Dimitra is a global leader in agriculture technology. The company’s mission is to apply advanced technology and provide actionable data so farmers and governments can enrich economies through increased crop yields and healthier livestock. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Dimitra Chief Operating Officer Diego Costa to learn more about the company.
Diego Costa’s Background
What is Diego Costa’s background? Costa said:
“My name is Diego Costa and I am the Chief Operating Officer of Dimitra, a leading blockchain-based enterprise system for AgTech driving productive, intelligent and inclusive farming. I have been at the company for over three years, starting out as the Regional Director of Latin America before transitioning into the COO role this year. Before Dimitra, taking advantage of my degree in veterinary, and management MBAs, I held several senior positions in companies operating in the AgTech space, as well as working for the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, and for the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil. My passion for my role at Dimitra lies in empowering farmers worldwide with equal access to state-of-the-art, data-driven agricultural technologies, transcending economic divides, to foster a future where every field teems with prosperity.”
Formation Of Dimitra
How did the idea for the company come together? Costa shared:
“Our founder and CEO, Jon Trask founded the company as he recognized the vast potential for technology to revolutionize agriculture. However, he also saw that small and medium-sized farmers, especially in the developing world, were often left behind in the technological revolution due to high costs and complexity. Dimitra was created to bridge this gap by providing accessible, user-friendly technology solutions that empower farmers to increase productivity, sustainability, and profitability. Dimitra’s offering combines blockchain with AI, satellites and IoT sensors to enable farmers to take advantage of a myriad of services aimed at making it easier for them to run their businesses.”
Favorite Memory
What has been Costa’s favorite memory working for the company so far? Costa reflected:
“To slightly change the question, I would say that my favorite part of the job is being able to help farmers and effect change in so many countries. Seeing firsthand how our technology has transformed their farming practices and improved their livelihoods is incredibly rewarding, and reinforces the importance of our mission and the real-world impact we’re making. Talking about the region where I live, there are a lot of smallholder farmers in Latin America and they lack access to technology, they lack access to real-time data and resources, and they lack access to important tools to help them run their farms effectively. So, when we look at the long-term future of agriculture in the region, I think we need to bring these smallholder farmers into this new era by providing access to innovative technology that they can leverage to produce more. The future lies in empowering farmers with advanced technology that provides them with actionable data that is immutable, decentralized and secure, helping farmers to improve production rates and alleviate financial burdens.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Costa explained:
“Dimitra has 5 market-leading platforms that empower farmers to implement better ways of working through real, tangible insights. I’ll outline each of these platforms briefly below:
— Connected Farmer – an app that allows farmers to track finances, manage crops, access weather predictions, receive AI-powered recommendations and stay in compliance with local government regulations.
— Livestock Guru – an advanced Livestock Genetics Management Platform, that tracks animal parentage, improving reproductive selection within herds to achieve higher quality and healthier livestock products.
— Connected Coffee and Connected Cacao – These applications allow farmers to optimize each stage of the coffee and cacao farming process, from cultivation, harvesting, fermentation, drying, storage, marketing and blockchain based traceability, reducing resource waste and increasing productivity.
— Compliance Platform – allows farmers, cooperatives, traders and importer companies (known as operators), to ensure every shipment is compliant and meets different regulatory demands, like EUDR. We use AI, Satellite Images and Blockchain to ensure maximum transparency.
— Dimitra ESG and Carbon – Dimitra ESG helps agribusinesses adopt sustainable practices, assess ESG maturity, and access demanding markets using AI and blockchain for transparency. As part of ESG strategies Dimitra Carbon offers carbon credits to offset emissions, incentivizing sustainable farming, and enhancing livelihoods through verifiable and traceable carbon credits, promoting long-term sustainability.”
Challenges Faced What challenges have Costa and the team face in building the company? Costa acknowledged:
“In business, there are always challenges that companies and industries must address and overcome.”
“In the case of the AgTech space, one very significant challenge that the industry will face in the coming months is the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which will allow only products that are duly proven and documented as coming from deforestation-free areas to enter the European market. Farmers will need to be able to prove exactly where their product originates, down to the geolocation of the plot – penalties for non-compliance are harsh, including bans and fines of up to 4 percent of the operator annual EU-wide turnover.”
“At Dimitra, we have developed a solution that will enable smallholder farmers to comply and continue to access the EU market. This Compliance platform offers immutable certification for all those along the supply chain (from farm to fork) to ensure every shipment is regulatory-compliant, achieving this through using blockchain, AI, satellite analysis and mobile tech. In fact, in collaboration with CACI Satinaki, a Peru-based farming cooperative of smallholder farmers, we facilitated the first fully certified shipment of coffee under the regulation – with a full traceability record from bean to cup.”
“This theme of deforestation regulation will be significant for the time ahead, as other countries will likely follow the example of Europe, and therefore farmers will need to be able to prove that their produce is deforestation-free moving forward.”
Evolution Of Dimitra’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Costa noted:
“Dimitra’s technology is constantly evolving to incorporate improvements and tech advancements and face up to the changing challenges that farmers face.”
“Dimitra’s comprehensive tech stack combines blockchain with AI, satellites, and IoT sensors to enable farmers to take advantage of a myriad of services aimed at making it easier for them to run their businesses. In recent times, we have incorporated advanced AI algorithms for more accurate predictions and analytics and enhanced our blockchain features to ensure greater transparency and traceability in the supply chain.”
“To give an example of how we respond to our users needs and develop our technology – we have been seeing a demand from our users for more accessible and verifiable carbon credits and as a result, launched Dimitra Carbon, a new initiative aimed at supplying carbon credits that are rigorously verified, traceable, and compliant with the most stringent environmental standards.”
“By leveraging blockchain technology, Dimitra Carbon ensures that every DMTR Carbon Credit is verified by stringent monitoring and reporting standards, and is fully traceable back to its origin, providing unmatched transparency and credibility. The DMTR Carbon Credits are among the few in the market that are 100% traceable to the farmer level, allowing companies to verify with certainty that the credits were generated and not sold multiple times.”
“Our mission with this initiative is to create a sustainable future by empowering farmers and offering high-quality carbon credits. We believe that by integrating blockchain technology, sustainability, and agriculture, we can make a meaningful impact on climate change and drive positive transformation to communities worldwide. This initiative also makes the carbon market accessible to approximately 500 million small-scale farmers worldwide who are currently excluded due to the high costs and investment of time involved in generating tradable, unique, and verifiable carbon credits.”
“Continuous feedback from our users is always crucial in guiding these improvements to our tech offering.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Costa cited:
“Dimitra has had a number of significant milestones over the years, like starting different projects in over 20 countries and achieving agreements that allow us to offer our platform for over 1.5 millions. But to name one specific project, I would say that facilitating one of the first certified coffee export under the transformative new EU Deforestation Law (EUDR) jumps out.”
“In collaboration with CACI Satinaki, a Peru-based farming cooperative of smallholder farmers, and a combination of our satellite analysis, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and mobile technology, we facilitated a fully certified shipment of coffee under the regulation – with a full traceability record from bean to cup.”
“The implementation of the EUDR at the end of this year is a truly seismic moment, and the impact of the regulatory change will be felt right across the supply chain, from traders to operators to consumers. But most particularly, smallholder farmers are feeling the squeeze and are searching for solutions, so that they can comply with the regulation, continue to access the EU market and protect their livelihoods.”
“Throughout this collaboration with CACI Satinaki, Dimitra showed that we have the technological solutions to assist farmers at challenging times.”
“I also believe that Dimitra Carbon will be a big gamechanger for Dimitra and millions of farmers that need help to keep protecting the environment and adopting sustainable practices.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Costa about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“Dimitra is partnering with a steady stream of companies, cooperatives, and bodies to advance the vision of empowering farmers worldwide with equal access to state-of-the-art, data-driven agricultural technologies, transcending economic divides, to foster a future where every field teems with prosperity.”
“Our success in advancing this mission is seen in our recent project to plant 10,000 avocado trees across Kenya over the next year, in partnership with One Million Avocados (OMA), a Kenyan startup, that is focused on improving the lives of avocado farmers in the region and aims to boost the production and quality of East African avocados.”
“These trees are Real-World Assets (RWAs), meaning anyone across the world can support local farms, demonstrating the joint commitment of Dimitra and OMA to use technology to revolutionize farming practices and enhance agricultural results on a global scale. Through the initiative, farmers can evaluate soil thoroughly, access customized education, and obtain detailed agronomy support to ensure the best farming practices. Farmers receive fertilizers, windbreaks, shade trees, and advanced sensors for precise monitoring with their RWA partnership all funded by Dimitra’s native token, DMTR. This approach boosts avocado production and strengthens local farming communities.”
“Another example of our work in the RWA space is our involvement in the Amazon Cacao Project as a technical partner to help farmers in Roraima, Brazil diversify their income by leveraging Real World Assets (RWAs). The project brings together many strategic and government partners, with the aim of expanding the cocoa cultivation and implementing modern agricultural practices to increase productivity and diversify the sources of income of local farmers. It marks the first time a government has supported a project that uses RWAs as a solution to promoting economic and social development within the agricultural sector.”
“To give just one more of our recent success stories – we announced a joint pilot project with Arasco Food B.V., an international food trading corporation, to digitize, modernize and make compliant coffee supply chains in Cameroon. Led by Dimitra Europe GmbH, a subsidiary of Dimitra Incorporated, this partnership utilizes blockchain technology to enhance farming processes and ensure market compliance with the upcoming European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), set to take effect at the end of 2024.”
“As part of the new partnership, Arasco will employ Dimitra’s tailored Connected Coffee platform to allow farmers access to blockchain traceability solutions that will act as a transparent, traceable supply chain for regulators and smallholder farmers. The pilot project aims to ease the burden of data management for smallholders and family farmers in Cameroon to ensure they receive certificates of compliance in line with new EU regulations, which will ban imports from crops grown on deforested land after 2020. The project will onboard 5,000 farmers to the Connected Coffee mobile application, providing them with comprehensive tools for farm registration, crop management, farmer surveys, and data acquisition.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Costa affirmed:
“First, our focus on the small farmers, almost all companies normally focus on medium and big farmers, and Dimitra has a bold vision and mission of empowering over 500 million small farmers all around the world to make smarter farming decisions through actionable data-driven insights, and its this commitment to accessibility and inclusivity that makes us stand out.”
“Many agricultural solutions on the market address one or two specific issues but do not broadly address the digital needs of farmers. This results in farmers and governments requiring 4 or 5 solutions. This creates additional costs, data integration complexity, and a lack of analytical and data-sharing capabilities. Governments and farmers want one platform that is multipurpose – Dimitra fits this bill, and through the integration of IoT, AI, and blockchain, provides a comprehensive and seamless experience that addresses the many farming challenges simultaneously.”
“Dimitra isn’t just at the concept stage, we are already operating and helping farmers on the ground, and partnering with cooperatives, governments, and companies all around the globe.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Costa concluded:
“Looking ahead, our main goal is to continue to expand our reach to farmers worldwide, continuously develop and improve our technology, and build further on the strategic partnerships that we have in the pipeline.”
“We have some great contracts with very large farming groups and are very close to having business in over 30 countries. With EUDR becoming mandatory and Dimitra Carbon helping to advance projects in many countries, our goal in the coming year is to help farmers in over 50 countries and reach the milestone of over 10 million farmers impacted by our technology. After that, we still have over 140 countries to expand our activities to and 490 million farmers that we will find a way to reach. To stay up to date on any news developments, check out dimitra.io or follow us on X at https://x.com/dimitratech.”
