Re-earth

Democratizing access to a regenerative agriculture through satellite data and analysis, turning data in insights so every farmer can have a sustainable data scientist in their pockets.

Until 2050, the planet its expect to achieve 10 billion people, and here we are far from being able to feed the current 8 billion we have got. This population growth must be followed by the growth of food production and distribution systems, but this cant be done randomly, with global warning, deforestation and desertification growing, a sustainable productions is no longer a luxury, but a need. And to end the problem its not enough, a circular economy and regenerative practices are demanded to revert the problematic. To create a more sustainable agriculture a technological footprint will be the innovation and that’s where we act, democratizing part of the technologies needed in this process. Considering only Brazil, where we intend to start operations there are 5 million farmers where 77% of these, are familiar agriculture, the size of their markets can vary a lot, some families can’t even compete with the giant farmers that control the markets, so we will help them to become more competitive and technological. Furthermore, the owners of massive crops need constantly to relay on technology to become more productive using less amount of lands, optimizing the plantation. And we will help them to access the best of data available about their lands so this process becomes easier and assisted. Connecting the soil to satellites, we will be able to read many dangers to the production that escapes the eyes of the farmer like wildfires locations, soil humidity, changes in clime, CHIRSP analysis, soil temperature, early pest control, natural disasters, fertility, desertification risk, and much more, creating security to the farmer, and transforming data into production.

The idea here is that every farmer worldwide can use of our platform to request analysis for their soil and gain access to the data, we will turn the data into insights and promote them on the app so every farmer will have a virtual assistant while they transition to a regenerative agriculture. The analysis from their soil works via satellite, once on the app an analysis is requested we will send it to our partners like the Jiahe Info Company, that will use of satellite imagery combined with a AI that reads the soil and sends back a report on all the soils needs and characteristics required. For example, a farmer can decide to have an analysis on the soil humidity to optimize the irrigation system saving water and the crop. However, what if the farmer doesn’t  have this idea even with the data, that’s why we say we provide a data scientist in their pockets, the very own app will send the insights on how to use the data to become more sustainable and regenerative. We know that are already companies doing such job, but they are no focused on sustainability or providing real help, they only send the data and leave the farmer alone with the numbers, we are changing it. And our big innovative difference it’s our permission from GHGSat to use their satellite that is capable to read how much greenhouse gases a region is releasing. A necessary data as the food system is the second largest releaser of greenhouse gasses, after only energy systems. With this unique technology, we can work even on animal agriculture controlling the levels of methane and including the farmers in the carbon global market. We will also be using the LandSat-8 which data is already made available, especially about Brazil where we can protect amazon rainforest, and help turn small producers competitive and the big ones into sustainable.

The solution servers directly the farmers, and small or big producers worldwide, but the consequences from our solution are going to affect directly in a short and long term everyone, but especially the impoverished that already are the ones expected to be the most affected by the climate crisis, and food and water crisis. Our hope is that creating a regenerative present desertification will be avoided, water reservoirs will be preserved and mostly will be brought back as the native plants roots pulls the water back to the surface, creating land that is more fertile. Like this, more rural families can benefit creating their own agriculture to produce food to consume and sell supplying the city’s with organic food, and dropping the prices of aliments while the big producers can focus in selling to other countries.

I am applying as a solo candidate, my name is Ana Giulia Alvares, I act as the founder, and CEO of Re-earth, and I am the manager of an educational nonprofit called Geduc that works on the favelas of Brazil. There, the idea to create some bigger them me came true, I developed Re-earth for the thrive and shell agritech competition and for that I got in contact with other companies, the Brazilian government, and managed to develop partnerships to a company that stills an idea. I am a 20 years old aerospace engineering student, so I understands how to develop our app, and the technology necessary to read the soil, like the type of satellites, its spectrum and more. I recently got a Santander Scholarship to a business and finance course at Harvard Business Publishing Education, and I intend to put all that knowledge in practice, I studied technics of negotiation and how to start a business, something I always wanted, especially if it is for social entrepreneurship. Before aerospace engineering I studied three semesters of an interdisciplinary bachelor in science and technology where I in my view enough classes of environment and chemistry to develop and deliver this idea to reality and success.

We haven’t done research directly with our potential users because we don’t own a budget that allows us to approach our potential users to develop the solution alongside us, so our studies are based on market research about the users and their needs, tracking their necessities across the internet and combining all the knowledge about agriculture and what they are needing the most to make a health crop. I dedicated a long time to this idea, and every day I have studied more about what indicators we have available on nature to produce at large scale and optimize the production. As we don’t own a budget that allow us to include the user on the designing thinking, one thing we can do is research, so as we need a app, we will use of UX and UI Design and its studies on psychology to create a solution that is accepted and welcomed by the users.

We open the possibility to include farmers on the global carbon market, besides enabling them to detect how much greenhouse gases they are releasing, and we will do so at the same time we connect farmers to their lands through high-level technology for a fair price. The idea is to create a data marketplace, where satellites owners, like companies, universities and research institutions can subscribe themselves to collect the data for the farmers, especially imagery from the land. We will also act as a link of solutions where farmers won’t need a data scientist team, as the app will work like one for them, interpreting the data and releasing insights and ideas on how to become more productive and sustainable at the same time, what open the possibility to small producers to become competitive.  We create a pocket size data scientist that will enable everyone to become a farmer in an easier way and produce their own food, in organic ways that don’t pollute the environment. Besides how we will connect people to high technology solutions on agriculture. Especially to the big producers that demand big amount of lands and have a crucial paper on the regenerative agriculture, but aren’t yet active on these type of practices, we will help them out, and create a movement where we motivate these people to take action, and transition in the best way possible to a sustainable and regenerative agriculture. A transition that needs to be supported as said in the New Forum Report, on EU emissions could be lowered 6% a year if only one-fifth of EU farmers were supported to transition to net zero, boosting soil health and incomes by €2-9 billion. So we realize that money isn’t enough to motivate farmers to transition to a regenerative agriculture, but offering 1:1 tracking and solutions delivering we can turn regenerative agriculture into a reality. Our solutions will cover specific approaches to each landscape and climate, a powerful AI will need to be constructed keeping tracking on the farmers progress as they transition, and we will create a step by step transition so it can be soft and resilient, helping achieve net zero by 2030. One of the current needs of the planet is to find technologies to sequester carbon of the atmosphere, and that is how we innovate again with regenerative agriculture we don’t need giant machines to remove carbon and other greenhouse gasses from our atmosphere, because once regenerative practices are happening a giant mass of carbon can be sequestered and fixated back on the soil. Using nature at our favor, we can expand biodiversity, create drought-resistant soil, feed the planet, improve yields and even reverse climate change. Therefore, we innovate by proving half the planet wrong, where food production can be followed and even enhanced by sustainable practices.

My expected goals for the next year are to develop the app, in a simpler way, as a MVP to start operations worldwide and create a headquarters in Brazil, until we start to grow and enhance the app. The expected impact in a year term it’s to increase regenerative agriculture by starting the transition of many farmers across, and motivate people to start regenerative and sustainable farming to their meet their own needs or to create income around the globe but specially in Brazil where I want to create the main transition in order to protect the most bio-diverse country in the planet, and its native people. I also intend to call attention of other companies and investment sources to build partnerships with companies like the Pespsico and Unilever, because they are the leading companies turning their farming into regenerative agriculture.  

My solution involves Satellite imagery, analysis and data collection, an AI and a mobile app. We will use the satellite Landsat-8 and its terrabrasilis database, I have been discussing the use of data with the Brazilian government, but the imagery of Landsat-8 is already made available I will use the artificial intelligence of Jiahe Info Company to analyze the images and make its detections as example the soil humidity, temperature and many more features necessaries to a healthy, nutritive and productive crop. To track the release of greenhouse gasses (GHG) we will use the services of the out breaking GHGSat, the only satellite able to detect the emission with the precision to determinate the building responsible. About the mobile app, that is our link with the costumer, I imagine a strong UX UI Design able to call the farmers attention and with the algorithm coded in C programing language we have a strong database ready to help farmers transition to a regenerative future.

I cant tell specifically how many people I inteed to serve, it will depend on how much the marketing strategy manages to convert into client. I plan on a strategy that educates the farmers about the benefits of a regenerative agriculture that so they will join the movement and become a costumer through the app. However, as I intend to start operating in Brazil, at the country counts with 5 million farmers, if in the first years I can convert 50 thousand producers I have the expected price to charge for the services.

One of the barriers definitively are the culture of savage capitalism inside the producers of Brazil and in some countries, where they believe that sustainability it’s a communist speech and an excuse to reduce their profit, what I want to prove wrong. But, besides this educational goal to educate the producers on regenerative agriculture and its amazing benefits, the financial barrier it’s the main one, because to begin operations we need the app, and even that our leader its also a coder, it is to much of an algorithm to be done alone. We will need to build a team able to take the idea forward, and once the app is ready that is nothing holding us back to start operating.

I partner with GHGSat, Jiahe Info Company and the Brazilian government. GHGSat will lend us the services of their satellite to track the greenhouse gasses emissions form the agriculture fields, Jiahe Info Company will serve us with their AI able to read satellite imagery and detect features necessary to build a health crop, and with the brazillian government I gained concession to use the data form the terrabrasilis database that cover 73% of all the Brazilian territory and help keep track of agriculture related activities.