Dimitra's Jon Trask: a 20% yield gain can double a smallholder farmer's income

Ashton Addison: What is Dimitra, and who is it built for?▶ 00:22

Jon Trask: I started Dimitra about a year and a half ago, and we've been growing very quickly since. We built an application for smallholder farmers around the world. They can register their farm and their farming activities and set their goals. We use blockchain, machine learning, other forms of artificial intelligence, satellite and sensors to help them improve their output. There are about 610 million farmers in the world, and about 570 million of them are underserved. They typically don't have access to technology, and buying an application isn't normally within their budget the way it might be in North America or Western Europe. So we're working with governments, NGOs and not-for-profits to put this in their hands. These are the farmers who need it most. They produce 70% of the world's food. They work very long days and are typically some of the poorest people in the world.

Ashton: How would a small farmer actually use Dimitra to improve their output?▶ 02:54

Jon: If you're in one of our countries and you have the app, you log in and set up a geofence around your farm. Then we can look at your farm by satellite and learn a lot about the health of your crops and the quality of your soil. We add to that when the farmer tells us about their soil, their goals for what to grow, and how they prepare their fields before planting. Smallholder farmers' output is typically half to 60 percent of what you might see on a mechanized farm in North America or Western Europe. We combine all of this information with weather and topographical data and let machine learning look for the gaps. Is there not enough of a certain nutrient in the soil? Is there a better way to prepare the soil? Should you be using different fertilizers? That can increase output by 20 or 30 percent. A smallholder farmer typically consumes about 70 or 80 percent of what they produce, and only about 20 percent goes to market. So a 20 percent increase in productivity can actually double the income of a smallholder farmer. Now you're changing the poverty equation. You're creating new wealth for them that they can apply to further enhance their farm or provide for their family.

Ashton: Most of these farmers can't pay for an app. How does Dimitra reach them, and how fast is it growing?▶ 06:23

Jon: Many smallholder farmers have adopted cell phones in the last three to five years, but few of them pay for applications. So we look for ways to give the application to the farmer for free. The increased productivity then helps governments, who are quite welcoming because it helps farmers in their nations. We also work with farm associations, such as poultry or corn associations, because they can help bridge training gaps. We've been growing by leaps and bounds. We have over a million users and contracts signed for about 18 million users. Five project teams are implementing in five different areas of the world. We started with about 13 modules and have a roadmap of about 40 over the next few years.

Ashton: Where is Dimitra growing fastest, and where is it having the most impact?▶ 08:40

Jon: We started in East Africa and have done a lot of work there. We've expanded since and keep adding countries. We now have team members in 60 countries, and we're actively working in Uganda, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh and Brazil, to name a few. We also have a pipeline of about 71 countries we're in discussions with. A great deal of groundwork has to happen when we enter a country, such as setting up satellite analysis, weather access and various data feeds. It isn't as simple as a SaaS product that works the same for everybody in the world. We have to work strategically on entering a country and preparing it for success.

Ashton: What role do the blockchain and the Dimitra token play for farmers on the platform?▶ 11:14

Jon: When a farmer comes on, they register their identity and location and give us a lot of private data that could be risky to have out there. That includes how much land they own, where their land is and where their house is. We use the security aspects of blockchain to keep that information private and encrypted. Second, farmers have a points program. If they use the app well, they earn points, and we use a side chain roll-up to turn those points into Dimitra tokens. That gives them a pot of tokens that gets them going in the crypto world. They can convert and spend it, or invest it if they choose. They can also use their points and additional DMTR to get discounted services through the Dimitra ecosystem, such as sensor or drone services from local ecosystem partners, who in turn buy their sensors from us in DMTR. Projects are often funded in the millions or tens of millions of dollars. If we invest a Dimitra token in a project, we look for two, three or four other partners who will also invest tokens. That creates demand for the token and a circular ecosystem that runs from planting through harvest and on to export or a local market.

Ashton: Can you give a concrete example of that ecosystem at work?▶ 15:16

Jon: In one country we're looking at putting sensors on millions of cattle. The sensors measure temperature and pH, which helps farmers spot health issues earlier. It also helps reduce antibiotic use, because they don't have to give blanket antibiotics to every animal. That needs thousands of people to go around and put sensors on cattle. We sell the sensors to local sensor specialists, who go out to the farms, sensor the cows and set up an antenna that connects the sensors to the internet. All of that ecosystem is paid for in tokens. In this one country we're probably looking at creating over a thousand jobs on the Dimitra platform and within the ecosystem.

Ashton: What are the biggest things you plan to roll out over the next six months or so?▶ 17:07

Jon: There are a couple of big projects. One is the rollout of the farmer points program on the side chain, which we hope to have out by year end. The animal genetics platform, under a genetics contract we have, rolls out at Christmas time. We're also working on our SaaS model and hope to have it out early in 2022.

Ashton: You also mentioned a large soil project in India. What is it?▶ 18:00

Jon: It might be the largest soil remediation project in the world. We're doing satellite analysis of the soil on 1.3 million farms, and we're coupling that with a couple of thousand people who go out and sense the soil in those areas. The goal is a process where we take a snapshot of a farm and advise the farmer on how to remediate their soil, bring back biodiversity and increase organic content. That essentially creates a carbon capture, so it has an impact on global warming and on their output at the same time. I think 30 percent of the world's soil has been degraded or is gone over the last hundred years because of the way we've farmed. In India we're working on sustainable methods so that each farmer improves their soil quality every year instead of degrading it.