This week, the selections of the accelerator Hectar are taking place! On this occasion we met Michael Bruniaux, jury member of the class #3 and co-founder of Sencrop, who tells us about his selection experience and explains how startups can impact the future of agriculture.
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What is Sencrop?
It's a positive impact startup that helps all farmers - large or small, conventional or organic, regardless of crop type - make better decisions in their day-to-day operations with ultra-local data. We focused on risk management decisions, such as knowing the best time to spray or irrigate and when it's necessary, how to optimize operations to save time, products, fuel...
Why did you accept to be part of the jury of the accelerator Hectar ?
To share my experience with business creators but also with the other members of the jury, to exchange with people from different backgrounds.
I really liked the fact that we gathered around the table people from the tech world but also from the agricultural and wine sectors. It's easy between tech boxes to sit down and re-do the world, but with people from the industry and in the field the exchanges are immediately more enriching.
Whatdid you think of the overall level of the startups present?
The selection of startups was well done beforehand, we could really see interesting projects. For startups more or less early it was qualitative and there were international companies, which I found relevant.
Are there any underlying trends in the startups that you've seen as a juror?
The subjects were very varied but if I had to underline two of them it would be carbon and energy consumption which come back more regularly than before on the different projects presented.
For carbon, there are big stakes but we don't know yet what we are getting into. Between carbon credits, carbon trading platforms, low-carbon practices, there are many very different things. For the moment, there is a strong tendency to create projects in these areas and therefore a lot of competition. We'll see over time which companies and positions will succeed more than others, but for now it's hard to know.
The other trend I noticed is the projects around energy consumption, which is understandable in view of the current context: times are hard for producers and actors of the food industry who are very dependent on energy for all those who consume gas and electricity.
And also a good thing: more women founders!
How do you think these startups will impact the future of agriculture?
It's not easy because agriculture is a very special ecosystem with things that don't work for good and bad reasons. If you want to change something in the agricultural sector, you have to know which levers to use: some startups work on distribution, supply, collection, which sometimes compete head-on with existing players. Others use levers and current trends such as the development of consulting services like Sencrop's, where a farmer can benefit from expertise and advice to help him make decisions in order to gain autonomy, save time, or equipment, which allows him to increase his margins and improve his living conditions
These two ways of providing new services and technologies are equally important, and for me startups have a big role to play in these levers. They can have an impact on the future when they are part of the major issues of today and tomorrow to produce better.
Factually, when you look at the agricultural value chain, the distribution of the net margin is generally a V-shaped cycle where the farmer is the one who captures the least net margin. At Sencrop, we believe that we can help them gain independence and autonomy, and improve this margin to improve their working and living conditions.
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