Bunge Ltd. on May 29 announced the launch of Fincrop, a Brazilian fintech with $500 million available to lend to Brazilian farmers. The company will use environmental and social criteria on credit-risk assessment and will verify sustainable practices through its farm-monitoring system, including satellite images and real-time information from fields. The goal is improving risk-assessment tools for retailers that sell Bunge’s agricultural inputs.
Fincrop ties into Bunge’s recently announced Regenerative Agriculture Program in Brazil. Offered at no cost to farmers, the program consists of three steps: diagnosis of the farm’s current regenerative practices, development of a customized action plan based on the diagnosis, and connection to the marketplace – Bunge will connect farmers to supply chain partners who seek sustainable products.
Bunge said the regenerative agriculture program already has dozens of large-scale farmers signed up, covering roughly 250,000 hectares of land in the Brazilian States of Bahia, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Paraná, Piauí, and Tocantins.
“The demand for sustainably produced agriculture products continues to increase, and our goal is to provide reliable and specific data so farmers can assess the need to implement additional, corrective, or improvement measures that support them on their regenerative agriculture journey,” said Pamela Moreira, responsible for Sustainability in South America, Bunge.
Orígeo, a joint venture between Bunge and UPL, is a key partner and will be working alongside the farmers by providing information and technological tools to digitize crop data, ensuring the production of high-quality, low-carbon grain, using fewer inputs and less fuel.