Presentation of Canning Paper on AgTech in Latin America

On Wednesday 16th May, Canning House held an event to present the latest Canning Paper, on AgTech in Latin America. Cristina Cortes, Canning House CEO, welcomed attendees and the panel.

Dave Ross, CEO of Agri-EPI Centre, one of the UK's four agri-tech centres, then introduced the panel in his capacity as chair of the event: Andrew Thompson, representing LatinNews and author of the report, and Horacio Sánchez-Caballero, General Coordinator at GPS, a network of agribusiness experts from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The speakers' presentations covered the contents of the paper and beyond, with emphasis on the opportunities that the agricultural sector holds for the Latin American region, and how uses of new technology can contribute to increased efficiency.

There has been a rapid growth of AgTech companies in Latin America, but there is a need for a supportive environment to help these start-ups grow. As in FinTech, there is an interesting phenomenon in that well-established forces in the industry (such as Monsanto) are establishing new partnerships with smaller AgTech companies that have developed new ways of doing things. While AgTech holds the potential of contributing to the production of more value-added exports, the challenges posed most notably by climate change are not to be disregarded.