PHOTO: DANIEL AZEVEDO
PHOTO: DANIEL AZEVEDO
PHOTO: DANIEL AZEVEDO
INNOVATION ▶▶▶
When nerds discover the field of agriculture: Agribela
Born in the Redfoot community of Londrina, Brazil, Agribela’s Biodrops boost the efficiency of biological pest control in multiple arable cultures.
T BY DANIEL AZEVEDO
wo different worlds were joined in Londrina, a city of 580,000 in Paraná state, Brazil. On one hand the agricul- tural tradition (it once had the big-
gest area of coffee on the planet) and on the other a vibrant urban youth, motivated and eager to change the world. The first to see the potential was George Hiraiwa, former Agricul- ture Secretary of Paraná. In 2015 he decided to combine isolated efforts from SRP (Paraná Rural Society), private sector, university, re- search centres and specially the ‘nerds’ to cre- ate a robust innovation community. It is known as Redfoot. “I discovered innovation in a different area. As an agricultural engineer, I started to team up innovative developers with farmers. I am just a facilitator, just one of many participants. This is my pleasure. It is really amazing to see how ideas come true to improve the entire produc- tion chain. They are changing the world,” says Mr Hiraiwa. Since 2016, the Redfoot community produced more than 20 ag start-ups that provide solu- tions for several cultures (soy, coffee, sugar cane,
Agribela’s Biodrops can be dispersed quickly over large areas. From tractors, planes or by drones. The paper balls are bio-degradable.
maize, etc.), animal production (even bees) and different links of the entire ag value chain.
Agribela’s Biodrops One of these start-ups is Agribela. They invent- ed a technology that makes biological pest control much easier and effective. It is called a Biodrop – a small ball of recycled paper, spreading parasitoids (natural enemies) against plague insects in large areas of soy, corn, sugar and tomatoes. Previously, biologi- cal control had to use recipients (like plastic glasses) that were positioned manually over plantations, reducing its benefits. That is why many farmers prefer chemical control until now. But Agribela’s Biodrops have started to
George Hiraiwa at a Londrina Ag Tech Hacka- ton. He initiated the Redfoot community.
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Luiz Arruda, one of Agribela’s founding part- ners, shows some Biodrops.
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 24 May 2019
change this. “The idea came up in 2015. One year later we already initiated our start-up. We began with sugar cane, and realised that our solution was useful for other cultures too,” ex- plains Luiz Arruda, Agribela’s founding partner. The process begins by measuring plague in- sect concentrations in the fields. If it is above infestation level, Biodrops are dispersed across plantations by drones, tractors or even air- planes. In this way, producers can cover much larger areas faster and reduce preventive use of chemicals in many cases. To open up new possibilities, Agribela profited from the background of its founders. Mr Arru- da has a Master’s degree in Agricultural Sci- ence and Gabriela Vieira, the other partner, in Entomology. According to Luiz, biological con- trol will grow with support of mechanisation and interaction between macro and micro par- asitoids. In his opinion, this alternative can in some cases completely substitute chemicals (comestible fruits, for example). “Currently, our main culture is cane with 3,300 hectares. But we have clients that produce soy, corn and even tomatoes. Each plague has its own natu- ral enemies. Some of them are already well known. Our goal is to achieve 15,000 hectares of covering until 2021.”
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