Key Takeaways
- Jon Trask discussed with us how Dimitra’s mobile-first platforms allow farmers in remote areas to collect and sync data offline, with cooperative-led deployment ensuring access even where device ownership is limited.
- The company is helping Latin American fruit exporters, including ABRAFRUTAS members who account for roughly 80% of Brazil’s fresh fruit exports, demonstrate compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
- Dimitra’s AI generates plot-level, coordinate-specific recommendations rather than regional averages, making insights relevant even for farms smaller than one hectare.
- Farmer onboarding is driven by community-embedded “digital champions,” with a recent Kenya deployment training an average of ten farmers per champion per day and targeting one million farmers by year-end.
- Trask sees 2026 as a turning point for agriculture within national AI strategies, driven by tightening regulatory standards, climate volatility, and food-security concerns.
As global food systems face mounting pressure from climate change, tightening regulations, and a growing population, the intersection of agriculture and artificial intelligence is drawing serious attention from governments and industry alike. Jon Trask, CEO and Founder of Dimitra, spoke with iGrow News about how his company is deploying AI, blockchain, and satellite technology to support smallholder farmers across Africa, Latin America, and Asia—and why 2026 may mark a decisive year for digital agriculture.
Designing for Connectivity Gaps in Remote Regions
One of the most persistent challenges in agricultural technology is reaching the farmers who need it most—those operating in areas with unreliable power and limited internet access. Dimitra’s response has been to engineer every platform as mobile-first, enabling farmers to register land, capture soil data, complete deforestation risk assessments, and log crop health directly from their phones. The platform uses local device storage so that data can be recorded without an active internet connection and uploaded automatically once a signal becomes available.
“Any technology that fails to account for that reality will fail the people who need it most,” Trask said, adding that Dimitra’s cooperative-led deployment model ensures that where device ownership is limited, cooperatives provide devices and assist with farmer training. He noted the model has been effective in countries including Indonesia, Brazil, Uganda, and Kenya. “Connectivity will improve across Africa over time, but our platforms are built to meet farmers where they are today, and grow with them as that infrastructure develops.”
