Welcome to Sementis - first post

#1 March in LATAM

Holaaaa, Oláaaaa, Helloooo

You are very welcome to our monthly newsletter with a compilation of news, events, publications, job opportunities, and what is happening in the ag, food, and climate tech world in Latin America.

I follow several channels on these topics, but few are focused on Latin America as a whole. And those that are LATAM end up not giving so much prominence to ag, food, and climate tech. So here's my proposal like Sementis.

It's just once in a month, it's different, it's short and direct.

I apologize for my English. If you find errors, it's OpenAI's fault (laughs 🤣🤣🤣). It's a lie, I've been missing my English classes, but I promise to improve (or use an AI for the translations)!

Topics we will cover:

• 🌱 Ag

•  🍇 Food

• 🌤️ Climate

• 💡 General News and highlights

• 👩🏻‍💻 Publications

• 🗓️ Events

• 💼 Job Openings

• 💬 Quote of the Month

• 👀 Before you go…

• Where agtechs looking for capital to grow stumble.

• The Agroindustrial Sector Plan to generate value for unicorns in Argentina in 2023.

• Rural Ventures outlines plans to leverage agtechs in 2023.

• Agtechs have not experienced the same hype as urban startups 

• Tarken agtech encourages female presence in the sector

• Agrotools Brings its Digital Solutions to the North American Market

• Seedz announces merger with seagull in new MA no agro.

• The food industry seeks to achieve carbon neutrality

• Foodtech 500 Ranking indicates a challenging scenario in the food ecosystem.

• Awareness of food loss grows and encourages new business.

• Startup uses Amazonian ingredients to invest in regenerative foods.

• Climate costs could ‘wipe out’ profits for half world’s largest livestock companies, says FAIRR analysis.

• Race against time to rescue Argentina wine grapes

• It is not possible to depend only on forests to reach the zero carbon target.

• In the long term: A partnership between climate tech and riverside communities seeks to keep the forest standing for generations.

General:

• How startups in Latin America are helping to close the gender gap

• Startup entrepreneurs denounce harassment in letter to Abstartups

• Climate agrifoodtech bucks global funding decline as sector brings in $29.6bn in 2022

Highlights:

A chart caught my attention this past month: this one that shows the 10 countries that received more investments in agtechs in Fast Company's article “How to attract capital in the current moment of uncertainty in the financial market”.

See below and find the “error”:

Source: Global AgriFoodtech Investment Report 2023/AgFunder

No country in Latin America is in the top ten. None.

Latin America is responsible for 14% of the world's food production, surpassing North America. Described by UN as "a pillar of world food security", the region is among the regions most affected by climate change and facing serious hunger problems, but is not among the top ten countries that have received the most investment.

The numbers don't add up.

What else do we need to have more deals and investment amount in Latin America?

I honestly don’t know, and you are welcome to give me your opinion.

What I do know is that we have innovation ecosystems that are maturing, startups with incredible solutions, and very resilient entrepreneurs.

And that none of this can survive in the medium or long term without capital, especially in agribusiness. We work with harvests and results take time. It's not like Pokemon Go, which reached 50 million users in 5 days.

And in one side we have growers who want to test solutions with as little investment. On the other hand, you have startups that are burning money every day, with rising costs and high interest rates.

Who pays the bill?

It is necessary to end the global inequality in the investment market so that innovation can truly address the gigantic sustainability challenges we face.

• AgFunder Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2023 (English)

• CEPAL: Climate action in agriculture: the experience of member countries of the Platform for Climate Action in Agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean (Spanish)

• ABAG: Vision of Innovation and competitiveness in the Brazilian agribusiness (Portuguese).

• MIT Technology Review with Cubo Agro: Emerging Technologies in Agribusiness (Portuguese).

• SVG Ventures (English): THRIVE TOP 50 AgTech and FoodTech Reports

🇨🇱 April 20: Global Cherry Summit.

🇧🇷 May 1-5: Web Summit Rio

🇧🇷 May 1-5: Agrishow

🇲🇽 May 17 - 19: AgroTech Mexico

• 🇦🇷 BASF - Innovation Consultant

• 🇦🇷 Notco: Regional Accounting Mr. Analyst

• 🇧🇷 Arable - Office Coordinator

• 🇧🇷 Rumin8 - BR Head of Business Development, South America (remote)

“Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” - Henry Ford

Think about it before closing your Q2 OKR 🤣

🎬 Movie Tip: “Brazil – Development Conflicts”

The movie presents a reflection on the environmental anxieties that affect the new generations and how the agriculture can help to solve. The person in charge for the documentary is Caio Penido, one of the livestock ranchers most involved with the environmental cause that I know and I've already had the opportunity to talk to on Blog da Carne.

🤯 Reflection about the first quarter of 2023: if you've come well this far, trust that you'll be fine in December

That's it, folks! I hope you enjoyed this first edition. If so, I ask you to help me by sharing with friends.

And if you want to share news with me for the next Newsletter, you can send it to me. 🤗

A great start to the quarter for everyone and see you in May!

Oh, and if you visit Agrishow, be sure to come and have a coffee with me (Arable's booth).

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Saludos,

Juh Chini, a dreamer