Mariana da Silva Vasconcelos

30 / Campinas, Brazil

A gifted connector who believes that anyone can make change, Mariana da Silva Vasconcelos is helping to tackle a problem of crop monitoring for farmers in Latin America. As founder and CEO of Agrosmart, she brings digital agriculture to developing countries with sparse internet infrastructure, helping farmers to make better decisions about irrigation, weather and disease forecasts. While many producers in the region make choices based on intuition alone, Mariana empowers them with technology that produces results based on reliable data, giving them food security by allowing them to adapt to climate change and make better operational decisions.

As the daughter of traditional farmers, Mariana grew up witnessing the daily challenges faced by the industry and felt strongly about technology and its potential for making change. After studying business administration and a masters in agribusiness, she set up Agrosmart in 2014, installing crop sensors to measure environmental conditions and identify a crop’s needs in real-time. The technology allows farmers to increase productivity by up to 20% while saving 60% more water. While such technology is widely used in western European countries, it is scarcely available in Latin America due to lack of infrastructure, long distances and large agricultural landscapes. With Mariana’s determination, passion and skills, Agrosmart is strengthening farmers’ livelihoods and empowering them to run more sustainable and successful operations.

“We believe in the power of diversity to create deeper and better perspectives that drive innovation. In that context, we also believe that anyone – no matter how small – can make change.” – Mariana da Silva Vasconcelos