Reforestation from the sky
What do you get when you pair technological innovation with business, adding a dash of social impact and topping it with environmental sustainability? A profitable project that can change lives. And who is the perfect fit to lead on this? A young, ambitious student who cares.
Meet Fernando De Lucca Moreno, the 26-year-old ecopreneur and co-founder of Ceres Seeding from Brazil. The tech start-up focuses on ecological restoration of degraded land by using automated drones for seed distribution. Curious? Read and watch Fernando’s story below.
It is morning at the farm in Pindamonhangaba (translated: “where the river bends”), which is in the Paraíba Valley of São Paulo state in Brazil. Birds sing, dogs wander around and there are trees as far as the eye can see. It is a relaxing and inspiring spot, as Fernando tells me during our online meeting.
To be able to work on this farm, surrounded by nature and projects dedicated to agroforestry, gives enough energy not only for the daily routine but also to push innovations forward.
“We have always been working in an office or at the university, but we weren’t really at the place where things are happening.”
This year, Fernando De Lucca Morena, together with the other two co-founders of Ceres Seeding, opened the company’s headquarters at a farm thanks to a private investor and partner.
Initially Fernando enrolled at the University of Itajubá in Brazil to become an engineer. However, while studying, Fernando joined ENACTUS, and with that a worldwide net of young entrepreneurs who create socio-environmental projects that support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“My first project was to support people who are addicted to alcohol. However, I quickly got involved in projects addressing environmental issues.”
The ENACTUS projects changed him, including his point of view on life, the Paulistano says. This is how Fernando decided to pursue a career that could have a wider impact on Brazil’s communities, and to become a social entrepreneur.
It was also through ENACTUS that Fernando, together with his friends from university, visited a community in Serra dos Toledos that had just faced a severe fire.
Originally, the students were developing ecological sewage solutions, related to water conditions. But what they saw in that community was far more devastating. Due to the hot, dry climate, a fire burned the land that the farmers depended on. Fernando learned that this happened frequently throughout Brazil, and to restore and replant a mountainous area such as Itajuba would cost too much time and money. So the land sat there, wasted.
“This is when it clicked for us. Having seen other examples, we knew that an automated technological system could be the solution to land restoration in Brazil. Coming from the social, environmental world, while my two co-founders, Bruno Vitiello do Amaral and Lucas Gewehr are engineers and savvy in the tech area, we knew we could find a solution – together.”
This is how Ceres Seeding was born.
Ceres Seeding’s goal is to combine technology with environmental maintenance and restoration. Its projects offer solutions to recover areas in various conditions of degradation, including the areas’ mapping and identification, planting forest seeds and monitoring progress.
The three co-founders around Ceres Seeding are convinced that their company can help in fighting the biggest environmental problem the world is facing: climate change.
The Brazilian government is keen to re-plant burnt or degraded land to do just that. However, this land is not always accessible and manual planting of seedlings is expensive, as well as being labour and time intensive.
Ceres Seeding’s solution: the team develops the autonomous, tailored drones themselves for cheaper and more efficient reforestation. In addition, using organic materials, the team developed a seed coating methodology to guarantee nutrients, biological protection and better germination conditions.
“We are the only Brazilian company that developed these technologies for land restoration. It is unique because we have a huge number of native species, making it much harder to reforest big areas compared to the United States or Canada. We develop software and hardware that is compatible with the seed diversity of our lands. This method makes it possible to recover the soil in the worst possible conditions and create a forest from nothing.”
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In the spring of 2023, the company piloted their first project – at the same farm where they now work. At the time, their investor was just a partner who was curious to test the drones in various conditions. The bonus: the drone testing was aired on national TV.
“After this pilot, people started calling us.”
Fernando believes that his company can make a difference in helping Brazil reach its reforestation goals. Not only this: his vision is for Ceres Seeding to become the biggest automated drone provider for reforestation in South America by 2030.
“We aim for international and private sector funds to pay the reforestation costs in exchange for carbon credits; on the other hand, we make agreements with landowners to reforest their areas, helping them regularize their lands, and in return pay them a percentage of the carbon credits generated by the forests.”
A win-win-win for everyone – and what comes after 2030 I ask?
“By 2030, we are planning to have re-planted 10,000 hectares. Of course, this is nothing compared to what is needed. We will strive to develop technology for ecological solutions in general – today we might focus on drones as this is our main know-how, but we keep on learning to offer more diversified technological solutions for the land restoration chain in general.”
2024 has been a good year for the team. Investments started rolling in from the government and the private sector. “It feels like we are now becoming a real company.”
From a passion to university to business – it is possible after all.
Fernando is part of the International Trade Centre’s Ye! Youth Ecopreneur Programme. Out of over 850 applications for its Youth Ecopreneur Awards 2024 and multiple selection stages, Fernando has been selected among eight young entrepreneurs from around the world. During the Awards, to take place as part of the Action Days of the Summit of the Future in New York on 21 September, Fernando, as one of the finalists, will pitch Ceres Seeding’s innovative green business idea. The event will be hosted by ITC Executive Director, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, and G20 GLI and co-hosted by the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Madagascar and Major Group of Children and Youth.
People can register here to watch the competition live: Youth Ecopreneur Programme | Ye! Community (yecommunity.com)