The vineyards in Argentina were passed down to Elizabeth Panella and her brothers after the death of their father in 2015. Panella, who had been working as an accountant for many years, suddenly found herself surrounded by vineyards and wine.
When the epidemic struck, the siblings were just finding their bearings as vintners in Mendoza, South America’s greatest wine-producing area and renowned for its Malbec. Panella likewise turned to technology to assist decrease physical contact in counting buckets of grapes gathered, much as others across the world were turning to remote work and video chats to prevent spreading the illness.
The new AI-powered tools she adopted soon helped revolutionize and democratize agriculture in Argentina and beyond, providing small farmers with access to agronomists, data scientists, and algorithms that improved the efficiency of sowing, watering, fertilizing, and harvesting, allowing them to save money, become more sustainable and competitive, and ultimately increase their income. In an effort to increase food production in the face of a diminishing supply of water and farmland as well as increased obstacles from geopolitical and economic upheaval, governments throughout the globe are taking note of the “agtech” revolution.
Panella explains, “There is a sense of rootedness, and we do not wish to lose tomorrow.” “We have continued with the tradition of my great-grandparents, grandparents, and father, and now we are handling the wine production as best as we can to deliver the farm to our children in the future” — including by embracing new agricultural demands like traceability, which she says is “much easier to carry out with technology.”
The Nature Conservancy estimates that over a quarter of the world’s farmable land and forest cover may be found in Latin America. The World Bank lists Argentina as one of the world’s top food suppliers; the country is known for its wine, cattle, and soybeans, among other agricultural products. This means that the country’s farmers and vintners have a significant impact on international food supplies.
Horacio Balussi, CEO and creator of Agrobit, has described agriculture as “the mother of all industries” and “the essence of life.” Farmers are “very different people” because “putting a seed in the ground and growing food gives people a different vision of the world and their life.”
Balussi, the son of a carpenter in an Argentine corn farming hamlet, founded the technology business Agrobit in 1979 using agricultural software and, in 2019, applied artificial intelligence and machine learning to construct the country’s first intelligent agriculture system.
Agrobit collaborated with Microsoft to develop a flexible, Azure-based platform, and then hurried through certification and market introduction. Microsoft’s Project FarmBeats and Project FarmVibes gave the company a head start in the field by utilizing data collected from sensors, drones, satellites, and connected tractors to feed AI-powered tools and algorithms that process the information and produce actionable insights. Microsoft Azure Data Manager of Agriculture was recently launched by the company as a commercial product based on Project FarmBeats.
Soybeans, corn, and wheat were the first emphasis of Agrobit’s AI-enabled platform; today, the company helps manage 50 different crops farmed on around 7 million acres of land. According to Balussi, the system is always evolving to facilitate a more sustainable type of food production by allowing producers to increase output while decreasing input (including seed, water, and fertilizer). According to Agrobit scientist José Avalis, clients may expect to save up to 30% on operational expenses by following the system’s suggestions.
When it comes to agriculture, Agrobit is aiming to level the playing field, and Avalis is the embodiment of that goal. While Avalis boasts about being “the first technology guy in the family,” he still farms 3,000 acres with his brother to honor their farming heritage.
From the back end (budgets, invoicing, and traceability paperwork) to the fields itself, technology is assisting farmers and agricultural producers of all sizes, from small family farms to giant cooperatives, adds Avalis.
According to Avalis, the Agrobit platform allows farmers to quickly generate detailed plans and budgets that take into account all the unique growing and harvesting requirements for each crop, as well as varying government regulations, market valuations, and currency exchange rates. Based on all of these factors, the algorithm can even recommend an alternative crop that might be more suitable for a certain season. The programs may be used on both online and offline PCs and mobile devices.
When it comes to adopting new technologies, “farmers like technology but are very conservative and need real proof,” Balussi explains.
Juan Martin Millet, 43, is a fourth-generation farmer in the Humid Pampas, the agriculturally-focused, humid, flat center of Argentina. Millet’s 8,600-acre farm is located in a fertile area around the size of the U.S. state of Iowa, where he keeps breeding cows and crops wheat, corn, soybeans, and sorghum.
Millet adds, “I’m always trying to adapt and innovate,” but he has learned the hard way that even modest shifts may have a significant impact.
Four years ago, Millet made a modest investment in the ACA Mi Campo platform. The Agricultural Cooperative Association (ACA) is a group of 50,000 independent farmers working together to improve crop yields and efficiency via the use of modern agricultural technologies.
Initially, Millet used ACA Mi Campo’s row-by-row geoinformation analysis of his fields to adjust the seed density as he sowed, and then he compared the results with those from areas where he had employed conventional sowing techniques throughout the season. After using the system and realizing annual savings of about 10% due to reduced seed and fertilizer usage while maintaining previous yields, the farmer says he is “excited to do more” tech-assisted farming and quickly implements ACA Mi Campo’s recommendations for fertilizer application.
Evidence from Millet’s trials with the app persuaded the seasoned farmer to move away from farming “by habit” and toward “doing things more conscientiously, taking into account what each specific environment requires,” he adds. Millet has been in the industry for almost twenty years, but he still finds the platform’s work diary useful for annual reminders and pointers.
Regional farm consultant for ACA Mi Campo Cristian Ottaviani adds, “Access to technology has been democratized,” which has made farming more productive and ecologically friendly. Access to these technologies was prohibitively expensive in terms of both time and money four, five, or six years ago, and thus, their adoption moved at a glacial pace. You can make a complete map in a few short minutes.
Systems like Agrobit’s use sensors, satellites, and algorithms to track the air and soil conditions and make predictions for a field, then notify farmers when it is optimal to plant, water, fertilize, weed, and harvest a given crop. The system tracks plant development and makes recommendations with each satellite overflight. To further aid farmers in increasing quality, efficiency, and cost savings, the machine learning component constantly learns best practices for each region and improves with each season. This allows farmers to maintain tabs on their operations from afar, expanding their land holdings and providing them more time for other endeavors like Panella’s bookkeeping or Avalis’s coding.
Agriculture is the essence of life and the mother of all industries. To put a seed in the ground and grow food gives people a different vision of the world and their life, so farmers are different people, very special.
Such independence is seen as especially appealing by younger farmers, who are more at ease with technology and who often have occupations or interests that prevent them from spending as much time in the fields as their parents did, according to Balussi and others.
Balussi claims that the transition between generations is one of the most significant problems facing farmers in Latin America and the agricultural industry as a whole. “Producers are aging, and there aren’t enough young people entering the industry to replace them,” he laments. But technology is appealing to young people and giving them the tools they need to succeed in agriculture.
The organization of 5,000 small vintners in 29 cooperatives, Fecovita, who together control 22% of Argentina’s wine industry, offered the new technology to 42-year-old Panella.
Juan Garro, an agricultural engineer and agronomist, has served as Fecovita’s technical coordinator for the past decade. The company provides access to a team of 26 agronomists and 60 winemaking experts who work in their own laboratory, as well as a mechanized grape harvesting service and an aerial spraying service using drones.
The lack of access to smart devices or Wi-Fi makes it difficult for the small manufacturers we deal with to take use of the various digital solutions that have emerged, adds Garro. “But during the pandemic, even 70-year-old producers who had never touched a digital tool started connecting through video call platforms”; and now using technology in their vineyards owing to a simple software that helps them take action with only a push of a button.
Instead of waiting for technicians or agronomists to go to their vineyards to identify faults, vintners may now get guidance “practically 24 hours a day,” allowing them to make decisions more quickly, as noted by Garro. In a market where traceability is a competitive advantage due to rising consumer interest in sustainability and eco-friendliness, Fecovita’s digital platform facilitates the submission of paperwork requested by prospective purchasers. The cooperative’s staff also has access to some electronic records for the purpose of monitoring and enhancing wine quality.
“Now we can see everything that was ever done to the Malbec grape that entered Pool No. X and ended up in Bottle No. X,” Garro explains. And if we run into trouble, we can trace our steps back and figure out what went wrong.
Panella’s output increased and expenses decreased once she began collaborating with Fecovita’s IT team, allowing her to better compete with larger winemakers in an area where, according to the government of Mendoza, there are more than 1,200 wineries. Fecovita’s vineyards are monitored by satellite and agronomists remotely confer with her using an app to prevent problems and maintain healthy vines and little weed growth. The software warns her of impending frost, allowing her to take preventative measures in time to save the grapes.
Given Mendoza’s decade-long drought, it’s especially vital that Panella can start pumping water to her vines with a click on the app, no matter where she is. This allows her to conserve water by precisely stopping and starting the pump. Some growers, according to Garro, have reduced their water consumption by 10% thanks to this method and the insights gained from a nutritional analysis of the vines performed by Fecovita agronomists.
“We can see all the inputs and the quantities of everything we use to analyze if we are being optimal with the use of our resources and if we are going in the right direction or not,” explains Panella. According to the system’s designers, “it’s a combination of humans and technology with this system that is guiding us to more efficiency and helping us be more competitive.”
Amit Gaurav, is a 20-year veteran of the information technology industry, serves as Sr. Director of the MENA and APAC for Routeget Technologies Limited. He is responsible for the overall performance of the company’s operations in the entire APAC, MENA, and Indian subcontinent.
In this role, Amit is responsible for the long-term strategic development and execution of the company’s global operations and engineering efforts. Among his key priorities is ensuring the alignment of core business functions, including corporate financials with global supply chain operations and delivering continuous improvement – Lean – across the operations and engineering functions. Other focus areas include establishing and maintaining the policies and initiatives related to Quality, Health, and Safety.
Amit Gaurav has a wealth of experience in business management, new business acquisition, and account management. His success and extensive experience in Enterprise solutions suite and business development management are power-packed.
A family man, proud father of cutie “Aahana” and a through-and-through Barcelona & CSK supporter, Amit enjoys nothing more than kicking back at the weekend to play games with his daughter.
Amit Gaurav, is a 20-year veteran of the information technology industry, serves as Sr. Director of the MENA and APAC for Routeget Technologies Limited. He is responsible for the overall performance of the company’s operations in the entire APAC, MENA, and Indian subcontinent.
In this role, Amit is responsible for the long-term strategic development and execution of the company’s global operations and engineering efforts. Among his key priorities is ensuring the alignment of core business functions, including corporate financials with global supply chain operations and delivering continuous improvement – Lean – across the operations and engineering functions. Other focus areas include establishing and maintaining the policies and initiatives related to Quality, Health, and Safety.
Amit Gaurav has a wealth of experience in business management, new business acquisition, and account management. His success and extensive experience in Enterprise solutions suite and business development management are power-packed.
A family man, proud father of cutie “Aahana” and a through-and-through Barcelona & CSK supporter, Amit enjoys nothing more than kicking back at the weekend to play games with his daughter.
