Húmica - Regenerate the Planet

We are trying to solve stabilization of carbon rich ecosystems , for example biodiversity loss and deforestation derived from industrial agriculture and food systems:

In Mexico, 25% of the national territory are humid - dry - carbon rich forests, in the first case it is estimated that currently only 10% of the original distribution remains (AMC-CONACYT, 2007), the main cause is deforestation caused by precious woods or timber and allocate farmland for large scale agricultural activities and industrial monocultures.

The report of the Intergovernmental Scientific-Normative Platform on Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) indicates: “...16.5% of vertebrate pollinators are threatened with extinction worldwide. In Europe, 9% of bee and butterfly species are threatened and populations are declining by 37% for bees and 31% for butterflies (excluding species for which data are lacking , including 57% bees.

Local communities in Mexico, as in many other parts of the world, are lacking technology tools that can allow them to generate income and at the same time stop degrading our forests and jungles in the long term.  Finally, as part of our biotechnology approach we are solving the soil carbon monitoring  costs on a larger scale that could be limiting the adoption of carbon removal technologies by different smallholder communities.

We want to produce foods that help reverse the climate crisis by combining 3 elements:

1. Soil Biotechnology & Biochar

We design tailored-made biochar biofertilizers to improve soil fertility by 15-30% and also capture between 2.22 - 3.67 Tons of CO2eq from the air for each ton of biofertilizer produced. This technology also makes it possible to issue carbon credits as an additional source of income for farmers.

2. Edapho-ecological diagnosis and data science

We are building a machine learning platform for soil profiling & diagnostics, we can understand the needs for certain soil type, estimating the amount of carbon that soil-unit can store. Also the soil information allow us to design a Biochar recipe combining it with other specific ingredients like mycorrhizal fungi, plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), different minerals or rock dust types, different particle size, pH, etc.

This data science tool will enable us and other companies to scale-up the biochar potential to store carbon in the soil, allowing us to provide mapping capabilities focusing on specific crops like cacao, coffee, vanilla, citrus trees, avocado, etc. and do it in a semi-automated platform.

3. Education programs for girls and women in rural areas.

Women farmers are agents of change willing to innovate and lead models of regenerative agriculture. Furthermore, according to Project Drawdown-2017, the empowerment of girls and women in rural areas has the potential to avoid 121.26 gigatons of CO2 by 2050. Women as smallholders produce between 60 and 80% of the food in low-income countries despite having less access to resources such as capital, training, tools and technology, if they had them, the yield of their plots would increase between 20 and 30%. When different cropping systems  produce well, there is less pressure to deforest additional land, reducing between 0.68 and 1.4 gigatons of CO2 by 2050 (Drawdown Project). Húmica is currently collaborating with women's cooperatives in the search for new high-value markets so that they can continue promoting regenerative agriculture.

We share with you this press release to help you understand our startup on a better way

To solve problems related to the climate crisis, such as the loss of biodiversity or the pollinator crisis, the socio-economic context of the communities must first be understood. In this sense, and after conducting at least 100 interviews with farmers in the field, we discovered that in order to implement regenerative production models (eg an agroforestry system), it is necessary to generate CERTAINTY and TRUST in the producers.

In the Húmica model we focus on the smallholder agro-producer.  We are building our model in order to provide certainty towards the producers by facilitating access to a new regenerative marketplace where they can sell their products such as cocoa, honey, citrus or vanilla on a fair trade scheme, in cash and seeking to enter into contracts of medium or long term. 
We are currently creating our first prototype of e-commerce platforms such as the online store, https://www.humica.store
We even hope to be able to export initial batches of products for the month of July-August 2022.

Because we want to transform the food industry into a tool that helps reverse the climate crises, biodiversity loss and gender injustices around the world.

The idea came because in a previous venture we wanted to sell biofertilizers that capture atmospheric CO2. When we wanted to sell with agricultural producers we discovered that they simply do not care about climate change or biodiversity. We learned that their greatest need is to generate certainty in their processes and sales from their products. There we had the idea to change the business model and Húmica was born. A startup that gives certainty to farmers, empowers women and helps them sell their products at better prices. But for that to be possible, we must deliver value to a specific market segment, in that sense it is that the value of environmental regeneration can provide benefits to customers in cities who are looking for delicious products and that help reverse the climate crisis.

The market nowadays drives the customer to Degenerate the planet, destroy it. Keeps selling us food options that degrade soils, deforestation, removes jungle and animals from their habitats. Food options are often frustrating because you can only get “healthy, ecofriendly products” in high priced, specialty stores of rich high-developed countries. We want to change that, we want to democratize access to regenerative foods, we dream of carbon farming being mainstream, food forest and jungles everywhere, in every country.  Regenerative food does not have to be “elite food”.

We want to break the “unicorn minded entrepreneur system”, we hate the idea of a billion company that only wants to ACCUMULATE money. Instead we want to become a DISTRIBUTIVE startup, that means that we want to grow really big, but NOT TO ACCUMULATE, instead we dream of sharing our billion dollar valuation and profits with the communities we work with and restoring the planet.

Our main challenge right now is customer acceptance because we need to implement lean startup methodologies and define in a more precise way our customer segment. We want to know their problems, their pains - gains, and implement a problem solution fit program that will allow us to design a marketplace where communities can sell their regenerative agro-products and enterprises and business can find and buy secure, traceble and delicious food ingredients that reverse climate change from the communities.

Regulatory issues also are a challenge because regenerative practices, positive impacts such as biodiversity, soil carbon and social benefits will need to be measured and accounted for.  

The market nowadays drives the customer to Degenerate the planet, destroy it. Keeps selling us food options that degrade soils, deforestation, removes jungle and animals from their habitats. Food options are often frustrating because you can only get “healthy, ecofriendly products” in high priced, specialty stores of rich high-developed countries. We want to change that, we want to democratize access to regenerative foods, we dream of carbon farming being mainstream, food forest and jungles everywhere, in every country.  Regenerative food does not have to be “elite food”.

We want to break the “unicorn minded entrepreneur system”, we hate the idea of a billion company that only wants to ACCUMULATE money. Instead we want to become a DISTRIBUTIVE startup, that means that we want to grow really big, but NOT TO ACCUMULATE, instead we dream of sharing our billion dollar valuation and profits with the communities we work with and restoring the planet.

Basically we expect that the territorial extension of jungles and forests will increase, the diversity of species and structure in agricultural systems will increase, as well as a positive effect on the populations of vertebrate and invertebrate pollinators in farmland. Finally, the organic carbon content in agricultural soils also increased significantly.

We do not know enough about indicators, for this we require technical support, according to the list we consider the following indicators as some of the most relevant:
-Carbon stock in the property
-Emissions in the product life cycle
-Carbon content
-% of forests in agroforestry schemes
-Number of innovative projects that positively impact employment and other social aspects.
-Number of cooperatives and micro-financing schemes to empower communities.
-Carbon intensity added value/KgCO2
-Number of small producers (>5 ha.) that sell to the organization.
-The enterprise has schemes for converting waste into energy and/or biofertilizers
-Production units certified in impact on biodiversity.
-Percentage increase in the price paid by the buyer to the producer for the added value of the good.
-Reforested area

Because we are materializing solutions that help reverse the climate crisis, every time you buy our honey, orange juice or chocolate you are removing CO2 from the air and capturing it in the soil, regenerating biodiversity and helping young women prosper in their communities.

We provide rural communities with whom we collaborate with training in carbon and regenerative agriculture, high-tech biofertilizers and fair trade prices.
We are creating the first marketplace for regenerative food and ingredients, we want to bring together food companies that are looking for regenerative ingredients that capture CO2 and connect them directly with small farmers and agricultural producers, allowing access to fairer prices and creating extra income for communities by capturing CO2

we want to produce foods that help reverse the climate crisis by using 3 tools: 1)Soil carbon biotechnology, 2)Biodiversity Regeneration and 3)Girls & women education programs in rural areas. As a biotech company we remove atmospheric CO2, stabilize it and then transform it into biofertilizers. By doing this we can remove up to 3.67 Ton of CO2 per Ton of biofertilizers being used, our fertilizing technology has the potential to withdraw around 900 million Tons of CO2 (0.9 GigaTon) by 2050. Also, reviewing the 2017 solutions published by Project Drawdown, empowering girls and women in rural areas has the potential to avoid 121.26 GigaTon of CO2 by 2050. If you add-up regenerative carbon farming practices, Biofertilizers and empowering women in rural areas the total amount of CO2 that can be offset is 162 GigaTon of CO2 worldwide by 2050, that is around 11 times the annual CO2 emissions of the USA and China combined.

The leadership and role that women take in the field is a powerful trigger for things to happen! At Húmica we have verified that they are the people most open to innovating and moving towards models of regenerative agriculture.

Giving them access to resources for agriculture, in addition to being a fair and egalitarian action, represents an opportunity for strategic, intelligent transformation and strengthening of agricultural value chains that improve the quality of life in rural communities and specify solutions to the climate crisis.

We committ to the following MIT's solve diversity, equity and inclusion statements:

Diversity: We appreciate and leverage the many differences of Solve staff and Solve’s larger community, and we involve and reflect the various communities we serve through partnership and open innovation. We believe that “everyone should have a seat at the problem-solving table,” as MIT President Reif states. 

Equity: We design our policies, practices, and resources with the goal of providing people of all backgrounds a genuine opportunity to thrive. 

Inclusion: We strive to create an environment in which everyone feels valued and respected. Solve specifically seeks to support social entrepreneurs who use human-centered, inclusive technologies to solve world challenges. We know that when solutions are designed with the most underserved populations in mind, they benefit everyone. 

We basically sell food products (the 2021 products will be: honey, chocolate powder, cacao nibs and lemongrass tea) on web platforms like our own online store, amazon, social media, etc. The difference is that we provide an easy solution for consumers to acquire food that helps REVERSE the climate crisis; products that sequester carbon in soils, regenerate biodiversity and help girls and women in rural areas to access education.

We provide rural communities that we collaborate with regenerative and carbon farming training, high tech biofertilizers and fair trade pricing. We buy and pack their products and sell them online (amazon or our online store). Also it is important to say that we believe in “distributive revenues” that means that instead of accumulating profits to become a “unicorn - startup”,  part of our profits (5 - 25%) are destined to implement educational scholarships to empower girls and women from their rural organizations.

Our objective: to implement a regenerative agri-food model as an instrument to reverse the climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity. In Mexico, 25% of the national territory is wet and dry forests, in the first case only 10% of the original territorial distribution is maintained (AMC-CONACYT, 2007), the main cause is deforestation for precious woods and assigning land for cultivation for agricultural activities and large-scale monocultures.
To transform agriculture that "cuts down jungles to plant" we help small producers in 3 main aspects: 1) Generate greater certainty to produce their crops, 2) Facilitate access to markets that provide better prices for their products, 3) Access to technology and methods to add the value of capturing CO2 and recovering biodiversity in their plots.
We are 4 entrepreneurs and our specific goal is to establish a pilot for the production of citrus-honey-cocoa-vanilla that implements our new regenerative model.

So far we have achieved:

+340 TON OF CO2eq REMOVED AND CAPTURED
TRAINING FOR 324 PRODUCERS
COLLABORATION WITH 3 WOMEN'S COOPERATIVES
7 STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

MARKETPLACE PILOT FOR REGENERATIVE FOODS
FIRST BIOFERTILIZER THAT CAPTURES CO2
FINALISTS WORLD COMPETITION TFF CHALLENGE 2021
2 PRODUCTS WITH FIRST SALES