Arvus: Revolutionizing Agriculture in Brazil

                                                                                                                                        FEATURED TECHNOLOGIES
In this HxGN News podcast, Kathleen McNeill speaks to Bernardo de Castro, CEO of Arvus, about his company’s background, its contributions to the Brazilian agriculture market, and the future ahead as a new part of Hexagon. You can hear the podcast, read the transcript below, or download the podcast from iTunes.
Kathleen McNeill: Hello, I’m Kathleen McNeill, on-line marketing manager from Hexagon.  Thank you joining us for today’s HxGN News podcast brought to you by Arvus. HxGN News is Hexagon’s all-news portal that provides the latest information about Hexagon’s global network of brands. It is available at hxgnnews.com where you can also sign up for monthly e-mail updates.
Arvus is a manufacturer of precision agricultural solutions for closer, more site-specific management of factors affecting crop production. This means different parts of the fields can be managed separately. With the application of essential nutrients and various inputs, it can be fine-tuned through the use of censors and GPS technologies. Founded in 2004, and headquartered in Brazil, Arvus has partners in the most important agricultural borders of Brazil. The company has a portfolio of high-end equipment and software products designed specifically for precision farming and the forestry industry.  The solutions are supported through personalized technical assistance by Arvus employees.
In today’s podcast, we are talking to Bernardo de Castro, CEO of Arvus.  Bernardo, thank you for joining us today.
BERNARDO DE CASTRO: Thank you.
KATHLEEN MCNEILL: So, you’re the co-founder of Arvus. Can you tell us a little bit about its history?
BERNARDO DE CASTRO:  Yes, of course. I founded Arvus with two colleagues from university in 2004. We have an engineering background; and at that time, we developed equipment with very specific features for agriculture, for controlling fertilizing in agriculture–in soy bean fields in Brazil.  We realized there were great opportunities in that field in Brazil for electronics equipment in agriculture machines.  The adoption of this kind of technology was in the very early stages in Brazil. We started to grow the company and we really did it well through a path of success. We received investments from venture capitalists in 2009.,Today, we have several partners in Brazil to support different crops, and this year, Hexagon acquired Arvus, which we are very excited about.
KATHLEEN MCNEILL: Great. What are some of the main products that Arvus brings to the Hexagon portfolio? What are your expectations now that the company has joined Hexagon?
BERNARDO DE CASTRO:  Well, we work basically with precision agriculture.  Let me just give a brief definition of what it is.  Basically, precision agriculture works with two technologies like software and electronic equipment embedded in machines. Through these technologies, precision agriculture is able to know, for example, which part of the crops you are cropping better, harvesting better, which parts of the crops are presenting problems, and whether you should better fertilize, seed differently, or apply some kind of herbicide.
All of this is site-specific management. We have lots of information to treat, and consequently, lots of software tools, electronics and positioning systems to use.  We have a complete set of technologies for thesekinds of precision agriculture needs, including, for example, steering automation systems for machines. We can drive the path of tractors and combine automatically.  We can control rates of fertilizer and control rates of herbicides, according to maps previously defined.  This is called variable rate technology.  It is also applied for seeding, for spraying and so on.  Additionally, we have softer web-based software that can bring and concentrate information from the field to help decision-making in the management process of agriculture.
KATHLEEN MCNEILL:  With all of the sugarcane, soy beans, oranges, and other agriculture, Brazil is one of the main agribusiness players in the world.  How do you view the precision agriculture market in Brazil? Can you summarize the main crops that benefit with your technology?
BERNARDO DE CASTRO:  Yes, actually every crop can benefit from this type of technology.  Currently, we have a strong presence for soy beans, corn and r grain markets, in general, along with forestry markets. It’s basically eucalyptus trees for pulp mills.  We have more than 60 dealers in Brazil and South America and we service for the main forestry companies in Brazil–some of the largest in the world.  There’s also an important market in Brazil, which is the sugarcane market for ethanol mills.  We are also addressing this market and Hexagon will help with this.
KATHLEEN MCNEILL:  In looking beyond Brazil, are there other markets worldwide?
BERNARDO DE CASTRO: Yes, definitely. Brazil, of course, is a good place to be in terms of agriculture.  But Hexagon has a good footprint in Asia and in Europe basically, mainly; and opportunities are everywhere, and since our products are world class in terms of quality and functionality and features, we’ll be able to explore all these markets – I would highlight here, Asia, and Europe basically.
KATHLEEN MCNEILL:  It was recently announced that iLab has been acquired by Hexagon.  How does being a part of Hexagon further iLab’s market presence as it relates to smart agriculture?
BERNARDO DE CASTRO:  iLab is very strong, especially in the sugarcane market in Brazil. We will combine our technologies, in terms of software tools, sugar and these ethanol mills. We have a lot to do in terms of sales efforts; Hexagon will complement our portfolio very well, too, for forestry and for planning tools in general.
KATHLEEN MCNEILL:  Since Hexagon is known for such varied technologies, from Geospatial GIS to censoring and automation, how might some of these technologies influence Arvus developments?
BERNARDO DE CASTRO:  Arvus, in the context of Hexagon Solutions, is working on the integration of all these tools that Hexagon can offer to us,  focusing on specific market verticals.  We are addressing agriculture and we have a lot of technologies, from geospatial censoring machine automation planning software.  All of this will help us to address the challenges of not only selling products, but also selling solutions, completesolutions for all crops in agriculture worldwide.
KATHLEEN MCNEILL:  It has now been weeks since Arvus has agreed to Hexagon’s acquisition.  How has this news been received by your staff and clients?
BERNARDO DE CASTRO:  It was very good and everybody is excited about it.  Customers want to know more about Hexagon and the opportunities they will have with the company.  It’s a very dynamic, fast-growing company and everybody is sure about these new opportunities.  The customers are also expecting a lot from us since they are having the opportunity to know other technologies – and we are offering these already, we are packaging them to show them. It will be a good synergy
KATHLEEN MCNEILL:  Great.  With 14,000 staff members in development centers all over the world, what are you most excited about, in terms of the joining the Hexagon family?
BERNARDO DE CASTRO:  I’m excited about all of it, combining so many technologies that, we as a small company, could not address in short period of time.  We now have all this available to us. A lot of know-how will be integrated into ours, and it’s very exciting to be able to explore all these possibilities.
KATHLEEN MCNEILL:  Wonderful.  Well we appreciate your time today and thank you so much for being our guest.
BERNARDO DE CASTRO:  Thank you very much Kathleen.
KATHLEEN MCNEILL:  You can learn more about Arvus online at arvus.com.br, and more about Hexagon solutions at hexagon-solutions.com.  To our listeners, thank you for joining us for today’s HxGN News podcast.  Visit hxgnnews.com to read the latest news from our global network of brands, and be sure to sign up for monthly e-mail updates.