GreenSoul and Calflower

GreenSoul reduces mining waste impact in rural areas through educating and certifying small farms through selling an innovative sustainable soil acidity corrector, Calflower.  

The environmental consequences of mining are serious and irreversible for the environment. Even so, little is discussed about the treatment, transformation and reuse of its waste.According to the Brazilian Mineral Yearbook of the National Department of Mineral Production, limestone ore is in second place as the most sold product in Brazil, an estimated 112 million tons. This exploration provides important products for civil construction, but does not provide solutions for the use of its waste. According to the DNPM, the State of Minas Gerais is in first place with 20% of raw limestone consumption in the market. With regard to waste generation, for example, projections indicated that waste production from the limestone mining in 2012 would be around 13.43 million tons, with prospects of reaching 20.35 million tons in 2030. Traditionally, these wastes are disposed of in landfills and often released directly into the environment, without any previous treatment process, causing erosion of slopes, loss of vegetation cover and silting up watercourses (IPEA, 2011.)

Still talking about activities that pose risks to the environment. In Brazil there are a high number of agribusinesses, an agricultural production model based on monoculture, large estates and the extensive use of pesticides, which consumes around 70% of the planet's land and water resources. Despite contributing to Brazil's GDP (the sector represents 23% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), according to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), agribusiness promotes greater concentration of land and income, generates unemployment, employs slave labor, fuels land grabbing, is responsible for the rampant increase in deforestation in the Amazon and the Cerrado, has perverse effects on human health and leaves behind a trail of conflicts and violence (Canuto, 2004). 

Reducing deforestation and the use of chemical inputs in plantations, using water responsibly and valuing family and organic agriculture are measures that respect natural resources and make the practice of sustainable agriculture possible. Speaking of sustainability, in Brazil, despite the fact that most sustainable options are healthier, longer lasting and more environmentally friendly than many conventional alternatives, they lack credibility and popularity. Therefore, demand is low, which translates into a higher price.

The innovative product that uses waste limestone mining. In agriculture, materials of limestone origin can be used for improvements related to soil acidity, the neutralization of exchangeable aluminum, and to supply of calcium and magnesium. 

Our solution is to reuse the residues unused and dispersed in the environment to produce a new soil acidity corrective, called Calflower. 

We also aim to develop an online platform and certification, the GreenSoul. The goal is to provide online education content and sell affordable sustainable products, such as Callflower.  The initiative wants to help small farmers to reduce their costs, find new customers and improve their production through sustainable practices.The iniciative can create a new culture of self-sustainability in partnerships with local government organizations and private companies such as Embrapa and Emater. In addition, this innovative platform seeks to popularize the sale of sustainable affordable products in various niches, starting with our product, Calflower. 

With each purchase, the customer accumulates virtual plants, which will provide discounts on future purchases. Sustainable living is on the rise, but demand has not yet reached a point where its products are considered as eminently profitable as their less earth-friendly equivalents. It is important to note, however, that by purchasing sustainably, you are reducing your environmental impact. Therefore, GreenSoul certification to small farmers will solve all these problems!

Calflower is a new solution to limestone um mining tailings, it will be a soil acidity corrective, with a low-cost product compared to other products in the agricultural market designed for small farmers, being totally strengthening and nutritious for carrying out its application in the soil.

The solution of GreenSoul will contribute to the preservation of our woods, forests and indigenous territories. Encouraging sustainable family farming expands the number of sales of these small farmers who have difficulties due to the strong influence that large landowners exert on the food market. In this way, small farmers encounter difficulties when trying to emerge and promote their work. 

We will also contribute to reducing food and nutritional vulnerability, which is present in the lives of thousands of Brazilians, working to combat hunger, through educating the population with skills to develop  community gardens. Increasing in sales and income of these micro-entrepreneurs, who also have difficulties in publicizing their ecological and sustainable products, will be certified by GreenSoul. The certification will make the small farmers visible to  customers, due to their sales that occur on a small scale, due to the low influence they have in the market for sustainable products. 

 Connecting the  traders and micro-entrepreneurs closer to their potential customers, who have the desire to change their consumption and eating habits, but do not have the financial conditions to sustain this consumption through high prices. 

If we want to see a quick and necessary change in our society, we must start providing conditions that go according to the interests of all those involved, facilitating this adoption of a new lifestyle.

Our team won the “Change The World Like A Girl” award, created by the educational platform Força Meninas. According to the platform, the award is a way of recognizing the efforts of girls who seek to make a difference and change the world.

Our team participated and won third place in the Power4Girls program in the 2022 edition held by the US Embassy in Brazil in partnership with Instituto Glória and CONIF. This is a training program for girls leaders aimed at students from Brazilian federal schools.

In addition, over the past year we have held lectures at our and other schools on sustainability, impacts caused by limestone mining and on our product. Individually, the team members work in various social movements and occupy leadership positions.

Our leader and CEO, Máyra Viana, is very engaged with vegetarian food and she is very concerned about how healthy the food is. She is also president of UMES, a organization of students in our city. In this way,Dafne Vitória, the CMO is also a vegetarian and conducts several studies on how healthy food impacts people's lives, she is deputy representative of UMES too. Moreover, Kathleen, CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer) of the team, has played a key role in being always concerned about communities, has worked on projects about the consequences of poor nutrition on children’s and teenagers' learning. Ellen Júlia, the COO has the experience to lead being a class representative and acting in black and female empowerment projects. Finally, our time is very prepared to deal with the environment questions and also concerned about the impacts of mining in the world. 

The our knowledge office carried out surveys where we identified through a set of questions whether our product would meet the needs that small farmers have, or plant lovers at the time of planting and soil care. The following questions were asked and the following answers were obtained with the residents of betim city: (The transcription of the sentences from the English surveys are just below the images):

First question:

What feeling does the word "mining wastes" project in your conception? 

 The answers are: 

  3,2%-good   96,8%-bad  or  0%-reuse

Second question:

Do you believe that mining has brought drastic consequences to the environment?

The answers are:

 98,4%-yes  1,6%-not  

Third question:

As a farmer or plant caregiver, would you like to have access to a sustainable product, innovative, with good quality, and lower cost compared to others available in the market?

The answers are:

98,3%-yes  1,7%-not  

Fourth question:

Do you agree with sustainable practices such as reusing and recycling based on elements that would otherwise be discarded?

The answers are:

98,4%-yes  1,6%-not  

The our knowledge office carried out another survey to identify whether our target audience on the sustainable platform would use our platform as a facilitating agent for transforming their lives, acquiring increasingly consciously sustainable and healthy habits, where they would have access to products at more affordable prices, in addition we encourage family farming that is less harmful to the environment. The following questions were asked and the answers obtained: 

(The transcription of the sentences from the English surveys are just below the images)

First question:

Do you often use sustainable and organic products?

The answers are:

  22,4%-Yes I do     77,6%-No I don't

Second question:

If don't, why?

The answers are:

78,9% - I can't find it easily in the markets that are located near me 

55,3% - They are more expensive than common products.

7,9% - I have no interest in using it.

Third question:

If you had access to a sales platform that offered only these types of products, with more affordable prices, would you try to exchange the products you already use frequently in your daily life for organic and sustainable products?

The answers are:

98% - Yes, I would try   2% - No, wouldn't try

Fourth question:

In your diet, you consume:

The answers are:

10,2% - More processed products. 

71,4% - Processed products, and horticultural and grain products.

12,2% - More horticultural and grain products. 

 6,1% - More organic horticultural and grain products, supplied by small producers.

Fifth question:

If do you consume more industrialized products, why does this occur?

The answers are:

74,2% - Because they are more practical and quicker to consume on a daily basis.  

41,9% - Because they're cheaper.

19,4% - Because they are cheaper, and I can't afford to buy more fruit and vegetable products.

Sixth question:

If would you have access to an application where there is a network of small farmers for you to have access to buy organic products, would you consume and increase your diet?

The answers are:

93,9% - Yes, I would consume  6,1% - No, wouldn't consume

Seventh question:

If you consumed more processed products because they were more affordable, and you would find an app that showed you about community gardens near you, and gave you advices on how to maintain them, would you use the app, and would you frequent the community gardens near you?

The answers are:

87,8% - Yes, I would use the app and frequent the community gardens near me.     

12,2% - No, I wouldn't use the app and frequent the community gardens near me. 

Through these two surveys, our knowledge office had the opportunity to better understand what needs our population and potential target audience have, in the face of various problems that they do not yet have solutions for, but that our product and platform will solve. And simplify the adoption of increasingly sustainable living habits, given that it is no longer just a trend, but a necessity that our planet has today, of restoration, transformation, and preservation of its ecosystems that are being degraded more and more.

Our solution is innovative because there are many other correctives with the purpose of reducing soil acidity, however Calflower is the only completely sustainable corrective for the soil, since its uses, for its production, the waste of limestone mining up to then unusable and dispersed causing irreversible damage to the environment. Despite being necessary for human development, mining causes several environmental and social problems, such as dust in residential areas, contamination of the water table, erosion of slopes, depredation of fauna and flora, among others. Calflower is an alternative that will lessen these impacts.

The platform is also innovative because the cataloging of small farmers makes it possible for people who want to consume more natural foods to find them, in addition, the platform gives micro-entrepreneurs the opportunity to sell their sustainable products at lower rates than those normally found on other sites, allowing you to get closer to your potential customers. The formation of communities that aim to teach and promote the creation of community gardens contributes to the reduction of food and nutritional vulnerability.

Our impact goals are focused on the change we intend to create for our company, communities, customers and the environment. With these goals yet to be achieved, we are working to promote a safe and healthy world with enough resources for everyone.

-We want to expand the production of Calflower in our region, bringing consequent improvements to the environment since the waste from limestone mining, which most of the time is disposed of incorrectly, causing irreparable damage to the environment, would have a new destination , thus releasing areas occupied by them and reducing the environmental impacts they cause;

-Bring greater financial sustainability to small farmers who would buy Calflower at a very affordable price, resulting in a reduction in the value of their products sold in the future;

-To raise awareness, through our application, that you will use (specify the technology and how it will be applied), what sustainability is and the importance of its application today;

-Sell only sustainable products accessible in the app, starting with Calflower;

-To reach people who are financially needy and who would like to adopt healthier habits through food, encouraging and showing step by step how to create a community garden and its benefits for health and the environment, also warning about the harm of industrialized products present on the day to day. With community gardens, create a culture of self-sustainability. In a low-income neighborhood, a community garden can save enough on groceries to meet other household needs. And in this garden, it would be necessary to use Calflower.

The practice also promotes environmental benefits, such as the increase of pollinating plants that can improve conditions for bees. Plants also lower the overall temperature compared to paved spaces, so these gardens are especially beneficial in urban areas.

The community garden also creates a sense of community among neighbors who are increasingly disconnected from each other. Volunteers working in the garden benefit from exercise and sunlight, as well as stress relief.

-Popularize the consumption of sustainable products, creating demand and reducing their values in the market when compared to non-sustainable ones.

CalFlower is a product that is completely innovative, as it is produced from limestone mining waste. After transforming this waste into a soil acidity fertilizer corrective and applying it, it is extremely enriching for the soil, making it strong and healthy. In order to transform it into a concealer, it is necessary to use laboratory technology, with some equipment and reagents. In addition to the technology present in the product itself, our solution also provides an online platform that has the function of providing important information that will add knowledge to the small farmer. It will also be essential for communities, who will be able to know where to find organic products and understand more about sustainability. The combination of the site with CalFlower will be essential for the consumer to have a wonderful experience of learning and usefulness. 

We intend to serve a network of 100 small farmers, 100 micro-entrepreneurs and 200 platform users, and 10 developers who will join our work team.

We face financial barriers, to  improve  our product such as develop a  sales platform, for investment in Marketing to achieve our main audience and offer our product.  And achieve an independent and appropriate physical space, for the full development of tests and research of our main product. 

We are trying to establish a partnership with Mineradora Lapa Vermelha which is located in Pedro Leopoldo, where we already have some ties and contacts with it. In it, we were able to collect some samples of limestone mining tailings that are discarded by the mining company after limestone extraction, which is widely marketed and sold in the Brazilian national scene, covering several areas from civil construction, pharmaceuticals and many others, generating millions of tons of tailings every year. We have a partnership with the teaching institution, the Federal Institute of Science and Technology of the state of Minas Gerais, to which all team members are linked and where we perform the Calflower execution part.

 In addition to the Força Meninas program, which trains us through mentoring, so that we have a better improvement of our entrepreneurial and strategist skills and capabilities, and which finances, with an amount of US$491.57, so that we can start developing our business.

• Customer segment: Small farmers; people who seek greater sustainability in their lives.

• Value proposition: Acidity corrector and fertilizer for the soil that uses limestone mining tailings; Sustainable; Stimulation of family farming; Incentive to ecological micro-entrepreneurs; Reduction of nutritional vulnerability.

• Sales channels: Social networks; site; post offices.

• Customer relationship: Social networks; speeches.

• Source of income: Investors; sale of corrective for the soil; percentage of third-party sales on our site; monthly fee for third parties that will sell on our website.

• Key resources: Laboratory, equipment and chemical reagents; Internet.

• Key activities: Product development; laboratory analysis; cataloging of small farmers; sales of ecological products; sustainability awareness.

• Key partnerships: Agreement with a limestone mining company to supply tailings.

• Cost structure: Transportation of mining waste to the laboratory; web designer for website creation.

We received a scientific initiation scholarship that is offered by the Institutional Program for Fostering Research Scholarships, which was equivalent to US$137. And we also participated in the program called Força Meninas, which encourages the initiation and development of projects and businesses that have a great social impact, where we were offered a loan of US$491 to be able to start developing our business.

But through our Eco-Sustainable Product Sales Center, we will charge an upfront fee of 10% per product and a fee of $1.97 per month for us to promote these merchants' products. And for small farmers we will charge an 8% fee for every two kilograms of food sold, a fee of US$1.97 per month for us to promote the food of these small farmers.

In addition to looking for partner-investors to start the process of selling our product, which will be able to sustain itself financially with its sales, after increasing our sales scale and network of relationships with our target audience of customers and product developers.