Cointelegraph Dimitra – Blockchain has a lot to offer to agriculture, helping the oldest industry reach a new dimension. Everything related to data and transactions can be enhanced with traceability, security, and speed. All of these benefits can transform agriculture and help it scale. With demand for food and products expected to jump 70% by 2050, scaling is more than a necessity.

Decentralized ledger technology (DLT) can be mixed with other tech solutions, including machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, artificial intelligence (AI), satellites, and drone imagery, to augment the benefits.

Therefore, The adoption of block chain can help farmers and other players stream line supply chain processes to increase customer and stake holder trust. With the block chain providing an unmatched level of security for data storage and sharing. Traceability can transform insurance processes, speeding up processes that can take months.

One of the most active agricultural sectors adopting the technology is the coffee industry, the biggest segment in the market for hot drinks, and is expected to reach global revenues of $541 billion by 2025, driven largely by a continued boom in specialty coffees in food service. The largest coffee producers, including Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Colombia, should be interested in the use of block chain to boost revenues. – Cointelegraph Dimitra

How Indonesia’s Solok Radjo Cooperative is using block chain

Indonesia is the fourth largest coffee producer in the world. Coffee plantations cover more than 1 million hectares of the countries territory. With over 90% of the land cultivated by small scale producers.

Solok Radjo, a cooperative of over 3,000 coffee farmers based in West Sumatra. Is using block chain thanks to a partner ship with Dimitra, a global AgTech firm.

Therefore, Dimitra offers a wide range of solutions for the global agriculture industry. With its applications that combine block chain with AI, IoT, satellites, and mobile technology, among others.

Solok Radjo uses Dimitra’s Connected Farmer and Connected Coffee applications. These user friendly solutions help coffee farmers improve the value chain by stream lining data collection and sharing, quality assurance, coffee processing, cupping, and more.

One of the most painful challenges for coffee farmers, especially smaller ones, is to meet certification and other export requirements. Dimitra’s Connected Coffee app helps Solok Radjo implement food safety and growing requirements to be ready for its export markets, including the United States, Australia, and Europe. This increases profitability and benefits thousands of local farmers.

Therefore, Thanks to its partner ship with Dimitra. Solok Radjo is a forward thinking agricultural collective that uses eco friendly farming methods to cultivate their crops. They inspire coffee farmers to maximize the productivity of their lands. The cooperative handles the processing and marketing of the coffee, allowing farmers to reap the benefits. The ecosystem also includes cattle as an integral element that serves multiple purposes: providing protein for humans, diversifying income through sales, and improving soil health through the use of manure on plantations.

Blockchain benefits farmers worldwide – Cointelegraph Dimitra

Therefore, Dimitra offers block chain and tech solutions for different agricultural sectors worldwide. Which empowers small and large scale farmers by improving the supply chain and helping with finance. The application incorporates multiple module components, including:

• My Farm — helps farmers register their businesses and record critical farming operations.
• My Crops — used to track crop inputs and fertilizers. It involves field level sensors and integrated satellite imaging to offer data and AI-based analytics.
• My Livestock — this module tracks the value chain of live stock, including birth, vaccinations, illnesses, sale, export, and logistics.

Additionally, the module Insurance that is also on the roadmap will assist farmers in managing their insurance documents and data, providing protection against drought, floods, and pests.

Dimitra’s ecosystem, which around the Connected Farmer app, is fueled by the native Dimitra Token. The ERC-20 token incentivizes farmers to perform certain actions and is used for financing within the ecosystem.

Therefore, thanks to block chain technology, farmers can increase their profitability by focusing on the quality of their products and their reach. – Cointelegraph Dimitra

Dimitra Perfect Daily Grind – Among the many sustainability issues in global agriculture, deforestation is one of the most prominent – including in coffee production. Experts estimate that large-scale agriculture accounts for around 75% of deforestation around the world, which is one of the leading exacerbators of climate change.

In December 2022, as a direct response to this issue, the European Union (EU) announced a new provisional deal which would seek to minimise and eradicate the import of products linked to deforestation. Effectively, from 2024, this deal means unless traders of certain commodities – including coffee – can certify that their products have come from deforestation-free supply chains, import of these products into the EU will be prohibited.

Naturally, these new EU regulations have major consequences for those working in the export and production of coffee. It’s already difficult to accurately know just how much deforestation is taking place in a supply chain, or if it’s taking place at all. However, industry professionals looking to export to the EU will now have to prove the production of their coffee results in no deforestation following 31 December 2020.

In line with this, more and more coffee professionals are relying on technology and data platforms to map and detect deforestation. Moreover, they also have to prove compliance with these new laws.

WHY IS DEFORESTATION IN COFFEE PRODUCTION AN ISSUE?

First and foremost, we need to define deforestation. Simply put, it is the removal of trees to increase land area for agricultural and commercial purposes. Naturally, this can lead to a number of environmental problems.

There is a significant knowledge gap about deforestation in coffee production. In turn, it’s hard to know just how much takes place in the coffee supply chain. However, what we do know is that deforestation is happening in origin countries. And this includes the top five producers in the world.

According to Global Forest Watch, in 2020 and 2021:

• Brazil lost 6.28 million ha of forest, over 70% of which was because of commodity-driven deforestation
• Vietnam lost 401,000ha of forest, 95% of which was the result of commodity-driven deforestation and changes in the agricultural sector
• Colombia lost 589,000ha of forest, 97% of which was because of commodity-driven deforestation and shifts in the agricultural sector
• Indonesia lost more than 1.8 million ha of forest, 92% of which was from commodity-driven deforestation
• Ethiopia lost 366,000ha of forest, over 90% of which was because of commodity-driven deforestation and shifting agricultural practices

As well as worsening the effects of climate change, there are many reasons why deforestation causes significant harm to the environment.

Alfadrian Syah is the head of the Solok Radjo, an organisation of coffee farmers in Gumanti Hill, Solok in West Sumatra.

“Deforestation can lead to a loss of shelter for animals which help maintain the biodiversity of local ecosystems, such as birds of prey and pollinating insects,” he says. “Additionally, soil erosion can worsen the quality of soil and reduce the availability of water for coffee plants.

“As a result, coffee yields can decrease and quality may also be compromised,” he adds. 

Challenges that smallholder farmers face – Dimitra Perfect Daily Grind

Coffee production isn’t necessarily a driver of deforestation. But evidence suggests that deforestation does take place on coffee farms, as well as in immediate surrounding areas. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that the vast majority of deforestation is directly attributed to large-scale agriculture.

In fact, deforestation on a small scale can actually be sustainable. For example, a smallholder farmer may cut down a few trees to use for firewood or construction. With the intention of replanting the trees at a later date.

“Coffee farmers need to understand the impact of deforestation and make efforts to avoid or minimise deforestation practices,” Alfadrian tells me. “One way to do this is to implement agricultural practices that prioritise environmental preservation and sustainability.”

The new EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) initiative was created as a way to ensure more farmers and companies adhere to stricter standards on deforestation.

Jon Trask is the CEO and founder of Dimitra. The blockchain platform supports smallholder farmers around the world – including in the coffee sector.

He explains that because the EU coffee market is so lucrative. It’s important that producers, millers, exporters, and importers adhere to the new regulations.

“It’s a very, very large market to lose out on if your supply chain is linked to deforestation,” he explains. “However, the economic burden of implementing more sustainable farming is put directly on the producer, who may already make little money.

“We can’t penalise farmers – some of whom live below the poverty line – or prevent them from scaling their business,” Jon adds.

Dimitra Perfect Daily Grind

HOW CAN COFFEE FARMERS AND BUYERS TRACK AND PREVENT DEFORESTATION?

It’s no understatement to say that accurately measuring levels of deforestation is challenging, especially on the ground. Deforestation typically occurs at a slow rate, and can often happen far away from coffee farms.

Moreover, some smallholder producers may need to cut down trees to plant more crops or sell wood for timber. However, with the new EUDR initiative in place, it’s now more vital than ever that coffee farmers, millers, and traders know where and when deforestation is happening – as well as how to reduce it.

As part of a project with the Faculty of Agriculture at Andalas University in West Sumatra, Dimitra is working with farmers at the Solok Radjo coffee project to reverse soil degradation and prevent deforestation. 

By conducting land surveys and monitoring soil and plant health. Researchers found that the topsoil layer on local farms was too thin, while the soil’s pH levels were too high. In turn, this meant certain crops couldn’t be grown on these farms. To add to this, soil erosion from rain and wind was also causing further damage.

“Without action to change the course of deforestation, we will continue to lose vegetation, as well as soil due to continued erosion,” Alfadrian says. 

Jon explains how Dimitra worked with local coffee farmers to reduce deforestation and improve growing conditions.

“We realised that if we changed the pH level of the soil by applying nutrients, we could increase farmers’ yields,” he tells me. “We analysed soil samples and found that we could increase revenue by US $3,000 per hectare by investing in and applying a natural calcium-based fertiliser.” 

Why is using technology to track deforestation important?

Dimitra Perfect Daily Grind – Without using the proper tools, it’s nearly impossible for coffee farmers, millers, importers, and exporters to monitor deforestation rates. In line with this, technology plays a critical role.

“Most farmers we work with don’t have access to these kinds of platforms,” Jon says. “Some farmers may not have used smartphones before, too.”

However, when using dedicated apps which map deforestation, coffee producers can provide a range of information about their farming practices. These include:

• Soil health
• Irrigation and weeding
• Harvesting techniques

Alfadrian explains how receiving more support and formal training has helped local coffee farmers.

“We can understand more about the importance of implementing agricultural best practices, as well as how to mitigate deforestation levels,” he tells me. 

Jon says that Dimitra plans to carry out similar projects with universities in Bolivia, Colombia, and Honduras in the future.

“As we train more coffee farm workers, more and more producers will become competent with our app, and can potentially teach their neighbours,” he adds.

Riganov Wijaya Kusuma is the Manager of the Minang Coffee Association. The institution connects farmers with the government, academics, financial institutions, and non-profits in West Sumatra.

“We hope to implement similar projects in other areas in the province of West Sumatra,” he says. “Serving high-quality specialty coffee starts at farm level.”

ENSURING COMPLIANCE WITH ANTI-DEFORESTATION REGULATIONS

Monitoring and preventing deforestation is essential. However, for producers to sell their coffee in EU markets, they now must be able to prove that no deforestation took place in their supply chain following December 2020.

To provide this information, and therefore ensure compliance with the new EUDR initiative, farmers, millers, and traders need access to secure and reliable data.

“When governing bodies first started to talk about anti-deforestation legislation, there were ways around the rules,” Jon explains. He adds that some farmers who didn’t comply with anti-deforestation regulations would provide photos of other areas of land, or use geo-data which didn’t match the boundaries of their farms.

However, given the strict regulations now imposed by the EU, it’s more important than ever to prove compliance.

Using technology

Jon explains how Dimitra’s app includes a Deforestation Compliance feature. This ensures that every shipment of coffee meets new regulatory demands.

He tells me that the app includes both a risk assessment and a mapping and certificate feature, which uses blockchain technology and its own cryptocurrency (DMTR). Farmers can then map out the boundaries of their farm using satellite imagery. They can also request deforestation reports which compare the latest weekly satellite images to ones from 2020.

Using AI-driven technology and high-resolution satellite image analysis, the app allows supply chain actors to detect deforestation, prove compliance with the EUDR, and reduce the risk of fraudulent activity. This is done by highlighting lost tree cover in red and new tree cover in green.

Another important aspect of complying with new anti-deforestation regulations is providing any required documentation. For example, farmers using Dimitra’s app can provide their certificate to prove compliance.

With the EU’s anti-deforestation regulations set to come into effect in spring 2023, coffee professionals need to be aware of what these new laws mean for them.

Ultimately, technology can better assist producers, millers, and traders to track deforestation across their supply chains. At the same time, there needs to be a bigger focus on how this can be done in a way that best supports producers and their communities. 

Dimitra Perfect Daily Grind

Dimitra Making a difference – Since it’s inception, block chain technology has found diversified and valuable applications to help boost efficiency and incentivize community participation in different areas and industries.

Farming is a sector that can benefit from comprehensive block chain technology solutions. Specifically when it comes to assembling actionable data. And making it work to improve small businesses’ operation across several financial and sustainability metrics.

Dimitra Making a difference

By 2050, it is estimated that 10 billion people will inhabit the earth. And agricultural development will be a powerful mechanism to end extreme poverty, facilitate shared prosperity and feel the overall global population. The global agri-food industry is worth an estimated $8.5 trillion. And urgently needs technological innovation if it aims to achieve such targets.

Farmers across G20 nations have access to technology that helps them create profitable businesses. And provide millions of people with sustainable and good quality food. Such circumstances contrast with emerging countries’ small farmers that struggle to flourish and produce enough food for their families. Such a gap must be reduced and eventually closed if the global target is to accommodate and sustainably feed 10 billion people.

Blockchain in action – Dimitra Making a difference

Blockchain and many other emerging technologies could contribute enormously to farmers worldwide in tackling rising costs of supplies, labor shortages, and consumers’ rising expectations for transparency and sustainability.

Dimitra Incorporated is a global AgTech company and an AgriFi solution provider. Both tools aim to unlock, accelerate, and leverage investments in developing countries, focusing on smallholder inclusiveness and agri-business MSMEs.

Its platform integrates advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchains, satellites, drones and IoT sensors. Providing farmers with actionable data that helps them increase yield, reduce costs, and mitigate risks. Dimitra Making a difference

2022 Blockchain Entrepreneurship Award Winner

Livestock farms are constantly under pressure to ensure their cattle operation is profitable. As one of the leading Agricultural Technology companies in the world. Dimitra and its team of experts understand the nuances and challenges that livestock farmers face daily. Trying to improve the accuracy of their data collection and increase the profitability of their businesses for generations to come. Dimitra American Cattlemen

The company was founded with one solid goal in mind. They believe that every farmer, regardless of economic standing, should benefit from simple, beautiful, and useful technology because when farmers thrive, entire economies thrive. Dimitra is making a significant impact on the livestock management systems that are available today. They are working to continually understand how best to evolve the current systems for producers of all sizes.

Basic App Features

Jon Trask, CEO and founder of Dimitra and his team recognize that one of the most common challenges among cattle producers is maintaining accurate records of their input costs, health records, feed records, performance records, and others. Dimitra Livestock Guru is the all in one platform that empowers livestock farmers to improve their herd’s profitability through accurate record keeping. The cloud based platform allows farmers to optimize costs and production inputs as well as improve genetic and reproductive selection. In addition, the system gives cattle farmers the tools to manage animal health and
veterinary records, optimize performance, farm inventory, scheduling, and resource planning. It also offers a satellite-based Pasture Management tool to analyze pasture health. As a result, Dimitra has cracked the code to increase the value of livestock by streamlining the protein value chain and improving animal life cycle traceability.

Animal Records

Cattle can be registered on the system with various IDs such as barcodes, RFID tags, branding, or
any other unique identifiers. Farmers can group cattle on the farm based on their maturity or gender, such as grouping sires, dams, steers, calves, etc. This grouping helps in operational excellence and enhances report generation. Not only does Dimitra Livestock Guru optimize costs and production inputs, but the program also helps in genetic and reproductive selection by tracking animal performance throughout its lifecycle. By breeding high-performing livestock, farmers can increase the value of dairy and beef cattle. The platform also maintains a record of the cattle’s progeny and pedigree, creating a family tree for
all of their livestock. This family tree lets farmers check the cattle’s history, allowing the farmer to gain a better understanding of their genetic potential and traits of interest. “Having all cattle data compiled in one place with the ability to generate a detailed analysis makes decision-making on the farm quicker
and less risky,” Trask says.

Health Records – Dimitra American Cattlemen

Dimitra Livestock Guru helps farms keep track of every diagnosis, treatment, vaccination, and each aspect related to cattle health. With this information, farmers can intensively monitor sick cows and post treatment recovery, provide better individual cow treatment, and save time and costs. The platform also maintains a drug inventory in real-time to help farmers know which medicines they have on hand and stay proactive with animal healthcare. The system maintains an accurate record of all animal vaccinations. It also enables users to organize and plan upcoming vaccination schedules, manage withdrawal
dates, and prepare information for vaccination certificates. “As more farmers use Dimitra Livestock Guru, more data will be accumulated, providing actionable insights and recommendations. As multiple generations of data are captured, we can help with breeding decisions and provide genetic worth calculations,” Trask says

Cattle Performance

Dimitra Livestock Guru Cloud maintains real-time tracking of animals’ weight gain and milking performance. As a result, farmers can analyze their herd’s daily, weekly, and monthly performance and make informed decisions that affect their bottom line. In addition to production performance, the system tracks changes in size, body condition scores, cardcases data, and behavioral data and monitors animal activities. Regular assessment helps in estimating their breeding values and keeping a record of their behavioral patterns.

Pasture Management – Dimitra American Cattlemen

Another component of the Dimitra Livestock Guru Platform that helps cattle farmers achieve their goals is pasture management. Dimitra uses satellites to measure pasture health, allowing for month over month and year-over-year comparisons. These reports create a feed wedge and evaluate paddocks relative to pasture availability for farmers to optimize their grazing strategy and rotations. Using satellites to monitor pasture health reduces scouting costs and human error and provides measurable time-based analysis. When a farmer can look at their land over time from the past to the present, those valuable insights provide actionable data. For example, The Pasture Management module allows farmers to discover and implement the right grazing strategy for their land. In addition, it helps optimize factors like water consumption and nutrient distribution, ensuring better profitability.

The Blockchain Entrepreneurship Award Recognizes start up companies or technology projects delivering innovative block chain applications, protocols, or platforms that address block chain implementation challenges to business, government, and non profit contexts.

These achievements will be celebrated at the W3B Awards Gala in Toronto on Nov. 8, where the exceptional leaders and innovators driving global Web3 and block chain transformation will be honored.

Take a look at this article in Coin Telegraph to learn more about the awards: https://bit.ly/3gmt5q5

The Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) and MCI Canada are excited to announce the finalists of the 2022 Web3 and Blockchain Transformation Awards. Winners will be known at the W3B Awards Gala on Nov. 8, 2022 in Toronto as part of the W3B World conference.

This year, W3B received a record breaking number of submissions, representing a diverse and international community of block chain researchers, leaders, innovators, builders and service providers. After careful deliberation, the W3B Awards’ judging panel has short listed 35 people in 11 award categories:

Blockchain Frontier Award finalists

• Anjum Khurshid — associate professor, University of Texas at Austin
• Horst Treiblmaier — professor at Modul University Vienna
• Phantom Seokgu Yun — founder and CEO of MetaMUI-Sovereign Wallet

Blockchain Leadership Award finalists

Industry Leadership subcategory

• Pradeep Goel — CEO of Solve.Care
• Ted Katagi — CEO and president of Kenja K.K.
• Roanie Levy — CEO of Prescient Innovations

Ecosystem Leadership subcategory

• Paul Brody — global block chain leader at EY
• Heather Dahl — CEO of Indicio
• Csilla Zsigri — vice president of strategy at BTP

Advocacy and education subcategory

• Suyash Bhatt — senior lecturer and manager of academics and accreditation at the Emirates Institute of Banking and Financial Services
• Dale Chrystie — business fellow and block chain strategist at FedEx
• Sonal Patel — head of operations at ConsenSys Mesh

Blockchain Entrepreneurship Award finalists

Industry Solutions subcategory

• CargoX
• Dimitra
• Paystand
• Patientory Inc.

IT Infrastructure subcategory

• Filecoin Foundation
• Genesis Technologies
• MetaMUI-Sovereign Wallet
• ParallelChain Lab

Blockchain Services Award finalists

System and software services subcategory

• EY Global Blockchain Team
• LACChain
• ServiceNow

Data and security services subcategory

• Chainalysis
• CHAMPtitles
• Hacken

Enterprise Transformation Award finalists

Applications subcategory

• Briya
• Global Rockstar 
• Solve.Care

Ecosystems subcategory

• Teck Resources
• Ubloquity
• Verizon Global Technology Solutions

Blockchain for Good Award finalists

• GuildOne Inc.
• Industria Technology and Rebalance Earth
• MyElth Inc.

These achievements will be celebrated at the W3B Awards Gala in Toronto on Nov. 8, where the exceptional leaders and innovators driving global Web3 and block chain transformation will be honored.  

About the Blockchain Research Institute

The Blockchain Research Institute is an independent, global think tank dedicated to inspiring and preparing private and public sector leaders to drive block chain transformation. Funded by a member community of more than 100 companies, government agencies and technology platforms, the BRI brings together some of the world’s leading people to under take ground breaking research on the strategic implications of block chain technology, producing practical insights to help its members drive digital transformation across industries.

About MCI Canada

MCI is a global engagement and marketing agency that creates human centric touch points that unleash the power of people. Firm believers in the power of building community since 1987, MCI is helping brands, associations and non profit organizations solve their key people challenges through their expertise in live and virtual events, strategic digital communications, and consulting and community solutions. MCI Canada provides live and digital event association services to influence, engage, connect, interact, immerse and educate key target audiences.

Agricultural drones using the Dimitra Connected Farmer App and Dimitra Livestock Guru Platform can provide advanced capabilities and drone data insights for Libyan farmers, Maged Elmontaser, Dimitra Incorporated MENA Regional Director explained to Libya Herald.

Elmontaser will be speaking about the use of the Dimitri App and Platform at the Libya Aviation Forum and Exhibition (6-8 November at the Corinthia hotel, Tripoli).

Data-driven farming helps farmers learn from the past, see problems before they escalate, and forecast a better future, he added.

Dimitra Incorporated leverages emerging advanced technologies to overcome current environmental challenges like climate change while ensuring energy efficiency. To address this demand, IoT-based drone technology is being adopted.

In addition to lowering costs and reducing waste, drones linked to Dimitra’s platform have proven to produce a healthier yield, increase production, and fulfil the economic potential of farms.

Agriculture drones will occupy a global market space of about US$ 4.4 billion by 2024. The compounded annual growth rate in this sector is 30.2 percent.

There are many benefits to using drones on a smallholder farm. For example, farmers can reduce their exposure to chemicals by deploying a drone to complete spraying in a field. In addition, by getting drones to assist with other manual farm work, farmers can pursue other tasks, allowing them to manage their time more efficiently.

Agriculture drones support farming communities that bear the expensive cost of large drones and utilize their usage. It is rapidly used rather than agriculture-specific planes, with precision spraying for optimal results.

Incorporating drones into agriculture is becoming commonplace as an overhead vantage point that can provide incredible insight. Drones add additional data to the platform.

Drones are configured for crop photography, sensor reading, livestock inventory or precision crop spraying to specific areas of fields

How is Dimitra’s offer relevant to the average Libyan farmer?

Libyan smallholder farmers can benefit from higher efficiency in crop inputs, reduced working time, and minimized potential exposure to agrochemicals, compared to the application with backpack sprayers.

Fight against locusts
Drone solutions enable high-speed spraying and precision, reducing the amount of crop inputs and water needed. The Libya farmers allocated in the southern borders could benefit from the use of drones to monitor the unexpected invasion of desert locusts and fight against it.

Does the Dimitra offer apply to both the state sector and the private sector, small and large?

As agriculture drones come in different shapes and sizes, this applies to small and large scales, and could be operated in both private and public sectors. The Libyan Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock could benefit from drone usage in day-to-day practices through the initial engagement with Dimitra Technology, which will run photographic mapping and NDVI and RTK processing across the Libyan properties. This will provide a detailed reference tool loaded to the Dimitra platform, bringing additional insight.

Drones can count trees and track water levels. They are helpful for the early detection of growing issues and surveying crops after weather events or changes. Some drone models can cover as much as 400 hectares of land in one flight. They are equipped with high accuracy technology to stay on track with or without control points.

Is it affordable in a developing, desert state like Libya, where farming is still underdeveloped?

A 6-rotor drone for agriculture pesticide spraying costs between US$ 6,300.00/unit to US$ 30K. The price is somewhat high for smallholder farmers. Still, small business owners could use a drone to generate a new line of business to serve the local farmers for a reasonable price to overcome the high costs and harness drones in daily operations.

“Across the sub[1]Saharan countries, the use of drones is beneficial for both agriculture and non-agriculture practices. In a country as Libya specifically, the common adoption of imagery or footage captured by drones is one key benefit. In additon, drones minimize pesticide exposure for farm workers and tracking transient animals with possible diseases’’, Elmontaser explained.

The Role of Drones in Agriculture

Dimitra drone app and platform to help Libyan farmers become better agriculturalists

October 4th, 11am CST

Dimitra is nominated for the Blockchain Entrepreneurship Award, Industry Solutions subcategory:

CargoX Ltd.
Dimitra Technology
Paystand
Patientory, Inc.

The Block chain Entrepreneurship Award Recognizes start up companies or technology projects delivering innovative block chain applications, protocols, or platforms that address block chain implementation challenges to business, government, and non profit contexts.

W3BAwards #W3B2022

Learn more about the 2022 W3B Awards here https://bit.ly/3ybBbbf

Dimitra Incorporated is a global Agtech company with a mission to help small holder farmers across the world. Dimitra works with governments, government agencies, NGOs, and for profit organizations. The Dimitra platform is built on block chain technology. And incorporates mobile technology, machine learning, IoT devices, satellite and drone imagery, genomics, and advanced farming research. Through our data driven approach, Dimitra helps farmers increase yields, reduces expenses, and mitigates risk. Dimitra believes that every small holder farmer, regardless of economic standing, should benefit from simple, beautiful, and useful technology.

By 2050 we will need to feed 9.7 billion people. In 2021, over 1 billion people go to bed hungry everyday, in the past five years this problem is growing, not reducing. One third of the world’s population are smallholder farmers, operating subsistence level farms. Typically smaller than 5 hectares and struggling to produce enough food to feed their own family.  In G20 nations, farmers have access to technology that helps them operate their farm as a commercial enterprise, greatly exceeding their own family’s needs and allowing them to supply food to hundreds of people.

Subheading – Blockchain Entrepreneurship

Our current farming practices are less than sustainable, agriculture accounts for 70% of the world’s fresh water usage, farms generate a significant amount of pollution.  We have lost 50% of our topsoil in the past 150 years, this is coupled with loss of nutrients and salinity problems with much of the remaining soil. Educating farmers about leading practices is a challenge for governments, creating a means to educate and share best practices is a labor intensive process.. 

Poor storage techniques, losses in transportation and border crossings, waste in the markets and grocery supply chain are all challenges that corporations, governments and farmers are trying to solve. Food security issues exacerbate growing challenges with malnutrition. The cost of healthy diets are unaffordable to over 3 billion people in the world.

Smallholder farmers in many areas of the world struggle to make ends meet. These farmers can play a huge role in solving the world food shortage. Improving food safety and addressing food security issues. Putting simple, beautiful, effective technology in their hands is our core goal. We want to help them improve their productivity with the power of information.

While many government agencies and big corporations talk about the fight to end world hunger. There is one tech firm that is turning those dreams into a stunning reality. Dimitra Incorporated, already with partnerships in 14 countries with cooperatives representing over 20 million farms worldwide, has taken one more step toward revolutionizing agriculture and ending world hunger. Their recent release of the Dimitra Token generated $6.5M in 2021. Serving as a catalyst to accelerate the growth of their groundbreaking Connected Farmer platform.

Released as an ERC-20 based utility token and launched on the Ethereum network. The token offers a simple stake process through the Dimitra website. And because its valuation grows over time, it incentivizes farmer participation. As a result, Dimitra is rapidly accelerating its growth as the global leader in data-driven farming. Creating a system that increases yield, reduces costs, and mitigates risk for smallholder farmers around the world.

Dimitra’s Connected Farmer platform is designed to help small farmers record their farming activities, develop and generate detailed reports, and receive insights that will empower them to make better decisions. By integrating advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, satellite, and drones, the Connected Farmer platform delivers valuable data that leads to successful action steps, improving farming operations across both financial and sustainability metrics.

The Connected Farmer platform is already yielding incredible results in countries around the globe. With the release of the Dimitra Token, the tech firm is poised to reach unprecedented heights in the coming months. Ultimately planning to partner with 100M farms by 2025. Verifiable through Etherscan and the Ethereum blockchain.

About Dimitra

Dimitra has gained a global reputation as a leader in AgTech solutions, partnering with national governments, farmer associations, NGOs, and development banks. By creating “Smart Farming” solutions, they have created actionable steps to enhance food security through sustainable agriculture while driving economic growth and development for local farmers and countries. It is part of their mission to “Think Local, Act Global,”. A policy that brings unprecedented economic prosperity to small and medium-sized farmers. Which in turn spurs growth in local communities, cities, and nations.

By focusing on supporting smallholder farmers with innovative technological solutions. Dimitra is addressing larger, seemingly impossible goals: ending world hunger, creating sustainable farming practices, fighting climate change, and growing national economies around the globe. With smallholder farmers representing nearly 570 million farms in the world and producing over 70% of the world’s produce. This bold step forward for Dimitra promises to have an impact on a global scale.

As they continue to grow their platform. They recently announced a $20M capital commitment by GEM Digital Limited, allowing Dimitra to further develop their platform, increase user-adoption, and expand the utility of the Dimitra Ecosystem.

Ocean Protocol, the Web3 blockchain platform that aims to unlock data services for business innovation and AI, recently launched the second phase of the Data Challenge it started in collaboration with Dimitra. This is an initiative whose goal is to gather data-driven insights, and encourage algorithm building in order to solve problems and challenges in the field of agriculture.

The partners have gathered up a major prize pool consisting of $10,000, where $4,000 will be granted to whoever wins 1st place; $3,000 for 2nd place, $2,000 for the 3rd place, and $1000 will be used as a Community Award.

Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage

What is Ocean x Dimitra Data Challenge about?

In its recent Twitter announcement, Ocean Protocol explained how the whole event is imagined, noting that participants will be presented with a dataset containing the crop yield data for soybeans in the 46 districts of Madhya Pradesh state, India. In addition to that, they will also receive the MODIS satellite data regarding normalized difference vegetation. Evapotranspiration, leaf area, land surface temperature, and rainfall.

The challenge for participants is to study the data, rank various factors that are affecting yields, and then use that knowledge to create a simple model that would be able to predict yields based on the features. Competitors will have to identify and explain the trends in the yield data that have emerged in a 10-year period.

The rewards, as listed earlier, are in OCEAN and DMTR tokens. The deadline for entry submissions is September 30th of this year, at midnight UTC. So there is still around 10 days for participants to join the contest.

The Phase 2 datasets are already live on the Ocean Market. And users can find all the bounty details, as well as the application form itself on the project’s Questbook page. They are expected to perform the graphical methods outlined in the description in order to be considered for the contest.

Users are, however, free to augment the challenge datasets with any open-source real-data dataset that they choose. They will get an incentive in the form of bonus points if they publish the referenced data on Ocean Market.

What is the partners’ goal?

That goal is to combine Ocean’s Web3 data sharing and monetization capabilities with Dimitra’s agricultural software. In doing so, the partners wish to drive the next gen of agricultural solutions by using data and accelerating Web3 adoption.

Right now, the global agriculture industry is seeing great changes. And there is need for data-driven productivity improvements, according to Bruce Pon, the founder of Ocean.

The data challenge will put all the tools in place to build relevant context around farming data. Create models for improving outcomes, and lastly, influence the direction of the agriculture sector for the better.