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The Brazilian startup Predativa has developed an innovative technology for biological pest control using green lacewing insects (species ‘Ceraeochrysa cubana’ and ‘Chrysoperla externa’).
Known as "bicho-lixeiro" in Brazil, this species was registered recently with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture. These polyphagous insects are highly effective in controlling various pests, such as aphids, small caterpillars, mites, whiteflies, and aphids, which attack crops like soybeans, citrus, cotton, vegetables, coffee, and eucalyptus.
According to environmental engineer Pedro Camargo Tomaz, one of the startup’s founders and the Administrative and Sustainability Director, there has long been interest in using natural enemies in agriculture. However, the availability of these natural enemies in necessary quantities has been a limiting factor. "Producing these predatory insects on a large scale is challenging and requires significant investment. The transportation logistics were also a bottleneck due to the sensitivity of the material, but we believed in the potential of the green lacewing," Tomaz said.
Despite these challenges, Tomaz partnered with agronomist Bruno Mundim to develop Predativa's technology. "Using drones, increasingly prevalent in agriculture, was a good alternative. We dispersed insect eggs over crops, and because the product is very light, its autonomy could reach 600 hectares per day, with 1,000 eggs per hectare," Tomaz highlighted.
Additionally, drone use had other advantages, such as reducing the need for machinery and tractors to apply pesticides in the fields. "With drones, it is possible to cover ten times more area per day compared to liquid products, providing more sustainability to production. Furthermore, some producers report that exclusive use of chemical products contributes to pest resistance," the environmental engineer added.
Support
Through the Centelha Program, which stimulates innovative projects in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, they obtained financial resources and support to turn their concept into a successful business. They proposed automating the industrial process of insect production, creating equipment capable of reproducing these insects while ensuring all necessary characteristics, aiming to reduce costs and facilitate breeding.
"We received financial incentives and developed the first prototypes. Two more partners joined the team: Guilherme Silva, a software engineer specializing in Artificial Intelligence, and Higgor Olipe, an electrical engineer emphasizing on automation and control," Tomaz noted.
In 2022, the startup experienced a significant breakthrough when selected by Finep (Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos), a Brazilian public company promoting science, technology, and innovation. With Finep's help, Predativa improved the quality of its equipment and reduced labor costs by nearly 90% with the first prototypes. They also conceived the idea of producing insects within farms through bio-units. The bio-units, available for rent, would provide equipment to farms for on-farm production.
Later that year, Cyklo, a Brazilian accelerator for agriculture, livestock, and agribusiness projects and startups, selected the startup. At that time, Cyklo helped Predativa become more prepared to reach rural producers. "After validating the first bio-units on farms near our headquarters in Minas, we are interested in expanding in that region and serving them soon," Tomaz explained.
The startup also received support from CNA (Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária) to manufacture the bio-units, promising to accelerate production and further reduce producers’ costs. "Today, farmers pay an average of R$150 per hectare to use green lacewings. We have already reduced this investment to R$50 per hectare with our technology," Tomaz added. With the bio-units implemented on farms, the idea is for producers to need only a 5m² space on their property to produce green lacewings for up to 500 hectares using Predativa's technology.
In this expansion process, the entrepreneurs' strategy is to have regional representatives to provide close technical support and monitoring. In addition, Predativa engineers are developing production software that will allow clients to monitor everything happening in their production, such as how the product was inoculated, when it will be available, its quantity, where it will be applied, and when the representative will visit. "The goal is to serve around 5,000 hectares within two years," Tomaz estimated.
New Advances
Recently, Predativa partnered with the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA) to develop pioneering technology that promises to revolutionize sustainable agriculture further. The collaboration aims to create an automated feeding dispenser for green lacewings. According to Tomaz, this technology will allow for more precise and continuous nutrition of the insects, facilitating their mass breeding in both farms and global biofactories. Until now, breeding green lacewings required another insect, Anagasta kuehniella, a moth whose eggs served as food to produce the predator for fieldwork. This moth production was also costly and labor-intensive.
"With the artificial diet created by Lavras researchers, there is no longer a need to produce another insect in parallel, making the process easier and cheaper. With the development of the artificial diet and our focus on the device, this partnership has greatly helped shorten steps and reduce costs," Tomaz said in conclusion.
(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)
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