European cooperative Agrifirm debuts as AgTech Garage’s first international partner

Present in 13 countries, Agrifirm, which also operates in the animal nutrition market, aims to expand its portfolio of sustainable and digital solutions through contact with the hub

Junho 10, 2022

By Marina Salles and Vitor Lima

Agrifirm — an agricultural cooperative based in the Netherlands and with an international network of subsidiaries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, which also globally distributes products and services aimed at cattle, swine and poultry farmers — has partnered with AgTech Garage to invest in its portfolio of sustainable and digital solutions.

José Tomé, CEO of AgTech Garage, explains that this is the first time that the hub starts its interaction directly with a partner's international team. As a rule, corporate partnerships are conducted at the national level first. “Brazil is a pioneer in the practice of open innovation and outside players are waking up to the potential for generating connections that we can offer by maintaining a direct channel with its global interface”, he says. In this sense, this is the first international partner of AgTech Garage, which already has more than 80 partner companies in its network, many of them multinational, based in Europe and the USA.

According to Thomas Bosschem, CFO for Europe, Middle East and Africa at the Royal Agrifirm Group, the cooperative's innovation strategy involves connecting with reference hubs around the world. “We chose to partner with strong regional hubs, such as AgTech Garage, which are the gateway for innovative startups, in this case, in Latin America”, he says.

Like Agrifirm, AgTech Garage sees the need for innovation to be part of a global positioning. “Our vision for the future is to create a genuinely connected global open innovation community. We cannot talk about the ecosystem of Piracicaba, Campinas, Londrina, Saint Louis. It's a single ecosystem. It already exists, it is maturing and the big question is how we connect it all, generate, capture value and foster an even more competitive, inclusive and sustainable agribusiness”, says Tomé.

Currently, 13% of the Agtech Garage startup community is already from outside Brazil. In addition, the hub maintains partnerships with 30 international agencies and is structuring institutional programs with organs such as New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE), which stimulates the international growth of New Zealand companies. In the AgriTech International Acceleration Programme with the government of New Zealand, AgTech Garage provides mentorships for startups in the country, access to the Latin American community of investors and partner companies, and opportunities to connect with the ecosystem through participation in events and visibility in the community. .

Investing in open innovation

Agrifirm's interaction with the innovation ecosystem intensified in 2020, when the cooperative revised its innovation strategy, previously restricted to joint development of solutions or technology licensing from startups. “Today, we also provide commercial and marketing support to our technology partners and we may even decide to provide financial support to startups, through a convertible loan or equity participation”, explains Bosschem.

According to him, the company had already been developing initiatives with startups from different countries with an eye on technologies associated with its area of operation. Founded almost 130 years ago, Agrifirm offers a variety of products and services. In the agricultural area, it has partners to supply: seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. In the animal nutrition area, it offers proprietary products, such as: customized premixes, innovative feed, high-performance concentrates, additives, functional feed ingredients, digital tools, among other services. In Brazil, the company has three industrial units, in Taió (SC), Maripá (PR) and Uberlândia (MG).

The portfolio also includes digital tools and professional advice for the implementation of new technologies, also aiming at sustainability. In this sense, the expectation with AgTech Garage is to find innovative solutions in the area of biological products, regenerative agriculture, fermentation processes and digital tools for agricultors, beef and dairy cattle, swine and poultry farmers.

Agrifirm is also open to interacting with the Academy and rural producers in Brazil through the hub. In the country, the group already has a partnership with Orbia, where it maintains the Royal Club Agrifirm. Through the agribusiness marketplace and loyalty program, the cooperative's customers accumulate points when purchasing animal nutrition items that can be used to redeem other products or services available on the platform.

Agrifirm's vision of open innovation is based on cooperation to go beyond: “For us, partnering with startups is a huge opportunity, as we can strengthen each other with what each one has as a differentiator”. Today, Agrifirm's strengths are in the provision of services to the cooperative members and in the supply of animal nutrition products.

Physically present in 13 countries, the company has more than 3 thousand employees. In 2021, Agrifirm paid approximately 25 million euros to its members in the form of a member dividend to more than 10,000 associated farmers.

In the cooperative, difficulties — such as access to raw materials during the war in Ukraine, for example — are seen as new opportunities, and the way to overcome them, according to Bosschem, involves always innovating. “That's why our innovation agenda is so important, as it will provide solutions today for the challenges that we will also face in the future”, he says.