Argentina - The concept of sustainability, traditionally linked to the environment but which today is resignified at all levels, occupies a key place on the agricultural agenda. "The current challenge in agriculture is that it be carried out by those companies that we call triple impact," said Alejandro Meneses, General Manager of ADBlick Grains, a virtual talk for investors.

As Meneses explained, triple impact companies are those that, while continuing to pursue profit as their main objective, incorporate environmental and social purposes at the heart of their business models and business activities.

"How are we doing to get closer to this goal? Those three gears - the economic, the environmental and the social - must be able to align and work with each other, generating strength and accommodating what I consider to be the challenge we are talking about, which is to generate that triple impact, ”he added.

Economically, he highlighted that ADBlick Grains produces 130.000 tons per year, which go to 40 sales destinations. It does it in 40.000 rented hectares, based on six crops and interacting with 395 service companies. "This is our engine, and it is the main gear within the three we mentioned," he defined.

Regarding the second aspect, the environmental one, he detailed different practices such as planting and rotation of crops, setting 100% of the fields to be able to better plan, rationally use resources and introduce variable planting, variable fertilization and yield monitoring.

The replacement of chemical synthesis products with biologicals is already being carried out on 5000 hectares and will be expanded for the next campaign, while it is also beginning to test cover crops to use less agrochemicals. "All this is basically capitalized by producing more food and fewer commodities," summarized Meneses.

Finally, ADBlick generates social impact through two channels. One of them is the direct arrival to 1650 families directly involved in the current productive gear. The other is the Bisblick Foundation, created in 2013 to support low-income, high-potential students. Today this foundation finances 89 fellows.

The replacement of chemical synthesis products with biological ones is already taking place on 5000 hectares and will be expanded for the next campaign.

Regarding new business models, he stated that the first step should be to "turn around and start looking outside" to learn from what others are doing. In this sense, he especially valued the relationship with producers, suppliers and even competitors, and assured that this collaboration and open-door strategy allows adding value to production and thus obtaining a higher income.

Learn and change

Then it was the turn of some ADBlick partners. The first to present was Gerardo Porta, head of seed production in the southeastern region of Gentos, a company that produces forage seeds in Argentina and Uruguay. "If we are looking for different results, let's not always do the same thing": with Albert Einstein's phrase as a banner, Gentos' premise is to constantly leave the comfort zone in search of new goals.

One of the keys is generating links with positive feedback, Porta said. "Know why, for what and with whom, understand how the other does things, learn from it and thus shorten the path towards the objectives set," he added.

In this sense, he recalled that the company generated links with different universities and with producers worldwide. “Being in line with the scientific community allows us to capture every single change the world can make. This interaction generates greater added value for us ”, he pointed out. That knowledge is then shared in training for contractors and producers so that they can fully exploit each resource within the field.

He also pointed out that Gentos is the only company in Argentina that has a production research area. "Its main objective is to establish mechanisms, even questioning our protocols, that allow us to improve seed production, break our production ceiling."

For his part, Pablo Díaz Colodrero, CEO of Argensun, a 30-year-old national agro-industrial company specializing in confectionery sunflower, recounted the experience his company lived through. As he explained, the error of not having contemplated the different ways in which this crop was consumed in the world generated heavy losses.

The road to recovery was opened by going to China to observe how the confectionery sunflower is worked there. From this, Argensun investigated how to develop a quality product similar to the Chinese but massively and extensively producible. “A very big challenge but one that allowed us to sell our product 50% more expensive. We worked for ten years at the genetic level to achieve a hybrid that was disruptive in the world of the confectionery sunflower, which is the Valia 73 ”, Díaz Colodrero said.

They also put together the commercial chain so that the product is always available to consumers worldwide. "Genetics and commercialization resolved, we lacked production. ADBlick emerged as an ally, an organization that promotes collaboration schemes, which is specialized in sunflower, has a potential for growth and scalability, and very high application of technology, "he stressed.
Why invest in grains

In closing, Marcelo Hegel, CFO of ADBlick Grains, announced the launch of the 2021 campaign, the company's 12th campaign, which will allow retail investors to access a scale farming project, integrating their participation in pesos.

Regarding the reasons for investing in grains today, he argued that the Argentine grain demonstrated that it could always compete in the world despite all the restrictions that were imposed on it. Among other reasons, he pointed out: “The grains we produce are sold in dollar linked, for which they are substantially referenced to the dollar.

On the other hand, the strong exporting component positions grain production as the main engine of the economy. In addition, it is a business with high liquidity, in which each campaign has the possibility of commercializing 100% of the production without this implying a decrease in value ”