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I am originally from Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul. In college I studied Computer Science and then I got a master's degree in the same subject. Once I finished my master's degree, I started working on some projects that, in 2003, led me to found Checkplant.
It has evolved significantly thanks to the presence in Brazil of numerous specialized research centers that develop and share new production techniques. Other sectors, such as seeds, chemicals, machinery, etc. have also grown a lot. So in the last twenty years, Brazilian farmers have managed to increase their productivity per hectare thanks to the use of new agronomic techniques, machinery, genetic and biological technologies. All this despite the challenges: unlike what happens in other countries, for example, Brazilian farmers must comply with very strict regulations in forestry, the environment and sustainability in general.
I founded Checkplant in 2003 with another partner, who also specialized in software development. At the time, the challenge was to create software to record activities in the fields and demonstrate that certain good agricultural practices produced better results. Since we were in contact with several agronomy researchers, we started collaborating with them on some research projects. The following year, some winemakers from the northeast of Brazil contacted us because they wanted software to manage their business, a very large and advanced company. So we started developing software for them, although our intention was always to create a product that could serve several farmers at the same time. That's how we developed our software Caderno de Field, which we still provide today and which covers all phases of fruit production: from planning the number of people needed to carry out all the activities of each week of the year (irrigation, inputs, etc.) up to the harvest. We have also developed a traceability software which is now called Checktracking and which we can configure in base to the needs of each customer.
Between 2010 and 2011, we started working to develop a specific platform for cotton and soybean cultivation, and we called it Farmbox. In 2012, we had already developed a first product and obtained important clients. In the following three years, we reached about 200,000 hectares, which is not a small amount, but considering the size of the farms here in Brazil, it was 15-20 clients. Then there was an important change because, while until then we had kept the company going only with the turnover, in 2015 we looked for investors.
Yes, in March 2016 we got the first funding from an investor and we managed to improve the business processes of implementing the software. It was not easy because providing software seems like a simple task, but here it is very difficult: Brazil is very large and it is as if each region were a European country, with its own peculiarities. There are different needs due to the variety of climates and terrains, for example, there are different ways of speaking and behaving, there are even different time zones. But despite everything, we went from 200,000 hectares in 2016 to almost 2 million in 2019. In the meantime, there was another important change: the first partner with whom I founded Checkplant decided to leave the company in 2018. We continued to develop and improve the product, focusing in particular on Farmbox, and we arrived in 2024 with more than 4 million hectares covered by our platform. However, we knew that the market was constantly evolving and that it was necessary to create synergies to expand our offer. It was then that I came into contact with xFarm Technologies.
Our mission is to bring technology to farmers so that their businesses are more productive and sustainable. It is very important for us to stand alongside our customers, the people who work on farms, to help make their work a little easier and produce more.
Our technology has been specifically developed to work on mobile devices without an Internet connection. Because this is the reality in Brazil: the distances are huge and the territories are very large, and no matter how good the coverage is, I believe it will never be enough. The fact that we have always worked closely with farmers to understand their real needs, together with our ability to combine good design and an excellent user experience, has allowed us to develop a software that is highly appreciated because it is truly useful for agricultural companies. The sales and implementation process is also focused on people. We create a relationship with our customers and their collaborators so that they perceive us as a partner. All this allows us to retain customers and continue to expand the area covered by Farmbox, despite the competition from software developed by large multinationals.
The trust our customers place in us. They see us as quality software developers they can rely on and have high expectations of. The same goes for our employees: they have a lot of trust in us and that makes me proud.
We are active in almost all regions, but I would say we have a greater presence in Mato Grosso, Bahia, Goiás, MatoGrosso do Sul and Tocantins.
There are many types of farmers. The ones we interact with the most are large-scale crops, such as soybeans, cotton, and corn, or are dedicated to fruit growing in the Northeast. The latter have been considering digitalization as a valid tool to solve their problems for a few years now. In general, there is a bit of reluctance at the beginning, but once they adopt the technology, farmers want it to work perfectly in every area, and they are very demanding. This is the challenge for us: our customers are not satisfied with installing a software, a weather station, doing some tasks, and having a map of their farm. No, they want everything to work in every detail.
The climate crisis is causing many changes, for example in rainfall and harvests: one year is good and the next is bad, and sometimes production is affected by weather conditions. At the same time, Brazilian farmers are very aware of the importance of conservation, both because the law requires it and because they themselves consider it crucial. After all, land is fundamental to them.
Digitalization can help prevent problems related to crop losses. Farmers can plan better, structure their operations, anticipate weather changes and reorient themselves to avoid losses and find opportunities to produce more. Another area where digitalization can help is sustainability, because it allows farmers to provide transparency about their good practices to their customers, namely agri-food companies and large buyers. This can generate positive visibility on good agricultural practices and their evolution because, as much as Brazilian farmers comply with the rules and manage to overcome all the challenges, there is always room for improvement. For example, with the possibility of measuring savings in CO2 emissions and, above all, demonstrating it to the market. Over time, being able to demonstrate that positive practices for environmental sustainability are used can also translate into increased earnings.
I believe that xFarm Technologies can help give visibility to the good practices of Brazilian farmers. For example, thanks to the good relationship it has with agri-food companies, whose needs it knows well, and the ability to generate data and information that allow these companies to have a comprehensive vision of their supply chain. This was precisely one of the aspects I was looking for when I met xFarm Technologies. For its part, xFarm Technologies has found in us a partner that has a large number of hectares, a wide distribution and a deep knowledge of how farms work. I believe that our integration is very positive for Brazilian farmers, because they will continue to have a technological partner, now composed of two software companies created specifically to help farmers. They will be able to continue working with this partner to increase digitalization, improve processes and Checks internally within their companies and use some of this information to produce good reports and demonstrate to their customers the good practices they apply.
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