going to pull a planter through heavy soil.

The next layer of value is forming around the machine. It is in the software behind it, the data coming off the field, the image from the drone, the weather alert, the price signal, the WhatsApp message from the agronomist, and the ability to turn all of that into a better decision before the window closes.

That is the promise. A farmer should be able to ask a simple question during the day and get a useful answer. Should I spray now or wait? Is this freight quote fair? Should I sell soy today? Is this pest pressure showing up elsewhere? Can I afford to test this biological input? What machine should go where first?

AI makes that kind of tool much easier to imagine and much cheaper to build. The problem is that the tool is only as good as what it knows. On most farms, a lot of what matters still sits outside a clean database. It is in photos, voice notes, field visits, invoices, machine operators’ comments, WhatsApp groups, and the farmer’s own instinct.

That is where the next challenge begins.

Dating Game

In the past, some startups have been guilty of treating farmers like unpaid data-entry employees.

Fill out this form. Upload this file. Tag this field. Enter this activity. Update this dashboard. Log the spray. Record the cost. Connect the machine. Come back next week and do it all again.

That might look fine in a product demo. In the field, it dies quickly. It is also one of the main reasons many AgTech startups struggled to understand why farmers were not engaging, even when the product made sense on paper.

Farmers are already juggling weather, people, machinery, inputs, credit, prices, pests, logistics, and risk. Asking them to feed another system without giving something useful back straight away is a hard sell. Agriculture has enough friction. It does not need software adding homework.

That is why data capture is really a relationship problem.

You do not get the farmer’s information on the first date. You have to earn it.

The exchange has to be simple. The farmer gives something small and natural, like a photo, voice note, WhatsApp question, freight quote, planting update, pest observation, input price, or yield number. In return, he gets something useful quickly: a benchmark, alert, comparison, recommendation, market signal, risk warning, or next-best action.

This give-to-get exchange matters because farmers like comparison. They want to know what is happening over the fence. Am I paying too much for inputs? Is my freight quote high? Are neighbors seeing the same pest pressure? Is my yield on track? Should I sell now or wait? How does my cost structure compare with similar farms?

That was part of the early power of Farmers Business Network in the United States. Farmers shared information because they received benchmarks and transparency back. The comparison created value, and the value encouraged more sharing.

Brazil may be even more suited to this model because farmers already live on WhatsApp. It is the unofficial operating system of the countryside. Prices, photos, invoices, field problems, freight quotes, agronomic doubts, worker updates, and commercial negotiations already flow through it every day.

The best data capture strategy may look less like data capture and more like a useful conversation.

A farmer sends a photo of a leaf disease and receives a likely diagnosis, plus an alert that similar cases are appearing nearby. Another shares a freight quote and learns whether it is above or below the regional range. Another asks whether to sell soybeans today and receives local price intelligence, storage considerations, and cash-flow context.

Every useful response builds trust. Every trusted interaction creates more data.

That is how the farm data layer starts to form. Through value, not forms.

The App Trap

AI has made it easier than ever to build the front end of farm intelligence.

A startup can now create an app, agent, chatbot, dashboard, or recommendation engine much faster and cheaper than before. That is a good thing. It lowers the cost of experimentation and opens the door for more founders to build for agriculture.

It also creates a trap.

Build the app faster than the data relationship underneath it, and the product may look intelligent without being useful. A smart-looking recommendation sitting on incomplete data is still just a guess in a nice interface.

And AI language is everywhere now. Every platform wants to become a copilot. Every dashboard wants to become an agent. Every farm management tool wants to offer recommendations. That may be the right direction, provided the system knows enough about the farm to recommend something practical.

A satellite image can show crop stress, though not always why it happened. A drone can identify weeds, though not whether the sprayer is available. A sensor can measure soil moisture, though not whether the farmer has the labor, cash, or input stock to act. An ERP can show inventory, though not what the agronomist saw in the field yesterday.

A chatbot can sound clever. If it is disconnected from the farm’s real operating context, it is still mostly guessing.

This is the difference between digital decoration and decision infrastructure.

The app is not the intelligence. The agent is not the intelligence. The dashboard is not the intelligence.

The intelligence comes from knowing what is actually happening, connecting it with context, and helping someone act in time.

Join the Dots

The end goal is not a better dashboard. It is an easy-to-use tool that helps the farmer make better decisions throughout the day, across whatever activity matters at that moment.

That decision may be agronomic. Should I spray? Should I irrigate? Should I replant? Is this pest pressure serious or still manageable?

It may be operational. Which machine should go where first? Do I have enough labor? Is the sprayer free? Did the input arrive? Will rain stop the operation?

It may be financial. Should I take credit now? Should I delay a purchase? Can I afford a biological input trial? Does this technology pay back this season, or only over three years?

It may be commercial. Should I sell grain today? Should I store? Is this basis attractive? Is the freight quote too high? Should I buy inputs now or wait?

It may involve machinery, livestock, land, sustainability, insurance, certification, or market access.

One data point rarely makes a farm decision.

A field photo matters. A weather forecast matters. A satellite image matters. A machinery alert matters. A grain price matters. A cash-flow update matters. None of them are enough alone.

The farmer needs a system that can connect agronomy, weather, machinery, labor, finance, logistics, input prices, market signals, risk, and sustainability into one practical decision layer. The more relevant information the system can access, the better it can help the farmer make decisions that are efficient, profitable, and sustainable.

This is where AI becomes powerful. It can connect more variables than any human can hold in their head at once. It can notice patterns, compare scenarios, structure messy information, and suggest next steps.

Agriculture’s challenge is that too many of those variables are still scattered across systems, people, phones, machines, documents, and memory.

AI is very good at connecting dots. Agriculture’s problem is that too many of the dots are still sitting in people’s heads, phones, notebooks, and WhatsApp groups.

The real breakthrough will come when those dots can be captured naturally, connected quickly, and returned to the farmer as useful guidance.

Missing Link

The next phase of farm AI will not be won by the company with the prettiest dashboard or the loudest AI claim. It will be won by whoever solves the link between farmer behavior, low-friction data capture, and useful decisions.

That link has three parts.

First, the farmer must be willing to engage. The interaction has to feel natural. WhatsApp, voice, photos, videos, and simple questions will often beat another app login. The system needs to fit the farmer’s workflow, not force the farmer to fit the system.

Second, the farmer must get value back quickly. A benchmark. A warning. A comparison. A recommendation. A market signal. A better price. A lower risk. The exchange has to be clear. Give information, get insight.

Third, the information has to be connected. A farm is not a spreadsheet with soil attached. It is a living system of biology, machinery, finance, labor, weather, logistics, markets, and instinct. Capturing individual pieces is useful. Connecting them fast enough to change decisions is where the value lives.

Agrishow showed plenty of digital dreams this week. Some will be real. Some will be premature. The test is simple: does the product help the farm understand itself better, and does it turn that understanding into a decision?

The first wave of digital agriculture tried to make farmers use software. The next wave of AI will need to make software understand farmers.

Thanks for reading.

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups in Latin America.

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Summary

In AgriFood Tech news, a new biodetergent developed by Embrapa extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, while Agrishow 2026 highlights the growing use of data, automation and connected machinery in farm management. Solinftec is expanding its robotics platform alongside a multi-agent AI system, and adoption trends show a shift from isolated tools toward integrated operational systems.

In Climate Tech developments, second-crop canola is emerging as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel, with emissions reductions of up to 55% in modeled scenarios. Brazil’s biofuels production is projected to reach 30 billion liters by 2030, driven by corn ethanol, while the government is considering an increase in the ethanol blend to E32. New initiatives are mapping coffee supply chains to meet deforestation rules, and Vale is advancing ethanol-powered shipping.

On the Funding & M&A front, Itaú Ventures is backing Minter’s mobile data center model to monetize curtailed renewable energy. VLI is investing $16 million to expand grain export capacity in Maranhão, increasing both port and internal handling throughput.

In Macro & Markets, Brazil’s crop protection market has returned to nearly $20 billion, supported by higher treated area and demand from soy and corn. Record harvests are shifting the focus toward management and technology use on farms, while the Supreme Court has maintained existing restrictions on foreign ownership of rural land.

Table of Contents

AgriFood Tech

• New biodetergent extends shelf life of fruits and vegetables

• Agrishow 2026 showcases AI, robotics and precision ag innovations

• Solinftec expands robotics and AI agent platform

• Brazil enters the “second wave” of AI in agriculture

• São Paulo accelerates AI adoption across agriculture

Climate Tech

• Second-crop canola shows SAF emissions potential

• Brazil’s biofuels expansion raises new “food vs fuel” questions

• Coffee giants launch global deforestation mapping initiative

• Brazil moves closer to E32 ethanol blend

• Ethanol-powered shipping gains traction with Vale deal

Funding & M&A

• Itaú Ventures backs mobile data center model to monetize curtailment

• VLI invests $16 million to expand grain export capacity in Maranhão

Macro & Markets

• Agro shifts from expansion to efficiency as technology becomes the edge

• Crop protection market rebounds toward $20 billion level

• Brazil maintains restrictions on foreign land ownership

AgriFood Tech

Brazilian researchers develop post-harvest biodetergent – Researchers from UFRJ and Embrapa have developed a non-agrochemical biodetergent designed to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by preventing fungal growth after harvest. In orange tests, 11 out of every 12 treated fruits remained intact after 10 days. The research began from a Petrobras-commissioned oil study in 2009 and later evolved through an Embrapa partnership focused on food conservation. The team is now preparing larger-scale tests using industrial application methods and evaluating the product on other fruits, including strawberry, papaya and guava, as well as grains such as beans and soy. read more

Agrishow spotlights data-driven farm tech – Agrishow 2026 will take place from April 27 to May 1 in Ribeirão Preto, bringing more than 800 brands to a 520,000-square-meter exhibition area, with expected attendance of more than 200,000 visitors. The fair will highlight automation, sensors, precision agriculture, connected machinery, robotics and digital farm management platforms, while visitors will also have access to an AI-powered app to help navigate the event. SAE Brasil research cited by Agrishow says 91% of surveyed producers use GPS, 85% use financial management apps, 76% use satellite imagery and agronomic management apps, 70% use precision agriculture practices and 61% use drones. Featured launches include equipment from Valtra, Massey Ferguson, Fendt, AGTech, PTx, Solinftec and TOTVS. read more

Solinftec expands robotics and AI agent platform – Solinftec will present two new autonomous agricultural robots, the Solix XT and Solix XC, during Agrishow 2026, alongside Alice IA Multiagente, a platform that uses multiple AI agents to turn field data into operational recommendations and actions. The Solix XT is designed for continuous operation through the crop cycle, with autonomy of up to 50 hours and coverage of up to 500 hectares, initially in sugarcane. The Solix XC targets larger-scale operations, with autonomy of up to 70 hours and coverage of up to 1,000 hectares per cycle in soy, corn and cotton. Alice will initially include six agents focused on support, operations, climate, data analysis, fleet availability and spatial projection. read more

Brazilian agribusiness enters AI’s second wave – Brazilian agribusiness is moving from isolated AI use cases toward broader automation of business processes. The shift includes digital contract management, automated purchase orders, document traceability, predictive analytics and natural language tools for compliance, supplier management, certifications and quality control. In export-oriented chains such as soy and beef, AI is being applied to integrate data across contracts, logistics, invoicing, regulatory compliance and commercialization workflows. read more

São Paulo expands AI use across agriculture – Artificial intelligence is being applied across agricultural operations in São Paulo to improve efficiency, reduce post-harvest losses by up to 30% and support decision-making. The state concentrates 845 agtech companies, representing 43.2% of the national total. Initiatives include innovation hubs connecting research institutions, startups and producers, and platforms that integrate climate, soil and financial data to forecast productivity and risk with high accuracy. Public programs are also using AI for geolocation of rural properties and environmental compliance. read more

Climate Tech

Second-crop canola shows SAF emissions potential – A life-cycle assessment by Embrapa and the University of Brasília found that sustainable aviation fuel made from second-crop canola in Brazil could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 55% compared with fossil Jet-A1 kerosene, depending on adoption scenarios. The study modeled the HEFA route, which converts vegetable oils into aviation fuel, and considered emissions from crop production through final fuel use. The result depends heavily on the use of renewable hydrogen in industrial conversion and on fertilizer management during cultivation. Researchers said canola’s use as a second crop in rotation with soy can improve land-use efficiency. read more

Corn ethanol to drive Brazil biofuels growth – Brazil’s biofuels production is projected to reach around 30 billion liters by 2030, with corn ethanol accounting for roughly one-third of the total. The country had 29 corn ethanol plants in operation at the end of 2025, with 16 more under construction, concentrated in Mato Grosso, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. Growth is supported by rising demand for sustainable fuels, including aviation fuel and maritime applications, while co-products such as DDG support animal feed markets. Constraints include biomass supply for energy generation and regulatory uncertainty around its sourcing. read more

Coffee giants launch deforestation mapping initiative – JDE Peet’s, Louis Dreyfus, Sucafina and Neumann Kaffee Gruppe are creating the Coffee Canopy Partnership to map coffee farms and support compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation, which takes effect on December 30. The platform will use satellite data, artificial intelligence and on-site verification to identify coffee production areas and will make the map publicly available. The pilot will cover about 1.2 million square kilometers of coffee-growing areas in East Africa, including Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, with plans to expand to all coffee-growing regions by 2027. read more

Brazil moves closer to E32 ethanol blend – Brazil’s government is expected to review a proposal in early May to raise the anhydrous ethanol blend in gasoline from 30% to 32%. Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said the proposal will be discussed at the next meeting of the National Energy Policy Council. The measure could reduce gasoline import needs by around 500 million liters per month, supporting national self-sufficiency. The initial mandate would last 180 days, with the possibility of extension. read more

Vale orders ethanol-powered transoceanic ships – Vale and Shandong Shipping Corporation signed a 25-year charter agreement for two new second-generation Guaibamax ships powered by ethanol, with delivery expected from 2029. The vessels will be 340 meters long, carry up to 325,000 tons and may reduce carbon emissions by around 90% compared with heavy fuel oil on a well-to-wake basis. The ships will also be able to use methanol and heavy fuel oil, with design options for future conversion to liquefied natural gas or ammonia. read more

Funding & M&A

Itaú Ventures backs mobile data center model to monetize curtailment – Minter installs mobile data centers at renewable energy sites to use electricity that would otherwise be curtailed when the grid cannot absorb supply. The container-based units host up to 200 machines and process data close to generation, reducing transmission losses and improving project economics. The company operates a 20 MW site in Xique-Xique, Bahia, and plans to reach 40 MW by the end of 2026 and 500 MW by 2029. Its Series A round was led by Itaú Ventures and included Grupo Leste, Legend Capital and individual investors. read more

VLI expands grain export capacity in Maranhão – VLI will invest approximately $16 million in its São Luís terminal at the Port of Itaqui to increase grain export capacity by 23%. The terminal handled nearly 5.8 million tons in 2025, including soy and corn from the Matopiba region. The project will raise maritime loading capacity from 3,000 to 3,700 tons per hour and internal grain flow from 1,500 to 2,000 tons per hour, supported by rail logistics. read more

Macro & Markets

Crop protection market returns to $20B level – Brazil’s crop protection market grew 3% in the 2024/25 season to reach approximately $20 billion. The recovery follows a 13% decline in the previous season, driven by lower prices despite increased planted area and treatment intensity. Soy accounted for 51% of the market, followed by corn (16%), sugarcane (8%) and cotton (7%). Treated area reached 2.39 billion hectares, up 13% year on year, with further growth of around 8% expected in 2025/26. read more

Technology use becomes agriculture’s new differentiator – Brazil’s grain harvest reached a record 346.1 million tons in 2025, while projections for 2026 range from 340 million to 344 million tons. With less room for expansion in planted area, productivity gains are increasingly linked to management and technology use within the farm. Tools such as drones, telemetry, artificial intelligence and precision agriculture are widely available, with differentiation driven by how producers interpret data and manage operations. read more

STF maintains restrictions on foreign land ownership – Brazil’s Supreme Court unanimously voted to maintain the existing legal restrictions on the acquisition of rural land by foreigners and Brazilian companies controlled by foreign capital. The ruling does not ban foreign ownership of farmland, and many foreign individuals and companies already own rural land in Brazil, but larger or more sensitive transactions can require prior approval from INCRA and, in some cases, Congress. Current rules also limit foreign ownership by municipality and nationality. The decision rejected an action filed by the Sociedade Rural Brasileira. read more

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading,

KFG

Kieran Finbar Gartlan is an Irish native with over 30 years of experience living and working in Brazil. He is Managing Partner at The Yield Lab Latam, a leading venture capital firm investing in Agrifood and Climate Tech startups across Latin America.