Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BIOMAP2SOIL (Biological analysis of soils and advanced data analytics for precision agriculture maps)
Reporting period: 2019-12-01 to 2020-05-31
THE CHALLENGE
According to the forecasts, in 2050 the world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion, an increase of approximately 25% from the current figure. In order to feed this larger, more urban, and more demanding population, food production should double by 2050. Over the past decades, the total agriculture land used for food production has experienced a decline. As such, the gap between demand and supply of food is becoming more significant and alarming with the passage of time. To respond to these demands with a range of issues, farmers need new technology-based methods to produce more from less land and with fewer hands. Precision agriculture is already playing a key role to reduce loss and overhead while adding more predictability, and profit, to the agricultural works. However, the growth of precision agriculture is being hampered by the variability of soils: parameters such as soil texture, soil water content, pH or biological properties are fundamental for understanding the determining factors of a soil with respect to the need of irrigation, seeds, fertilizers or pesticides. Current sampling and analysis techniques to characterize soils are inefficient, as they require large number of samples in order to characterize accurately the characteristics of soils.
BIOMAP2SOIL:
With BIOMAP2SOIL, Greenfield Technologies will deploy a new soil sampling and analysis method, obtaining physical, chemical and biological parameters to produce soil maps; and transforming them into practical recommendations for irrigation and crops management (most adequate crops, fertilizers, seeds, plague control and others), while minimizing the cost of sampling and analysis. The inclusion of biological analysis provides disruptive insights to determine the best environmental-friendly fertilizing solution and pest control strategy.
Greenfield Technologies was born in 2014 with the mission of providing crop valuable information to farmers. This mission is translated into 3 main services: (a) crop monitoring and smart management; (b) soil analysis and mapping; and (3) our own R&D projects to leverage the knowledge and expertise gathered in precision agriculture. Our team for this project counts with the cooperation and technical expertise in biological soil analysis and statistics of our extent network of business partners.
The main objective of this Phase 1 is to carry out a throughout Feasibility Study that assesses the technical, commercial and financial feasibility of our novel solution to be commercialised worldwide.
ercial and financial feasibility of our novel solution to be commercialised worldwide.
According to the forecasts, in 2050 the world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion, an increase of approximately 25% from the current figure. In order to feed this larger, more urban, and more demanding population, food production should double by 2050. Over the past decades, the total agriculture land used for food production has experienced a decline. As such, the gap between demand and supply of food is becoming more significant and alarming with the passage of time. To respond to these demands with a range of issues, farmers need new technology-based methods to produce more from less land and with fewer hands. Precision agriculture is already playing a key role to reduce loss and overhead while adding more predictability, and profit, to the agricultural works. However, the growth of precision agriculture is being hampered by the variability of soils: parameters such as soil texture, soil water content, pH or biological properties are fundamental for understanding the determining factors of a soil with respect to the need of irrigation, seeds, fertilizers or pesticides. Current sampling and analysis techniques to characterize soils are inefficient, as they require large number of samples in order to characterize accurately the characteristics of soils.
BIOMAP2SOIL:
With BIOMAP2SOIL, Greenfield Technologies will deploy a new soil sampling and analysis method, obtaining physical, chemical and biological parameters to produce soil maps; and transforming them into practical recommendations for irrigation and crops management (most adequate crops, fertilizers, seeds, plague control and others), while minimizing the cost of sampling and analysis. The inclusion of biological analysis provides disruptive insights to determine the best environmental-friendly fertilizing solution and pest control strategy.
Greenfield Technologies was born in 2014 with the mission of providing crop valuable information to farmers. This mission is translated into 3 main services: (a) crop monitoring and smart management; (b) soil analysis and mapping; and (3) our own R&D projects to leverage the knowledge and expertise gathered in precision agriculture. Our team for this project counts with the cooperation and technical expertise in biological soil analysis and statistics of our extent network of business partners.
The main objective of this Phase 1 is to carry out a throughout Feasibility Study that assesses the technical, commercial and financial feasibility of our novel solution to be commercialised worldwide.
ercial and financial feasibility of our novel solution to be commercialised worldwide.
Thanks to this SME Instrument Phase 1 and the grant obtained, we have been able to dedicate a valuable time searching for information and data, analysing them, and carrying out an internal reflection on the feasibility of our BIOMAP2SOIL project. From it, we have obtained interesting results that we will apply to the next steps to be taken. In this brief summary, we will review the conclusions for each task:
T.1. Market study update: All the market studies and reports analysed during this task have shown that precision agriculture is becoming an indispensable solution for agriculture to face the key current and future challenges: climate change effects, increase in global population and food needs, scarcity of natural resources and reduction of margins in agriculture. The growth of precision agriculture markets and soil mapping forecasts during the period of launch and penetration of the BIOMAP2SOIL service (2023-2027) are remarkable.
Additionally, within this task, two specific aspects have been specially worked on: the study of the most suitable exploitation scheme and the search for potential distributors, which we have called our “Authorised Providers” in the target geographical markets.
T.2. Freedom to Operate (FtO), IPR and Legal issues: An analysis has been carried out for the Freedom to Operate. Although we have found a growing trend towards innovation in technologies and solutions related to agricultural soil mapping, no current patent means a potential risk, since none includes the major novelty of our service, which is the incorporation of the biological studies. We have also analysed the legal regulations applicable internationally to our services, especially those related to data protection and exploitation.
T.3. Technical Work Plan: Considering this first technical conclusions, we are totally confident in the generation of “bio-maps” of both pathogen and beneficial microorganisms on a determined field, taking as first reference the electrical conductivity parameters and, consecutively, other physic-chemical parameters to enhance our disponible current developed instrument called “MAP2SOIL”. A complete Technical Work Plan has been issued, to face the transition from a TRL6 stage to TRL9. 5 WPs has been drafted, together with a first approach to the budget, which is around 1.49M€ for a 2-year period (2021-2022).
T.4. Business Plan: We have made a comprehensive Business Plan for BIOMAP2SOIL, where we not only address the results and profitability of BIOMAP2SOIL business line by itself, but also its contribution to the overall Greenfield Technologies economic and commercial evolution. We have updated the sales forecasts and the profit and loss preliminary accounts. Finally, for the period 2023-2027 we consider accumulated sales of 65.72M euros and an accumulated profit of 12.49M euros.
T.1. Market study update: All the market studies and reports analysed during this task have shown that precision agriculture is becoming an indispensable solution for agriculture to face the key current and future challenges: climate change effects, increase in global population and food needs, scarcity of natural resources and reduction of margins in agriculture. The growth of precision agriculture markets and soil mapping forecasts during the period of launch and penetration of the BIOMAP2SOIL service (2023-2027) are remarkable.
Additionally, within this task, two specific aspects have been specially worked on: the study of the most suitable exploitation scheme and the search for potential distributors, which we have called our “Authorised Providers” in the target geographical markets.
T.2. Freedom to Operate (FtO), IPR and Legal issues: An analysis has been carried out for the Freedom to Operate. Although we have found a growing trend towards innovation in technologies and solutions related to agricultural soil mapping, no current patent means a potential risk, since none includes the major novelty of our service, which is the incorporation of the biological studies. We have also analysed the legal regulations applicable internationally to our services, especially those related to data protection and exploitation.
T.3. Technical Work Plan: Considering this first technical conclusions, we are totally confident in the generation of “bio-maps” of both pathogen and beneficial microorganisms on a determined field, taking as first reference the electrical conductivity parameters and, consecutively, other physic-chemical parameters to enhance our disponible current developed instrument called “MAP2SOIL”. A complete Technical Work Plan has been issued, to face the transition from a TRL6 stage to TRL9. 5 WPs has been drafted, together with a first approach to the budget, which is around 1.49M€ for a 2-year period (2021-2022).
T.4. Business Plan: We have made a comprehensive Business Plan for BIOMAP2SOIL, where we not only address the results and profitability of BIOMAP2SOIL business line by itself, but also its contribution to the overall Greenfield Technologies economic and commercial evolution. We have updated the sales forecasts and the profit and loss preliminary accounts. Finally, for the period 2023-2027 we consider accumulated sales of 65.72M euros and an accumulated profit of 12.49M euros.
There is a high and increasing number of competitors working on the soil mapping business. However, none of them combine the physic-chemical soil mapping with the biological mapping. While we are looking forward to take advantages by the physic-chemical soil mapping and develop algorithms for efficiently define the biologic soil mapping (principally microorganisms and enzymes). This last is our advantage and key innovation that makes us different and with high potential to successfully penetrate into this competitive market.
In view of these conclusions, we will pursue our idea to complete the final technological development, take BIOMAP2SOIL to market, and scale-up internationally. For funding these activities, two are the main options that we consider (1) to submit a proposal for an EIC Accelerator Instrument, for applying to a blended finance aid, in order to fund the pre-industrialisation, and pre-commercialisation stage. (2) to look for a potential investor that is interested in joining us to support next development stages by taking an equity participation.
In view of these conclusions, we will pursue our idea to complete the final technological development, take BIOMAP2SOIL to market, and scale-up internationally. For funding these activities, two are the main options that we consider (1) to submit a proposal for an EIC Accelerator Instrument, for applying to a blended finance aid, in order to fund the pre-industrialisation, and pre-commercialisation stage. (2) to look for a potential investor that is interested in joining us to support next development stages by taking an equity participation.