Dimitra Letter to the Community – Hi everyone, Jon here, CEO of Dimitra.

I am reaching out to you, our community members, to provide an update on some of our current activities. And to thank you for your loyalty and support since our launch on September 22, 2021, on Kucoin.

Over the past two years, the Dimitra team has been building an extensive digital toolset that allows us to evaluate. And rate farm performance, crop management practices, and the potential of the land that the farmer is working on. Beyond analysis, we provide track and trace and regulatory compliance tools to the extended agriculture and food supply chains. This toolset combines artificial intelligence, machine learning, satellite and drone analytics, and IoT devices with critical data stored on the blockchain and captured via an Android mobile interface. All of this data is then analyzed, automatically through our revolutionary technologies, to provide farmers with simple, actionable insights to improve their processes.

This toolset was designed with various stakeholders in the extended ag/food value chain in mind, such as farmers, traders, food processing companies, investment companies, and lenders.

The first — and arguably the most — important component to a farmer is an evaluation of the farmland and its compatibility with growing specific crops successfully. To help the farmer with this we have created the Dimitra Scorecard. We are also now making this web3 scoring system available to banks, lenders. And investment companies to aid them in evaluating their farming investment opportunities.

Dimitra Scorecard

Dimitra Scorecard, provides a primary scorecard to farmers and agricultural financial companies. Allowing all stakeholders to understand both the potential and the risks associated with the land. For example, a farm that does not receive sufficient rainfall must invest in irrigation to supplement water in the dry months.

In addition, the scorecard allows stakeholders to evaluate the level of investment needed to successfully grow their crop, while simultaneously collecting fundamental information to provide data-driven recommendations to farmers, helping them improve their farming operations throughout the year.

Land Suitability Scorecard

Our initial evaluation of each farm formulates a baseline score (excluding any improvements necessary to improve the land). This is done by analyzing details of the soil including pH, texture, organic carbon, and coarse fragments, in addition to slope, temperature ranges (min, average, max), precipitation, and artificial surface. We then calculate the impact of those variables on crop potential.

Farmer knowledge and potential

To ascertain education and experience levels, farmers complete comprehensive surveys. We also evaluate their previous loan performance.

Through our Dimitra Academy we produce educational materials to keep farmers abreast of the latest strategies to successfully grow, manage, and sell their crops. We have tests established to evaluate a farmer’s knowledge delivered in the crop specific materials.

Farming and land performance

Using our Connected Farmer application, we evaluate a farmer’s soil preparation, planting, soil management, irrigation, cropping, harvest, pest management, disease management, storage, and documentation practices to ensure that farms are set up and ready for the best possible success. Where possible, we provide recommendations for farmers to better improve these processes to ensure farmers have the best start possible.

We use IoT sensors such as moisture and nutrient sensors, product quality meters, and drones to assess overall quality on a farm.

Farmers also have access to our crop marketplace to enhance their opportunity to obtain the best possible prices for their produce.

Risk factors

We evaluate environmental trends, weather patterns, market conditions and more to make ongoing recommendations to mitigate risk. A farm’s ability to manage these risk factors can reduce losses and improve quality, essentially for a thriving business.

Financial Industry

The financial sector struggles to evaluate risks at a farm level and bases much of its loan decisions on previous financial success versus the potential of a farm to be successful. Often loans fail because a bank cannot access a strong agronomic analysis to support their decisions, or a farmer does not have sufficient data to make necessary decisions to manage risk.

The Farm Scorecard provides a valuable evaluation tool for financial institutions that are financing or investing in farming or agriculture.

Combining the Dimitra Farm Scorecard, Dimitra Connected Farmer, and Dimitra Marketplace with our export certification, deforestation certification, and carbon credit applications allows lenders to make better decisions when evaluating a farmer for a loan and maximizing the success of their lending portfolio. These tools also can be provided to the farmers taking out loans to maximize the success of the farmer.

Now that we have tested the Dimitra Scorecard, we are selling this toolkit to investors, lenders, and fintechs globally. We have recently signed up our first bank to use our tools with their lending customers. Preferred licensing agreements are provided to institutions paying fees in DMTR.

Application of Scorecards

Farmers in developing nations face many challenges in business, and many struggle to access capital for their farms. Financing the growth of their farm is a critical challenge.

Shifting part of their farm to fruit-bearing trees (where possible) and other high-margin crops is a game changer from a financial perspective, creating generational wealth as trees produce for decades.

Establishing perennial crops and trees can take multiple years, and managing soil nutrients, pests, and diseases can be resource-intensive and costly. Avocado trees, for example, take 3–5 years before they start producing and 8–10 years before they hit peak productivity.

As a result, farmers need to access financing to carry the cost of the initial seedling, fertilizer, planting costs, and annual maintenance. In East Africa that financing is not readily available to small farmers. Dimitra is working towards enabling farmers’ income potential, prospectively leading to improved living standards for them and their families.

Connected Finance

Dimitra is piloting the digitization of farming assets with NFTs. Our trial, which we have been running in Kenya, uniquely tracks each tree within the My Finance module in our Dimitra Connected Farmer App. Farmers enter data about soil and tree health and add photos to show progress. We supplement this data with drone and satellite data feeds to provide recommendations to farmers to maximize potential.

The digitization of these trees allows us to develop connected financing options for small farms.

We are now launching tools to finance trees, provide for maintenance costs, sensors, and the Dimitra Connected Farmer App to farming organizations globally. We will offer three NFT programs:

1. Dimitra NFT Program (November 2023)
2. Dimitra Crop Certificate Loan Program (to be discussed in a future letter)
3. Dimitra Investment Fund Program (to be discussed in a future letter)

Dimitra NFT Program

Our first release in this series of programs, the Dimitra NFT program, will go live on November 15th, 2023.

Digitizing trees, farms, livestock, and other farming assets allows us to support philanthropic opportunities with digital monitoring that will allow us to measure the success of the initiative. Philanthropic organizations globally invest billions in programs to support agriculture and food generation and are seeking options to help measure success and sustainability.

Dimitra is launching a web3 platform that allows organizations to develop a farming project, collect funds from donors, and access the Dimitra Connected Farmer Application and Dimitra Marketplace for their recipients. Donors will receive automated annual reports regarding the program’s successes. Sponsorship is accessible to all, and an individual can sponsor one tree or many. Transaction fees are to be paid in $DMTR with fiat onramps so donors can provide support with a credit card.

In collaboration with one of our latest ecosystem partners in Kenya, One Million Avocados (OMA), we are currently planting 10,000 avocado trees across 100 initial farms. We have also purchased soil sensors for OMA to provide additional data to the Connected Farmer Platform, enhancing this evaluation. The first 1,000 trees will be our pilot to test digitization. And sponsorship interest preceding the development and testing of our fintech tools for digitization of loans and investments. We are working with several projects which are corporately or government sponsored to enable their selling of loan programs. For these initial projects we are working as a consortium with in-country financial institutions, government and regulatory agencies. .

The ultimate goal with One Million Avocados is to plant 1 million trees across East Africa.

We are initially offering the Dimitra NFT Program through the Dimitra portal.

We are selling Series One of the Dimitra NFTs in the following multiples:

NFTs will be released in tranches of 1,000 and 100% of the proceeds of this investment will be provided to the farmer in the following goods and services:

1. Quality seedlings and the required fertilizer to plant them on their farm.
2. Labor to assist the farmer with tree planting.
3. Windbreak trees.
4. Agronomic support from OMA to maximize the chance of success.
5. Dimitra Connected Farmer application to track the tree lifecycle and provide reporting to their supporting NFT holders.
6. Access to the Dimitra Marketplace and additional Sales and Marketing support to secure top rates for the future avocados produced.
7. Track and Trace support to meet regulatory requirements for export, allowing farmers to export their avocados, presenting improved revenue.
8. Annual IoT soil testing and analysis with tree care recommendations.
9. IoT avocado quality testing to demonstrate product quality to buyers.
10. Assistance with applying for carbon credits based on the storage of carbon by the avocado trees and cover crops.
11. Annual education regarding agricultural best practices and automated recommendations from the Connected Farmer Platform.

The extended platform will be developed as a fully automated Web3 platform that provides many digital financial instruments supported by DMTR, enabled digitally by Dimitra’s platforms, and delivered by Ecosystem partners like OMA.

Farmers Provide:

1. Land for the planting of the seedlings.
2. Ongoing care for the tree throughout its life, including ongoing fertilizer, pest and disease management based on recommendations from the Dimitra platform.
3. Quarterly photos of the tree into the Dimitra platform for image analytics and transfer to the sponsor’s portal.
4. Access to the tree so that OMA can monitor its progress and provide recommendations via the notification tool in the Dimitra system.
5. Listing the crop availability on Dimitra Marketplace to enable Dimitra and OMA sales teams to achieve the top possible revenue for avocados.
6. Logging traceability requirements in the Dimitra platform to qualify for export regulations.

Donor Risks:

1. A percentage of trees die before they are productive.
2. Many factors, such as climate, weather, pests, disease, accidental causes, lack of nutrients, lack of water, and other risks, may prevent a tree from producing or achieving its potential revenue.
3. Donors will be able to monitor their tree(s) through the Dimitra portal, seeing the farm and photos of the trees.

Opportunity:

Mature and productive trees produce up to 400 kgs of avocados annually. The global avocado market size was valued at USD 14.85 billion in 2022. And is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.3% from 2023 to 2030. Increasing focus on a healthy lifestyle and a growing number of buyers for healthy food products are impelling market growth. Moreover, increasing awareness about nutritional values, and rising import demand is expected to boost industry growth.

Conclusion

Dimitra believes this program contributes significantly to supporting many SDG goals. Changing the lives of farmers with limited access to capital and technology to plant high-yield, high-ROI trees, which they may not typically invest in due to the time and revenue.

The Dimitra NFT Program opens the door for people across the world to help support marginalized farmers through crypto. Many farmers may lack the basic finances to buy inputs to bring seedlings to maturity. This model removes the burdensome interest rates of traditional markets that put farmers in precarious financial positions. The Dimitra NFT program provides a more sustainable way for farmers to finance their operations and reach their seasonal goals.

Disclaimer

*THIS IS NOT AN OFFER TO BUY OR SELL ANY SECURITY. ALL INVESTMENTS INVOLVE RISK AND MAY RESULT IN PARTIAL OR TOTAL LOSS. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. ANY HISTORICAL RETURNS, EXPECTED RETURNS, OR PROBABILITY PROJECTIONS MAY NOT REFLECT ACTUAL FUTURE PERFORMANCE. PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER THEIR INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES, RISKS, CHARGES, AND EXPENSES AND SHOULD CONSULT WITH A TAX, LEGAL, AND/OR FINANCIAL ADVISER BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION.

Dimitra UNJA – Dimitra Incorporated, a global Agtech company on a mission to make its technology available to farmers globally, is collaborating with the University of JAMBI (UNJA). UNJA is a public university located in Jambi City, Jambi, Indonesia. Together with the district government, they have built a traceability-based beef cattle development initiative with the community of oil palm farmers by utilizing blockchain.

Building resilience by diversifying farms – Dimitra UNJA

Consequently, the rejuvenation of palm oil plantations forces farmers to wait up to 2–3 years for their plantations to become productive again. For smallholder farmers, this means no income during the waiting time. Whereas farmers who own an average of 2 hectares of oil palm plantations can usually earn as little as 3 million rupiah (US$200) per week.

Dimitra’s Indonesia Sales Partner, Ricky Tanudibrata, recalls, “Jayus and Trimanto, two village heads in the oil palm plantation area, have encouraged their villagers to diversify their livelihoods by raising cattle. It becomes an additional source of income apart from the oil palm sector. To maximize their hopes as a beef cattle-producing village, the oil palm growers are fully aware that they need training to build capacity and skills in raising cattle. Jayus and Trimanto understand that raising cattle traditionally will not make much difference.”

Dimitra and UNJA combine their wealth of knowledge and expertise in community cattle farming. Together they are conducting an intensive training program to help farmers increase yield, reduce expenses, and mitigate risk. The program will be curated specifically for cattle farms that are integrated with oil palm plantations. Firstly, Dimitra will be supplying the technology. Secondly, UNJA will be conducting the local operation and research. They will work with two villages in Tanjung Jabung Barat regency, namely Purwodadi and Sungai Muluk villages.

The role of utilizing blockchain-based traceability technology

Equally important, by using blockchain traceability technology. Every stage in the beef cattle supply chain can be recorded accurately and transparently. The data generated through this platform can provide the following detailed information:

• The origin of the cow
• Health Condition
• Nutritional Information
• Breeding Practices
• Rearing Practices

Futhermore, with this information at hand, consumers have greater visibility about the products they are buying, including:

• The environmental sustainability
• Animal welfare
• Social responsibility of the farm

In addition, blockchain traceability technology also allows for faster and more efficient tracking of problems or unexpected events. Events such as disease outbreaks or food safety cases. What’s more, data recorded in real-time through this platform allows a fast and precise response. This minimizes the negative impacts that may occur in the beef cattle supply chain. Not only will working towards sustainable data-based cattle farming improve the welfare of oil palm smallholders, but it is also positive for the environment.

The role of utilizing blockchain-based traceability technology will be focused on the following:

1. Identification (Location mapping, Soil health, Animals, Plants, Owners)
2. Governance (Land, Animals, Cages, Health) and
3. Marketing (Distribution, Price/Time/Location, etc)

Beef production in Indonesia – Dimitra UNJA

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesia’s need for beef in 2022 is 736,000 tons (estimated to be more). Domestic beef production in 2022 is 450,000 tonnes. This means that domestic beef production can only meet around 60% of the total beef demand in Indonesia.

It is estimated that by 2050 in order to feed the world, raising food production by 70% will be the only way to keep up. In addition, Indonesia still imports 40% of its meat (beef and buffalo). Repairing and increasing the people’s cattle supply is something that needs to be done. For the time being, the collaboration between Dimitra and the University of JAMBI is focused on just that, enhancing the cattle industry in Indonesia and supporting diversified farming.

The University of JAMBI’s Deputy Rector and Professor, Rayandra Arsyad, says, “Through the collaboration between the Jambi University and Dimitra Inc, I hope that we can realize the integration of cattle farming with oil palm plantations based on information technology. The opportunity is real. We must be able to materialize it in an effort to improve the quality of life and welfare of smallholder cattle breeders in Jambi province.”

Dimitra PNG – Rumion Limited is a pig farming, feed crops and cattle grazing enterprise located in Papua New Guinea (PNG) with around 3,000 total acres of property and 500 acres of maize. Much like other farms in the area, Rumion Limited faces problems from pests.

The Fall Armyworm (FAW), in particular, presents unique challenges for maize farmers in the area. While they tend to be a manageable pest during the early growth stages, the larvae burrow into the whorl, a tightly wrapped and twisted group of corn leaves, as they mature — creating significant issues for pesticide distribution and effectiveness.

Rumion Limited understands the risks of FAW infestation all too well. Just a few years prior, these dangerous pests destroyed over 50% of their maize harvest.

Dimitra Incorporated is a global Agtech company focused on helping smallholder farmers, much like Rumion Limited, with technology-based solutions that leverage the latest advancements in mobile tech, machine learning, satellite and drone imagery, genomics and advanced farming research.

Alongside local and other technology partners, we worked closely with Rumion Limited to develop next-generation solutions to the FAW problem and methods that are easily adaptable for other farms.

Rumion Limited’s FAW Problem

The FAW is a moth pest noted for its taste for maize and its reputation for crop destruction. The term armyworm actually describes the large-scale infestation of crops, and for farmers across PNG, the FAW is a real nuisance — leading to reduced yields and other potential issues.

The FAW problem is not unique to PNG as it is causing damages in many regions around the world. For example, studies from Eastern Zimbabwe estimate the impact of FAW damage on maize yields at around 11.57%. Across PNG, the FAW finds the suitable tropical environment and fields of maize the perfect place to feast and grow.

Research shows that there is a limited window for effective FAW management.

Controlling FAWs at the sapling stage (10 to 15 days after seeding) is easy. But, after 35 days after seeding (DAS), the larvae enter the whorl of the crop, making it difficult to control as the larvae may not come in contact with the pesticide solution.

This presents a unique challenge for farmers. If FAW is not controlled at an early stage, they often lose the chance to manage the problem effectively.

Understanding Pesticide Use – Dimitra PNG

Understanding when the right time to spray, and the right pesticides to use, means on-the-ground analysis of crops — a task often unavailable for either practical or financial restrictions.

Other issues arise from the practice of manual spraying. Not only does manual spraying pose significant poisoning risks for operators, but spraying tall corn stalks is fairly ineffective as it fails to meet the demands for quick control over the FAW.

In order to cover the large surface area of the plant, farmers need to spray multiple times. This can lead to a few problems:

• Chemical overdose
• Damage to beneficial insects
• Water waste
• Pesticides may not even reach the insect

The challenges presented by the FAW are not unique to PNG but rather a problem wherever the pest calls home. Finding effective solutions that reduce resource use and promote sustainable practices is essential not only for managing FAW infestations but also for supporting Dimitra’s mission of empowering smallholder farmers in the area and globally.

Dimitra’s Solution

The economic threshold level (ETL) is the pest density at which farmers should consider management actions to prevent the population from reaching the economic injury level (EIL), the lowest population that will cause economic damage.

Unfortunately, not every farmer has access to the necessary tools to determine these essential levels of pest infestation — let alone the tools needed to control an infestation.

Dimitra, alongside tech partners like Mast Electrical and Telecommunication, UnCrewed Solutions and local partners Theodist, developed a FAW management system that leverages the power of drone and satellite imagery as well as comprehensive pest control software component that helps Rumion Limited better control and understand FAW infestations on their maize crops.

The innovative system works by pairing data coming from satellite imagery with local drone imagery to discover insights about infestation levels on crops. The imagery drones, in particular, easily assess FAW damage based on stages of symptoms:

• First Stage: small FAW caterpillar sightings. This includes seeing clear or window-like patches on leaves.
• Second Stage: larger FAW caterpillar sightings that usually result in irregular elongated holes. Once they enter the third instar, feeding causes ragged-edged holes.
• Third Stage: extensive leaf damage at this stage, with whorl feeding symptoms and fecal matter presence.
• Fourth Stage: larvae cause damage to the tassel and ear of the corn. Chemical control measures are not advisable at the later stages of corn growth when larvae are hiding inside the ear.

By gathering this data from the drone pilot and the farm, Rumion Limited can discover key insights into the health of crops on the ground and inform pest control practices.

Key Benefits of Drones

The drones themselves provide a few key benefits during the spraying process as well. For one, they can operate at night, when the FAW caterpillars tend to reveal themselves. They also atomize pesticides into micron-level droplets, allowing for even distribution and adhesion of chemicals to the surface of the plants at a higher coverage rate.

Additionally, the strong downdraft from the drone’s propellers assists in reducing liquid drift while increasing pesticide deposition — which is when both sides of the leaves and the central part of crops can be more precisely targeted.

This can increase the FAW’s exposure to chemicals and reduce the amount of pesticides needed, better conserving beneficial insects.

Drone operators work with strict rules. This includes avoiding spray drift to flowering crops, not spraying in the morning or the hottest part of the day and watching the weather to find the right and most effective time to spray.

Of course, drones are only part of the equation. Alongside drones are satellite imagery.

Using Satellite Data – Dimitra PNG

Dimitra uses five types of satellite indices during various stages of the crop season:

• Land surface water index (LSWI) monitors moisture levels.
• Real-edge chlorophyll vegetation index (RECI) monitors nutrient levels.
• Modified soil-adjusted vegetation Index (MSAVI) monitors crop health.
• Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is used during the starting and harvesting months and is most suitable in mid-season months.
• Normalized real edge vegetation index (NDRE) measures crop greenness, detecting the yellowing of leaves during the mid and late-stage of the crop.

With satellite data, we look at the images and can determine what exactly is happening. It’s not that easy to paint the full picture of what’s going wrong with this data alone, though. You need an agronomist on the team and on the ground to get more information. This will allow farmers to understand the problem more holistically and find the right solution faster.

These tech-driven efforts, combined with advanced machine learning and data science methods, gives Rumion Limited the tools and insights they need to better understand their FAW problems in real time and discover effective solutions for control and management.

Data-Driven Results in Precision Agriculture

With these tech-based solutions in hand, Rumion Limited is better able to identify FAW threats early and accurately. Advanced satellite and drone imagery, combined with insights from the ground, paint a comprehensive picture of crop health across the property.

With the software arm of the Dimitra solution, the Connected Farmer App, Rumion Limited can take all this information and plug it into a detailed pesticide module. The application will help farmers on the ground assess the damage based on the symptom stages listed above to determine the correct method of spraying and identify which chemicals are appropriate for that particular stage of FAW infestation and maize growth.

This helps these farmers be more judicial with how they apply pesticides. Instead of continuously pumping pesticides hoping for results, which often presents a significant financial challenge, Rumion Limited can know exactly what and where to spray.

All this allows for better real-time decision-making to take place on the ground, leading to better yields, stronger crops and a healthier environment.

“Partnering with Dimitra will enable the first use of agricultural-specific drones in fighting the FAW infestation in PNG, with the aim to reduce human exposure to chemicals and increase application efficiency.” — David Duran, General Manager, Rumion Limited

Beyond PNG: The Dimitra Mission

Rumion Limited’s FAW problems required a comprehensive approach to tech integration that addressed the unique issues of their farm. While Dimitra’s solution encompasses a use-case-driven approach to this issue, the methods and practices can apply to virtually any agricultural problem.

Part of the issue with understanding the problems on the ground is that what causes damaged crops can vary. From heat damage to nutrient issues, Dimitra’s system can help farmers across the globe better understand the health of their crops and make better management decisions.

Moreover, the data science and machine learning arm of the Rumion Limited project can extend to other farms for other purposes.

While the models trained on maize crops are great at identifying FAW issues, other models can accomplish different goals. For example, drone and satellite imagery of a fruit farm alongside custom ML models can quickly identify the age of plants as well as the number of plants in a given area.

But it’s not just crops; it’s cattle too. These systems can easily do things like determine the weight and traits of cattle through imagery alone.

What Dimitra is developing in PNG for Rumion Limited is a single use-case but proof of concept that this type of Agtech-based system is broadly applicable to all kinds of unique agricultural issues.

To learn more about Dimitra, our mission and our suite of next-generation Agtech tools, like the Connected Farmer, Livestock Guru, Connected Coffee and Deforestation applications, be sure to connect with the team today.

Dimitra SASPRI-IPB – BELIZE CITY, BELIZE — Dimitra Incorporated, a global Agtech company on a mission to make its technology available to farmers globally, is teaming up with SASPRI-IPB, a social enterprise company linked to the Agriculture Institute Bogor (IPB) to promote the development of community-based cattle farming. This collaboration aims to build Indonesian cattle farmers’ raising capabilities and increase their data-based production and efficiency.

Closing the gap between the supply and demand of beef

To date, domestic production can only satisfy about 45% of the demand for beef in Indonesia. Moreover, most smallholder farmers keep breeding stock rather than fattening cattle. Farmers do this as they aim to have animals for extended periods to provide progeny to be sold and a continuum of stock to provide manure for cropping.

Dimitra and SASPRI are working to close the gap between the supply and demand of beef in Indonesia while supporting and empowering its farmers. In short, they plan to do this by implementing a community cattle farming development program based on a data-driven farming model. In addition, SASPRI will make sure its cattle business owners improve the quality of their breeding cattle with certifications through this program.

A breakdown of the technology – Dimitra SASPRI-IPB

After the farmers have gone through the nine months and ten days of training, in collaboration with SASPRI, Dimitra will implement the Connected Farmer livestock module for these trained cattle farmers. Moreover, the Dimitra platform is built on blockchain technology and incorporates mobile technology, machine learning, IoT devices, satellite and drone imagery, genomics, and advanced farming research.

More specifically, farmers will have access to the following functionalities:

• Data acquisition
• Process management
• Data analysis and artificial intelligence
• Report generation
• Operational control center
• Hardware integration like ear tags

“SASPRI believes that by using Dimitra, smallholder farmers can increase the transparency and quality of their products. With traceability, consumers can trace the origins of products. Consumers can also understand the cultivation methods used and appreciate the hard work of breeders. It also helps protect farmers from unfounded accusations against their products,” says Founder and Chairman of SASPRI, Professor Muladno. “Collaboration between the government, universities, the business world, and technology such as Dimitra is very important. It supports the growth and digital transformation of the agriculture, livestock, and plantation sectors. Using the right technology, smallholder farmers can gain the recognition they deserve and continue their role in providing high-quality products that consumers value.”

Using data-driven farming to grow a community – Dimitra SASPRI-IPB

There are a few things that these two organizations will keep in mind during this partnership. Firstly, exploring collaboration patterns in the data-based community cattle breeding program. Secondly, continuously initiating, assisting, monitoring, and evaluating the performance of this program.

The main focus of this program is cattle. However, there are opportunities for other farm animals, such as buffalo, sheep, and goats. Dimitra will add these animals to the program on a case-by-case basis.

Ultimately, SASPRI, in collaboration with Dimitra. Is working to recruit smallholder cattle breeders and improve their capabilities through education and certification. Following that, they plan to consolidate them into a cooperative. The goal is to increase competitiveness and improve the welfare of farmers. In fact, they are inviting local universities and governments to take advantage of their role in mobilizing breeders.

“Fortunately, the presence of technology like that developed by Dimitra is expected to bring positive changes. Through this technology, customers and consumers will now be able to obtain consolidated information on livestock numbers, livestock origin, quality, and health of livestock,” says Founder and Chairman of SASPRI, Professor Muladno. “By utilizing Dimitra’s technology, SASPRI’s efforts to build a collective business that aims to encourage the independence of farmers, ranchers, and area managers can be realized more quickly and more massively. SASPRI believes that this movement can strengthen the livestock sector as a whole through close cooperation and the use of the right technology. Even though it started on a small scale, this collective business has the potential to grow and reach a national scale.”

Overview from Ricky

Dimitra SASPRI-IPB – Dimitra’s Indonesian country partner, Ricky Tanudibrata, says, “SASPRI-IPB and SPR, which is its educational arm, are instrumental in educating livestock entrepreneurs to follow sustainable farming practices, meet market volume and quality needs and, finally, build their welfare.

For this reason, Dimitra is here, providing solutions that are easy to implement and can be followed up by farmers. The interactions between breeders and the Dimitra technology ecosystem recorded on the blockchain will benefit other stakeholders in the beef supply chain. Buyers and consumers know exactly what they buy/eat and enjoy the transparency provided by the system.

Not to mention, this data-driven openness is undeniable. In turn, it will give the independent cattle farming community more opportunities and the confidence to grow. It will increase the availability of beef and improve the beef’s great taste. In addition, the availability of meat from smallholder cattle farms, which is healthier for consumers, will also increase.

So the strategic collaboration between SASPRI-IPB and Dimitra is to build the capacity of smallholder cattle breeders to be able to provide beef from their cattle farms. This beef is raised based on excellent and sustainable animal husbandry practices. It comes from the farms using Dimitra’s Connected Farmer platform. It is healthier for consumers and, at the same time, for our environment.”

Dimitra AgTech Breakthrough – August 18, 2023 — Dimitra has been selected as “Blockchain-based AgTech Solution Of The Year” in the 4th annual AgTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by AgTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global agricultural and food technology markets today.

Dimitra provides technology to farmers worldwide through the use of blockchain. The agricultural application system helps farmers use technology to increase productivity, improve yield, and reduce cost and risk.

Therefore, Dimitra’s blockchain-based, “Connected Farmer” platform integrates satellite, AI, Machine Learning, IoT and more, while providing farmers with actionable data to make intelligent decisions and improve operations. Examples include implementing blockchain technology to automate regulatory and shipping documents, national and international food certification documents. As well as compliance documents, supporting the regulations and governance of the agro industry.

For instance, Dimitra also makes use of blockchain technology for reliable coffee traceability and through the entire supply chain process. The Dimitra system streamlines the whole supply chain, with tracking mechanisms from farm. To buying station and warehouses, through global transactions. The blockchain works to replace manual recordkeeping along the supply chain. Traceability enables downstream quality controls, and the ability to backtrack to upstream origin.

Dimitra has also built a Deforestation Certificate solution for farmers, traders, importers and consumer packaged goods companies. To ensure every shipment is compliant and meets the regulatory requirements of the EU. The solution combines satellite analysis, GPS data, AI, blockchain, and mobile technology, allowing operators to detect deforestation, prove compliance, and reduce the risk of fraud.

Subheading

Such as, Farmers and cooperatives can consolidate the information on their farms with all data written to an enterprise grade blockchain. That provides transparency and takes advantage of blockchain’s security and immutable ledger.

“It all begins with the blockchain. We set out to develop the world’s first international agriculture network built on the blockchain. Thank you to AgTech Breakthrough for offering support to our mission of making advanced agtech available to small and medium-size farmers,” said Jon Trask, founder and CEO of Dimitra. “Agriculture feeds the global supply chain and we want to provide a solution from farm to plate. We will continue to expand on our platform’s capabilities. And deliver more value to farmers and, by extension, their communities, regions, and countries.”

The mission of the annual AgTech Breakthrough Awards program is to conduct the industry’s most comprehensive analysis. And evaluation of agricultural and food technology categories, including Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based agricultural technologies, farm management, indoor farming, food quality, data analytics and many more. This year’s program attracted more than 1,750 nominations from over 15 different countries throughout the world.

“We’re thrilled to recognize Dimitra as ‘Blockchain-based AgTech Solution Of The Year.’ Supply chain automation using blockchain solutions, alone, is groundbreaking. Dimitra’s tech stack, which includes ML, AI, IoT, satellite, and drones, is having a worldwide impact on agriculture development,”. Said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director, AgTech Breakthrough. “Blockchain is crucial to agriculture because it levels the playing field for farmers while also aligning with the regional needs of farming. It allows farmers of all sizes to improve productivity with the power of data.”

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 our platform. Dimitra is being joined by some of the largest names in the AgTech space. They recently announced many new partnerships such as One Million Avocados, and Redmuch, allowing Dimitra to further develop the platform, increase user-adoption, and expand the utility of the Dimitra Ecosystem.

To learn more about the Dimitra Token as well as the Connected Farmer platform, visit www.dimitra.io.

About AgTech Breakthrough

Part of Tech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence and recognition platform for global technology innovation and leadership. The AgTech Breakthrough Awards program is devoted to honoring excellence in agricultural & food technologies, services, companies and products around the world. The AgTech Breakthrough Awards program provides a forum for public recognition around the achievements of AgTech companies and solutions in categories including farm management, indoor farming, IoT and robotics, FoodTech, analytics and more. For more information visit AgTechBreakthrough.com.

Dimitra Redmuch – Dimitra Incorporated, a global agtech company on a mission to make its technology available to farmers globally, is working with REDMUCH, an organization in Honduras that, when translated to English, means “Network of Cocoa Woman Farmer and Chocolatiers of Honduras.” The organization currently consists of around 350 farmers, with the majority of them being female. As a whole, they work together to empower and support women in the agriculture industry.

To start with, Dimitra and REDMUCH are analyzing the cocoa industry needs to see where they can make a difference. In addition, the REDMUCH farmers will be using technologies available on Dimitra’s existing platforms, such as Connected Farmer and Connected Coffee. Based on the findings in this partnership, Dimitra is exploring the development of an official Connected Cocoa platform. The new platform will contain all of the necessary technological tools. These tools help cocoa farmers increase yields, mitigate risks, and reduce costs.

The challenges in the cocoa sector currently surround increasing productivity and international sales. An additional challenge includes the certification of organic and fair trade. This partnership is a proactive approach to tackling these industry challenges.

Women in the agricultural workforce

Currently, women make up approximately 45% of the workforce in agriculture around the world. But with gender pay gaps, local policy limitations, and insufficient access to the latest farming technologies, many women in agriculture today remain underpaid.

It is estimated that food production could increase by 30% if female farmers had equal access as males in this vital workforce. To put it another way, combating some of the challenges women face within the industry is one of the reasons this initiative has come to fruition. By helping women overcome the barriers they face and providing them with the tools needed for self-empowerment, we can make a thriving economy a reality.

REDMUCH is a remarkable network for several reasons. First, it is dedicated to the production and transformation of the cocoa industry. As a result, it contributes to increasing productivity and business potential. Just as important, it is a massive advocate for women. They have created a unique and supportive network for Honduran women. More specifically, enabling women who participate in the different links of the cocoa chain to communicate and exchange experiences.

With this in mind, REDMUCH, with the support of national and international organizations, seeks the organizational, social, and economic empowerment of women cocoa producers and processors. They are seeking this so that their participation in the cocoa value chain in Honduras is active, remarkable, and admirable.

What makes Honduras cocoa so special? – Dimitra Redmuch

The famous Honduran chocolate tastes like a mix of chocolate, cinnamon, and pinol. It is proudly derived from 100% Honduran crops, with cocoa being the primary ingredient. The unique chocolate is double certified, organic, fair trade, and made with high quality cocoa. In fact, Honduras, at the Central American level. Stands out for being the country that occupies second place in cocoa production.

Honduras cocoa doesn’t just provide the base for delicious chocolate, but it also provides a series of ecological benefits. Firstly, since the cocoa bean grows from an evergreen tree, planting more cocoa trees means reducing the impact of deforestation. Moreover, the trees transform carbon dioxide into oxygen, generating a healthy ecosystem and promoting biodiversity.

In addition to the ecological benefits, cocoa also benefits the community of Honduras.

The crop is linked to generating direct employment within the community, benefiting many people in the cocoa growing sector. According to the Honduras National Cocoa Chain Committee, there are more than 5,000 producing families. More than 20,000 jobs generated and more than 7,000 hectares planted in nine departments. Furthermore, in addition to cocoa benefiting the economy, it also has health benefits due to its high nutritional value, aesthetics, and cognitive abilities.

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Calvin Funez from Honduras Conecta, Dimitra’s Honduras Partner, says, “We are thrilled to announce this new stepping stone towards the sustainability of cocoa production in Honduras. I foresee a very fruitful partnership with REDMUCH and look forward to beginning our first project together.”

Ana Jency Dubón Macedo, President of REDMUCH, says, “My expectation is that this new technology will give us a great boost in the traceability management of our cocoa producing farms and the added value that we give to our raw material. The positive impact on the agricultural sector is increasing yields, mitigating risks, reducing costs, etc. This improves the quality of life of our producing families. And the positive environmental impact that having this platform brings. I really feel that this brings us a great opportunity and hope for us as REDMUCH from all the links in the cocoa chain.”

Dimitra Cointelegraph East African Farmers – Small farmers in the developing world may be on the cusp of an agricultural breakthrough. With emerging technologies like satellite imagery, drones and machine learning boosting productivity. It’s becoming more viable than ever to sell their produce in places like Western Europe. 

There’s just one catch: avocado farmers in East Africa or coffee growers in Latin America.

Their harvest bounty can’t come at the expense of denuded forests or through the assistance of child labor.

This is where blockchain technology could play a significant role. 

Generating an immutable record – Dimitra Cointelegraph East African Farmers

“Blockchain creates a great solution with an immutable record, particularly [when] combined with mobile” and other emerging technologies, Jon Trask, CEO of Dimitra — an AgTech firm active in 18 countries, which has worked with government agencies in Brazil, India, Uganda and Nepal — told Cointelegraph.

On July 20, Dimitra and One Million Avocados (OMA) — a sustainability-focused tech group. announced a partnership to help Kenyan avocado farmers boost production and quality through cutting-edge emerging technologies, including blockchain.

Dimitra’s multitech platform, which also includes mobile technology, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things devices. Satellite imaging and genomics, will give small farmers “greater access to solutions to further promote sustainable farming practices. Primarily in pest and disease prevention and data reporting,” according to the press release.

Another key goal of the partnership is to help farmers in East Africa. “overcome traceability issues to ensure maximum value of produce and to align with international regulatory frameworks.”

It’s not just in Kenya or the African continent where this movement. Of agricultural goods from the Global South to the Global North is picking up, either. “We have the same situation in Indonesia, Brazil and a few other Latin American countries,” Trask told Cointelegraph. “When they [farmers] are exporting their produce, they can get more dollars per kilo.”

Heading 4 – Dimitra Cointelegraph East African Farmers

Documentation will be critical for would-be exporters, especially with Europe’s new deforestation regulation, which went into force in June. Though its main obligations won’t apply until yearend 2024. Explained Trask, adding: “When an avocado farmer in Kenya goes to export their produce. They need to create certain documentation to show the origin of the produce. It’s easy to create a fraudulent document.”

Enter blockchain, the traceability tool par excellence. “Blockchain-traced data is immutable and can serve as proof for farmers to get certifications or loans,” researcher SzuTung Chen, who recently completed a master’s thesis on coffee growing in Colombia, told Cointelegraph. “A blockchain company is working with carbon credit companies, for example. So that the farmers that are operating sustainable practices can have recorded data of their farming and get additional income.”

One of the biggest problems facing small farmers is information asymmetry, Chen explained. “Coffee brands and roasters capture the highest margin of the coffee price. Because they are closer to the end customers, and can leverage branding and marketing.”

Farmers, on the other hand, don’t know where their coffee goes after they sell it. The destination of their coffee or any coffee market trends. “which keeps them in a vulnerable situation in the supply chain,” she adds.

What blockchain can potentially do, she continued, is facilitate two-way transparency, so not only do stakeholders at the end of the supply chain know where the coffee comes from, but farmers also know what happens in the downstream supply chain.

More powerful than blockchain alone

Dimitra will use satellite imaging technology to help Kenyan farmers prove they aren’t ravaging woodlands to grow their avocados, but this technology can also be used to enhance productivity. By applying machine learning models to satellite imagery, Dimitra has developed algorithms that can pinpoint where more fertilizer is required or where irrigation needs to be stepped up, for example.

A multitech solution may generate synergies too. As Monica Singer, South African lead and senior strategy at ConsenSys, told Cointelegraph. “When you are able to create an ecosystem using mobile and Internet of Things devices and AI, where relevant. It will be a more powerful solution than the blockchain ledger on its own.”

Is this cross-disciplinary approach the wave of the future? “I believe that blockchain can’t do it on its own,” Trask said. “We need to combine technologies in order to provide the services that the agricultural industry needs.”

It may be different in the financial sphere, conceded Trask, who has spent the past six years working on blockchain-related projects — his supply chain-related experience goes back even further. DeFi use cases can often stand on their own, but agriculture is different. “When we combine those technologies — machine learning and visual imaging and drones with blockchain — we can get more bang for the buck.”

The firm has “trained” machine learning models to recognize what a tree looks like using satellite images. A “tree” must have a certain canopy, height, etc.

Heading 3

Dimitra says Kenyan farmers can double their productivity by applying emerging technologies available today. But how much of that gain derives from digital ledger technology per se?

“It does require a combination of technologies,” answered Trask, but one shouldn’t overlook blockchain’s importance. “We originally did a project in East Africa around cattle,” he said, adding:

Farmers discovered that they could “get 50% to 100% more per pound of beef than they would if they didn’t have a traceability [blockchain] system.”

Heading 2

If African avocado farmers can meet the European Union’s documentation requirements, “they can get 30%, 50%, maybe even a couple hundred percent more on export.” Further gains from AI-driven enhancements in areas like irrigation and fertilization could result in a further doubling of productivity, he suggested.

Others agree that blockchain technology can become a factor in its own right with regard to the continent’s agricultural sector. Particularly if its record-keeping capabilities are used for quality assurance, as Shadrack Kubyane. Co-founder of South’s Africa’s Coronet Blockchain and eFama App, told Cointelegraph.

The importance of tamper-proof agricultural records was driven home to Kubyane by the world’s worst-ever listeriosis outbreak. Which occurred in South Africa in January 2017 and had a death toll exceeding 200.

That case “continues to be contested in the courts to this day,” he said. The primary suspect remains a major food processing and distribution entity that, to this day, insists it was not the major source of the outbreak. “Had blockchain been in full force across that specific food chain, then the determinant factors and source of the outbreak would have been determined in two-and-a-half seconds or less, rather than waiting six-and-a-half years for a still-pending verdict.”

A “game changer” – Dimitra Cointelegraph East African Farmers

ConsenSys’s Singer is bullish about blockchain’s future use on the continent. “Supply chain technology with track-and-trace functionality using blockchain technology will be a game changer in Africa,” she told Cointelegraph. “We have a high penetration of mobile phones in the continent. We also know that blockchain technology is most useful when there are many intermediaries and when we need to have an audit trail of transactions involving many parties in a transparent manner.”

In Africa, the farmer is often the last to benefit from the sale of produce, “in particular when there is dependency on many intermediaries.” Among other virtues, blockchain tech also helps with “right-sizing intermediaries,” Singer added. Moreover, “We currently have very few sophisticated technologies for track-and-trace.”

Some of blockchain’s key attributes resemble those of traditional African bartering systems, like the one used in the small village where Kubyane grew up.

During the harvest season, crops could be traded for livestock in various quantities as needed. This made for some blockchain-like benefits, including traceability, as “people knew exactly where their food came from”; transparency, since “goods could be exchanged without intermediaries adding unnecessary markups”; and supply chain control, as “many farming families had control over their entire supply chain — however small scale — from seed banks to direct sales to consumers.”

A barter system has many limitations, of course, including a lack of scalability, and Kubyane is against turning back the clock on Africa’s modern food supply chain. But blockchain technology can help with many contemporary challenges, including “food traceability, post-harvest losses, lack of supply chain transparency, unfair trade practices, and monopolies that marginalize small and semi-commercial farmers,” he told Cointelegraph.

Patience is required

Dimitra Cointelegraph East African Farmers – Overall, it may take some time to move the African farming needle. “Certainly, it will take years,” said Trask. For instance, a farm cooperative may come in and sign a contract with Dimitra and say that “they’re going to onboard 30,000 farmers. We probably never get 100% adoption; we may only get 80%.”

Moreover, only 10% of system users may be “power users,” he continued. Some may be participating because food giants like Nestle and others have told them “they had to have traceability,” Trask noted. Other farmers simply don’t want to convert to new technologies.

Another challenge is, implementing these solutions sometimes “requires too many parties to be involved or to learn about the technology,” according to ConsenSys’s Singer.

Solutions must also be accessible, affordable and scalable, added Kubyane. “It is of utmost importance to have patient capital at a significant scale.”

In sum, synergies from melding blockchains with other emerging technologies like satellite imagery, AI, mobile tech and others may one day revolutionize agriculture in the developing world. But until that day arrives, farmers in East Africa and other regions can potentially fetch higher prices for their products by tapping export markets like the EU and North America.

But to secure a permanent place at dining tables in these Western economies, they will have to convince regulators and sustainability-minded publics that their crops weren’t grown by razing woodlands or employing child labor. To accomplish that, private and public blockchains, with their enhanced tracking, tracing and certification capabilities, may prove invaluable.

Dimitra One Million Avocados – BELIZE CITY, BELIZE — Dimitra Incorporated, a global Agtech company on a mission to make its technology available to farmers globally, is collaborating with One Million Avocados (OMA), a startup organization in Kenya, focused on helping the avocado farmers in the region. More specifically, OMA’s goal is to increase the production and quality of East African avocados using trace technology and, ultimately, “saving the world, one avocado at a time.”

Everything you need to know about avocados

So, why do people love avocados? This pear-shaped, green-skinned crop is not just a way to upgrade your dips and spreads, but they are also a nutrient-filled powerhouse. Contrary to popular belief, avocados are actually a fruit, not a vegetable.

An increasing number of people are focusing on a healthy lifestyle, leading to rising demand for nutritious food. As a result, the global avocado market is predicted to expand and grow in the coming years.

Amidst the projected growth of the avocado market, we have the farmers trying to keep up with demand. Before you see an avocado in the produce aisle of your local grocery store or market, a farmer will have gone through many stages to grow it — propagation, planting, farm analysis, post-harvest, and market distribution. Harvesting the fruit requires an enormous amount of labor and water.

To combat this, OMA is utilizing Dimitra’s tech stack to support the OMA farmers. To put it another way, farmers will be able to improve the current practices and create more sustainable farming methods for the future.

Industry challenges farmers face – Dimitra One Million Avocados

Currently, avocado farmers are facing certain challenges with their farming that we want to improve upon.

For example, there are stringent export rules that are in place that make it difficult for a farmer to export their produce with ease, limiting their potential revenue stream. Other common problems that farmers face are pests and diseases that affect the livelihood of their crops.

With Dimitra’s tech stack, combining advanced machine learning and data science methods, farmers can have the tools and insights they need to better understand their pest and disease problems in real time and discover effective solutions for control and management.

What’s more, Dimitra is exploring potential sponsorship opportunities and programs with OMA. For example, looking into helping farmers access financing modules to alleviate financial burdens. Together, they aim to cement Kenya’s position as Africa’s top producer of quality avocados and increase exports globally.

An agtech solution to support farmers

Currently, OMA focuses on traceability, precise farm management, pricing, financial inclusion, and the marketplace to support their farmers. By working with Dimitra, OMA’s farmers can utilize Dimitra’s tech-driven solution curated for the avocado industry. Ab0ve all, by providing farmers with the tools and support needed to succeed, they can increase yields, streamline supply chain processes, and promote sustainable farming practices.

Dimitra continuously develops the Connected Farmer platform to adapt to new regions and crops. Today, the platform is ready for avocados, and Swahili has been added to the growing list of 18 languages. More specifically, the app will be used to support OMA’s farmers with pest and disease prevention and data reporting.

By working with Dimitra, OMA plans to reduce administrative and operational costs associated with farm data registration and collection.

A noteworthy point about this agreement is that OMA uses Dimitra ($DMTR) tokens for transactions, ensuring that farmers also use the token. OMA will convert the One Million Avocados (OMA) farmers’ points accrued for DMTR tokens, consequently increasing awareness of Dimitra tokenization among its farmers.

Actionable insights for decision-making

Reporting is a big factor in a project like this. At Dimitra, we use reports to benefit farmers through advisory services. This way, farmers can apply actionable insights to their farming activities to increase yields, reduce costs, mitigate risks, and improve overall crop health.

More specifically, by increasing crop performance, farm productivity can as much as double in some cases.

Crop management includes factors such as:

• Soil remediation
• Reducing the use of chemicals and fertilizers
• Irrigation and water management
• Weed management

In fact, an example of where Dimitra intervenes is providing recommendations to reclaim soil health and a problem diagnosis on what pests and diseases might be evident. A farmer receives these recommendations through an analytical crop report that can be sent daily, weekly, or monthly.

Prince Victor Femi-Fred, Dimitra’s Director of Sub-Saharan Africa, says, “Dimitra is proud of this partnership as it will help bridge the gap of complicated farming. Providing room for data-driven farming using today’s technology across the Sub-Saharan region of Africa to make a difference. We are excited to work with our new partner and expand Dimtira’s presence in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Dimitra Day of Cooperatives – The International Day of Cooperatives highlights the growth and progress of cooperatives all across the globe. These organizations help communities build better sustainable practices, shore up financial resources and develop socially progressive approaches to community building.

On this day, it’s important to shine a spotlight on those who are on the ground doing the good work of building a better future for us all.

At Dimitra, we’re committed to helping these communities grow with the latest agricultural technology. Let’s explore why this day is so significant and look at a few projects we’re excited about that support cooperative efforts worldwide.

What Is the International Day of Cooperatives?

On July 1st, the world will celebrate the 101st International Day of Cooperatives. United by the slogan “cooperatives for sustainable development,” this year’s event will highlight how the cooperative approach to working is a critical element necessary to meet the targets set by the U.N. in their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is one of the oldest and largest business networks in the world, and the drive to meet the SDGs is an intrinsic part of its DNA.

This year, the international community will reach the midpoint of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — with the International Day of Cooperatives highlighting the contribution of cooperatives toward advancing and achieving the SDG.

Why Are Cooperatives So Important?

Cooperatives provide citizens access to vibrant local communities focused on improving the economic, social, cultural and political advancement of their members. These people-centered enterprises offer open-membership models that are owned, controlled and run by and for the members themselves.

As organizations driven by values, cooperatives don’t just think locally but also progress toward internationally agreed principles, like the SDGs. These groups are crucial in fighting against environmental degradation and climate change. In addition, they generate good jobs, contribute to food security and build ethical value chains.

Cooperatives allow people to take an active approach to their economic future. What’s more, since stakeholders don’t hold the reins, the economic and social rewards of their activity.

These businesses have a proven track record of resilience. As a result, this makes them the perfect partner for tackling the major challenges facing the international community and sustainable development efforts.

Dimitra Cooperative Spotlights

As a company on a mission to help farmers across the globe, we’re quick to highlight the good work of the international community here at Dimitra. In the past, we’ve brought awareness to worldwide sustainability efforts like World Water Day and World Population Day.

In the spirit of the International Day of Cooperatives, let’s explore several cooperatives that work with our technology to bring their communities closer together. What’s more, cooperatives create sustainable frameworks for financial, environmental, and social success.

Solok Radjo Cooperative – Dimitra Day of Cooperatives

The Solok Radjo Cooperative is a progressive farming enterprise located in Indonesia. What’s more, it highlights the use of environmentally friendly farm practices to nurture the land under crops. One of the driving forces behind the cooperative is to help farmers learn to optimize the yield of their land. In particular, their focus is on coffee crops.

The cooperative of 3,300 coffee farmers helps members process and market the coffee fruits. In addition to coffee, the Solok Radjo Cooperative raises cattle. They sell the cattle to domestic markets and use the manure locally on plantations to boost soil health.

Using Dimitra’s Connected Coffee Module, farmers can open up new growth opportunities. This includes access to the students, lecturers and professors at Andalas University. Moreover, the goal behind this is digitizing the user experience and improving the platform. Through that, an industry-leading service is created that will benefit other farms.

In fact, by bringing farmers into the digital world through the Connected Coffee Module, the cooperative can accomplish quite a lot. Here are a few more standout benefits:

• The platform opens up new premium export markets, bolstering financial profitability and growth.
• Data collected from the app will find a home in Dimitra’s immutable records. This includes soil test results, satellite imagery and plant and tree coverage from farms.
• Powerful back-end ML and AI systems pull insights from tracked activities in the field. For example, soil sample traits and weather events provide actionable insights for farmers.

As the Head of the Solok Radjo project, Alfadriansyah (Adi), describes, “partnering with Dimitra is important for Solok Radjo to realize an integrated, data-based, sustainable coffee enterprise.”

Ahprocafe

Coffee plays a pivotal role in more than just Indonesia. Located in Honduras, Ahprocafe is an association of more than 100,000 coffee farmers across dozens of local cooperatives.

Their goal is to provide these farmers with state-of-the-art agricultural technology, more specifically, traceability and AI tech. In fact, as Honduras is the fifth largest coffee producer worldwide, this type of tech adoption is essential to shoring up this critical national export.

While we only announced earlier this year, Dimitra and Ahprocafe have big plans for the implementation of the Connected Coffee Platform:

• Provide traceability for coffee grown in the area
• Offer real-time track and trace across the supply chain
• Build transparent and credible businesses
• Attract new sustainability-savvy customers
• Improve pest management efforts
• Reduce climate change effects
• Deliver continuous data collection — informing data-driven decision making

“Ahprocafe seeks to strengthen the business capacity of affiliated coffee cooperatives and generate initiatives that allow us training support and potential market spaces,” says Manfredo Villanueva, Ahprocafe’s General Manager. He continues, “we faithfully believe that the alliance with Dimitra will allow us to achieve our objectives.”

To become involved with Ahprocafe and its work, consider exploring the Dimitra Sponsorship Program for Individuals.

Moving Forward: Dimitra’s Commitment and Mission

Lastly, as we celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives, it’s important to highlight the growth and progress of these organizations as they build a sustainable future for the world. Dimitra is proud to be a technology partner with these cooperatives, helping us both push forward and deliver ethical, sustainable and socially progressive farming practices worldwide.