In conjunction with the AgriNovus Agbioscience Innovation Summit, Sao Paulo-based Solinftec announced plans to expand its operations to America, establishing a new U.S. headquarters in West Lafayette, Indiana. With this growth, the digital agriculture company plans to create up to 334 new, high-wage jobs by 2022.
“Indiana is at the center of innovation in agtech, and today’s news is yet another example of the collaborative ecosystem we’ve created here,” Governor Eric J. Holcomb said. “Solinftec choosing to locate its first U.S. operation and its U.S. headquarters in Tippecanoe County will not only create hundreds of high-skilled, high-wage jobs, but it will bolster an industry that is developing new solutions, improving agricultural products consumed around the world, and enabling farmers in Indiana and beyond to grow their operations.”
Solinftec plans to invest $50.6 million to establish operations at the Purdue Research Park in Tippecanoe County, investing in software and computer hardware to expand the company's innovations to the U.S. and increase its tech-based offerings for U.S. customers in the agriculture industry. The company offers an IoT-based farm management system enabled by a suite of technologies, including proprietary hardware, a telemetry communications network and a software as a service (SaaS) platform, to support the increased efficiency of agricultural operations like planting, harvesting and spraying. The technology digitizes all aspects of agriculture operations, monitoring all processes and providing real-time actionable insights that increase crop returns.
Solinftec grew quickly in Latin America by making sugar cane and row crops operations more efficient, and its solution is now present in more than 16 million acres and its equipment is monitored in real time by more than 100,000 daily users. This new Indiana facility will enable the company to expand its solutions to new crops and accommodate increased demand in North America. To support planned growth, Solinftec will be hiring for positions in sales and IT, as well as data scientists, engineers and agronomists, beginning early 2019. New positions are expected to offer salaries above both the state and Tippecanoe County average wage. Interested applicants may apply by email at hr@solinftec.com.
"The U.S. Midwest is core to our strategy; we recognize its importance in the global food and its ag ecosystem. We are humbled and thrilled to launch our U.S. headquarters out of the state of Indiana,” said Renato Hersz, Solinftec’s strategy and corporate development director. “We thank the state government, Agrinovus, Purdue University and Tom Farms for their vision on supporting this initiative and for its Hoosier hospitality.”
Founded in 2007, Solinftec offers technology solutions that supply farm operators with information about the status of their machines and their progress based on the position and activity the machines are undertaking. Combining this with harvest data, the company gives clients a verifiable record of their harvest and traceability from the farm to the truck to the mill, without any human input. Solinftec serves large international growers such as Raizen, which reports more than 3,000 monitored equipment – the largest telemetry system in the world, as well as international companies like Tereos, Cofco and British Petroleum, Amaggi, Bom Futuro and Terra Santa. Currently, the solutions are largely used in the field of sugar cane crops and row crops in Latin America, and its U.S. headquarters will enable the company to expand into other markets and other crops.
“Following on the heels of Inari’s decision to locate its Seed Foundry at Purdue, this shows that the Wabash Heartland area, with Purdue as an economic magnet, has a very real chance of becoming a world center of precision agriculture,” Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said.
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of the AgriNovus Agbioscience Innovation Summit. The Summit brings together global agriculture leaders and entrepreneurs to tackle the world’s most critical challenges by focusing on solutions that growers and processors can use in their fields and plants, as well as showcasing the latest innovations for farmers, investors and stakeholders in the agbiosciences.
“AgriNovus and Solinftec first crossed paths earlier this year at an Ag Tech conference in San Francisco,” said Beth Bechdol, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “Their commitment to a bringing their technology to row crops and to the Midwest was clear, and I’m thrilled that they recognized the depth and diversity of Indiana’s agbioscience assets. It is exciting to see several companies in just a few short months move or expand in Indiana, and we welcome Solinftec to our agbioscience community.”
Subject to the review of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) Board of Directors, the IEDC will offer Tecsoil USA (dba Solinftec) up to $6 million in conditional tax credits based on the company’s job creation plans. These incentives are performance-based, meaning until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives. The city of West Lafayette and Tippecanoe County support the project at the request of Greater Lafayette Commerce.
“We are so happy to hear of Solinftec’s decision to locate here in West Lafayette, Indiana," West Lafayette Mayor John R. Dennis said. "Purdue, the Purdue Research Foundation, Tippecanoe County and Greater Lafayette Commerce have been leading the way in making our community one of the best places in the world to focus on technology, agriculture and their convergence. As a person who happily calls West Lafayette home, I know Solinftec will enjoy its new American hometown."
Solinftec is the second agriculture-related business this month to announce plans to move into the Purdue Research Park. Inari, a Flagship Pioneering company, announced on Nov. 8 that it was expanding from Cambridge, Massachusetts, as it seeks to reintroduce genetic diversity into the seed industry.
About Solinftec: Founded in 2007, Solinftec provides solutions to give farm operations information about the status of their machines and their progress based on their positioning and what activity they’re undertaking. Combining this with harvest data, the company gives clients a verifiable record of their harvest and traceability from the farm to the truck to mill, without any human input. Solinftec is expanding its operations to America, establishing a new U.S. headquarters in West Lafayette, Indiana.
About IEDC: The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) leads the state of Indiana’s economic development efforts, helping businesses launch, grow and locate in the state. Governed by a 15-member board chaired by Governor Eric J. Holcomb, the IEDC manages many initiatives, including performance-based tax credits, workforce training grants, innovation and entrepreneurship resources, public infrastructure assistance, and talent attraction and retention efforts. For more information about the IEDC, visit www.iedc.in.gov.