Blockchain startup ucrop.it raises $ 3.1 million to help farmers prove sustainable practices

Ucrop.it, an Argentina-based agtech company that tracks farmers’ sustainable practices on a blockchain-enabled platform, announced the conclusion of a $ 3.1 million pre-Series A funding round. This agreement was led by Yugen partners in New York and existing investor, Yield Lab LATAM. Closed Loop Partners, who participated in ucrop.it’s The $ 1.1 million seed round last year also joined this round.

New investors supporting the startup include Harris Investment Group, Glocal and several family offices.

Ucrop.it will use funds for regional expansion, build new value chain alliances and platform upgrades.

How it works

Farming is undergoing a major transformation worldwide, with increasing assessment and use of more sustainable practices that support mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Ucrop.it’s platform tracks farmers’ use of more sustainable farming techniques and connects them to downstream buyers interested in sustainably grown products.

The company produces what it calls “crop stories” for farmers, which are blockchain-registered data and information that tracks farmers’ sustainable practices.

“We help farmers and agro-breeders engage in mutual agreements and track specific sustainability protocols to generate verified information to create crop stories, which farmers can use to influence [their] companies, “said Diego Hoter, ucrop.it’s co-founder and CEO AFN.

It starts with farmers registering on ucrop.it’s free platform, which enables them to blockchain register all farm activities. Farmers can use the platform to negotiate with agro-breeders and buyers about their crops. When farmers have an agreement, ucrop.it logs its platform to farmers ‘activities to demonstrate compliance with buyers’ sustainability requirements. These “crop stories” can then be shared with as many buyers as the farmers want.

“We want every farmer to succeed in converting sustainability work into increased profitability,” Hoter said.

Ucrop.it’s platform tracks a number of calculations that buyers are usually interested in: energy use, fertilizer use (to track responsible use of chemicals), crop residue management and carbon intensity in farmers’ crop cycle management process.

Ucrop.it works to help farmers take advantage of sustainability benefits to gain access to credit.

“We run verification schemes, which will help fund growers at lower capital costs,” Hoter explained.

What they say

Ucrop.it, which Hoter founded in 2018 with Marcos Botta and Matías O’Keefe, has on board 20 companies and more than 700 growers. Multinational clients include companies such as Cargill, BASF, Surcos, Valent, Gensus and Don Mario.

The company says it has mapped and tracked one million hectares (2.5 million acres) of sustainable crops in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay this harvest season. It expects to cover five million acres (12.4 million acres) next season, after expanding operations to Brazil and the United States.

The company ggenerates revenue from fees charged to business buyers. Prices are set regionally: US users pay more than their LatAm counterparts.

“We want to be the first platform to enable farmers and businesses to agree on how to differentiate conventional crops from climate-smart-verified crops,” said Hoter.

The latest round of funding signals “more and more global institutional investors wanting to join us in the sustainable transformation of large-scale agriculture, » he added. “It is important to continue to build strategic alliances with key players in the agricultural value chain, which seeks to increase the construction of a more sustainable farming ecosystem.”

“ucrop.it is a company that has built a strong case in adding value by using blockchain to address the differentiation under conventional commodity crops and climate smart in an efficient, decentralized, digital and scalable way,” said Scott Stornetta, partner at Yugen -partners.

Tomás Peña, Partner and CEO of The Yield Lab LATAM, added that ucrop.it is “Team, dedication and energy have positioned them as a groundbreaking company that always raises the standard, and we want to be part of the revolution they are leading.”