Farmers need technology to compete in local and global markets. BIT S.A. of Argentina created its Argobit solution using SAP software to help farmers and businesses become more efficient, sustainable and productive. For its contribution to agribusiness, BIT was named a finalist in the SAP Innovation Awards 2023.
The days of farmers turning to the Farmer's Almanac for answers on what and when to plant are gone, like dust in the wind. As the market has expanded around the world and become more sophisticated, so have the challenges farmers face and their questions about how to move forward.
They want information and advice. BIT S.A., headquartered in Argentina with offices in Spain and Brazil, has made it its mission to provide smart agribusiness solutions to help farmers and businesses. And BIT is using SAP software as the seed to make those operations more efficient, sustainable and productive.
For a good night's sleep
Today, agribusinesses, including farmers, must deal with domestic and global competition, shrinking resources, rising material and transportation costs, labor shortages, environmental issues and regulations, and more. So they want answers to the questions that keep them up at night: How do I ensure the continued health of my animals, soil and crops? How can I increase yields? What's happening with the weather? How can I improve my overall farm management to meet my goals?
And then there are questions about what is happening off the farm and around the world: What is the market demand for chickens? Or wheat? What is the current price of feed? What can I get for my products?
Agribusiness advisors need more than expertise to provide answers. Today, they must also offer advanced technology.
"Farmers, companies and their advisors face major challenges to transform agriculture, livestock and food systems for more sustainable and resilient production for a better future," says Horacio Balussi, CEO and co-founder of BIT S.A. "Technology is the way to benefit the entire ecosystem."
BIT does more than its part
To address technological challenges, BIT created its Agrobit solution. "Agrobit is the platform for agribusinesses looking for smart agribusiness and livestock management in the cloud," Balussi says.
Argobit is based on the SAP Business Technology Platform. It integrates with SAP ERP and SAP Analytics Cloud, offering powerful and easy-to-use farm management, intelligent planning, predictive monitoring and best farming practices. Customers receive the traceability information they need, certified with technology. Argobit even calculates the carbon footprint emitted from a customer's operation.
As a result, BIT's solution and expertise have helped agribusiness companies and farmers around the world improve sustainability, increase profitability, reduce risk and become more environmentally friendly.
In the pasture, in the field
Agrobit has both a livestock and an agricultural version. It can improve livestock planning by automatically calculating the future profit of each animal based on the income and expenses to raise that animal.
The solution can improve productivity by enabling users to determine the optimal placement of farm animals according to pasture cycle or feed availability and by accurately tracking feeding tasks, breeding activity, health checks and vaccinations. You can also automatically view the developmental history of each animal to assist with current and future management.
Imagine comparing multiple crops and choosing the one with the best future profit before planting. That's one of the benefits of Agrobit for agriculture. It can provide information on labor, weather, market prices and more, leading to a selection of scenarios to follow.
It can identify potentially low or high productive areas of a field and include dosage maps for planting and fertilizing. It can automatically compare actual to ideal crop development to help set expectations and identify opportunities for improvement. With remote sensing, climate models and other tools, it can provide alerts when problems arise. Agrobit can also offer best practices for minimal environmental impact while improving quality control, to name a few benefits.
Reaping those benefits
More than 5.8 million hectares worldwide are managed with Agrobit. Customers using the solution have improved their productivity by an average of 20% and reduced the environmental impact of their business by an average of 30%.
The increased productivity has helped increase profitability with a 15% improvement in return on investment (ROI). In addition, it has helped reduce uncollectible farm accounts with lending financial institutions.
Chosen to be a finalist
"BIT S.A., with our Agrobit solution, continues to transform the productive sector, combining innovation, technology and agriculture, three fundamental pillars that were the key to being selected as a finalist in the SAP Innovation Awards 2023," says Balussi.
BIT was named a finalist in the "Sustainability Hero" category of the SAP Awards, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Check out more in the BIT Innovation Awards presentation .