Brazilian agribusiness accounts for roughly 24 % of national GDP and more than USD 160 billion in annual exports. It relies on intricate logistics chains, involves thousands of producers of every size and faces growing demands for transparency from regulators and global buyers. Blockchain promises clear advantages in this setting—end-to-end traceability, decentralized financing, automated settlement of contracts, certified carbon credits—yet current adoption is patchy and poorly documented. Without reliable numbers, developers keep reinventing basic field research, investors risk funding initiatives of questionable relevance and the Product Committee lacks hard evidence to prioritise the 2025 roadmap.

To close that gap we propose a seven-month study—the Blockchain Adoption Map for Brazilian Agribusiness (BAM-Agro)—combining desk research, in-depth interviews and quantitative surveys to deliver the first comprehensive portrait of blockchain adoption in the country’s most powerful economic engine. The project will produce three core outputs:

A bilingual technical report (~ 35 pages, Portuguese & English) containing: • an inventory of at least 25 pilots or live projects; • adoption metrics (volumes, maturity stages, ROI indicators); • analysis of the main technical, regulatory and market bottlenecks; • a ranking of value chains by on-chain impact potential.

An open data package (.xlsx) with all quantitative and qualitative findings, anonymised where necessary and ready for reuse by developers, researchers and funding bodies.

Three Cardano Problem Statements (CPSs) derived directly from field evidence, each detailing market opportunity, cost of inaction, estimated transactional value and minimum solution requirements.

Specific Objectives Map who is already using blockchain in the field, detailing technology, scope, results and maturity.

Quantify economic value and data volume for each value chain naturally suited to blockchain (soy, beef, sugarcane, coffee, corn).

Diagnose barriers—technical, regulatory, cultural—that still block large-scale adoption.

Deliver objective insights that let Cardano prioritise development, funding and marketing with confidence.

Five-Step Method Desk research (months 1-2): legislation, export rules, Embrapa and CNA reports, academic literature.

Forty semi-structured interviews (months 2-4): producers, cooperatives, traders, ag-fintechs, logistics consortia and regulators (MAPA, CVM).

Stratified online survey (months 2-4): ≥ 300 responses, segmented by crop and region.

Data analysis (months 4-5): consolidation, statistical cross-checks with IBGE/Cepea production data, clustering of need profiles.

Synthesis & validation (months 5-7): report drafting, CPS creation, single public Town Hall for community feedback, final adjustments.

The Cardano ecosystem combines several technical attributes—environment-friendly consensus models, evolving on-chain governance, low fees, and formal security—that make it both competitive and distinctive among leading blockchains. Yet these qualities have not yet translated into broad adoption. Brazil’s agribusiness sector, which accounts for roughly 24 % of national GDP, offers a promising market in which Cardano can achieve the much-needed product-market fit. Although numerous blockchain proofs of concept (POCs) already exist, there is still no unified diagnosis showing where, how, and to what depth Cardano is—or could be—active in the sector. This gap creates three central bottlenecks:

1. Fragmented information – Initiatives emerge in isolation—in cooperatives, start-ups, or public agencies—without a national inventory that clarifies who is doing what, at what maturity stage, and with what results.
2. Strategic decisions made in the dark – Without standardized data on costs, ROI, and technical barriers, developers, DReps, investors, and funding bodies (Intersect, Catalyst) end up setting priorities by perception rather than evidence.
3. Risk of overlap or critical gaps – Lacking an adoption map, future projects may duplicate existing efforts or ignore high-impact value chains in transactions, governance, and sustainability. Consequence: Cardano risks allocating resources to initiatives disconnected from real-world demand, while the agricultural sector remains without reliable tools for traceability, financing, and environmental management. We initially planned a Cardano outreach campaign with Brazil’s leading agribusiness news outlet, already one of our partners. However, current technical constraints for real-world assets (RWA) indicate that the immediate step must be a comprehensive study to gather concrete evidence of the sector’s needs. These data will support the development of appropriate products—especially once privacy solutions come into force—and will later underpin our proposal for a publicity campaign fully aligned with agribusiness demands.

Implementing the “Blockchain Adoption Map for Brazilian Agribusiness” requires an investment of ₳ 330,750 (≈ US$ 198,000), yet it delivers benefits that ripple across the entire network. First, the study becomes a public repository of market intelligence. Any new team aiming to build an agribusiness application no longer needs to spend months on basic research: adoption data, regulatory requirements, and lessons from at least twenty-five proven pilots will be available in one place. If ten initiatives draw on this material over the next two years, the community will save more than ₳ 1,000,000 in technical hours—three times the project’s original cost. Second, the diagnosis provides hard evidence for funding decisions. Intersect committees, stake-pool delegates, and Catalyst voters will see exactly which gaps merit investment and which proposals are redundant for Brazil’s agribusiness sector. Third, the material gives marketing teams an unprecedented segmentation compass. Joint campaigns with the press stop being generic and start speaking the language of each supply chain and each region. That precision lowers user-acquisition costs by roughly 25 percent and is expected to generate hundreds of new agribusiness wallets in the first year alone—turning visibility into real network usage. Finally, even modest adoption—just 0.05 percent of the US$ 160 billion that Brazil exports annually—would move about US$ 100 million in assets onto the ecosystem, boosting transaction volume, strengthening staking, and enlarging the Treasury that funds future innovation cycles. In short, every ADA invested in this research returns multiples: it saves development resources, safeguards community funds, accelerates user onboarding, and opens an economic corridor with billion-dollar potential. The result is a more efficient, better-informed Cardano ecosystem, ready to turn agribusiness opportunities into concrete blockchain adoption.

Key Milestones and Deliverables Over the seven-month execution period, the project will be structured around five clear milestones, each producing tangible, verifiable outputs. By the end, the Cardano community will have a complete reference toolkit for guiding technical decisions, investments, and adoption campaigns in Brazilian agribusiness.

Milestone 1 — Preparation and Alignment (Month 1) Formalise partner agreements, finalise research instruments, publish the public timeline. Deliverable: a detailed methodological plan (PT/EN) including the schedule, interview guides, and the draft online questionnaire. Community value: full transparency on how data will be collected and a chance to suggest adjustments before fieldwork begins.

Milestone 2 — Qualitative Data Collection (Months 2–3) Conduct 40 semi-structured interviews with cooperatives, start-ups, exporters, and regulators. Deliverable: an executive summary of interview insights (anonymised). Community value: early signals of where adoption is already happening, the most recurring business pain points, and stakeholder expectations regarding Cardano.

Milestone 3 — Quantitative Data Collection (Months 2–4) Launch a stratified survey, aiming for at least 300 validated responses across five value chains and all regions. Deliverable: raw data set (.xlsx) available for download. Community value: numeric data that enable independent analyses—any team can filter by crop, state, or operation size.

Milestone 4 — Analysis and Synthesis (Months 4–5) Tabulate results, cross-check with production statistics (IBGE, Cepea), draft three Cardano Problem Statements. Deliverable: a provisional mini-report (10 pages) with key charts and the preliminary CPSs released for public feedback. Community value: participatory validation; developers and DReps can comment on or reprioritise findings before the final version.

Milestone 5 — Final Report and Dissemination (Months 6–7) Write the final report, conduct technical review, translate content, and hold a public presentation session. Final deliverables:

Bilingual report detailing adoption metrics, barriers, and recommendations.

Final data spreadsheet, ready for reuse.

Three standardised, numbered CPSs suitable for citation in Catalyst proposals or the 2026 product-roadmap discussion.

Town Hall presentation recording for later reference.

Community value: • A clear map of opportunities for new dApps, investments, and partnerships. • Evidence that lowers the risk of funding low-traction initiatives. • Targeted marketing tools focused on the value chains with greatest potential.

What does the community receive in the end? A complete kit—report, data set, and CPSs—serving as a public, free reference. These resources allow any Cardano ecosystem member to: • save time on preliminary research; • prioritise development where impact is greatest; • base voting and funding decisions on facts, not assumptions; • submit stronger blockchain-adoption proposals for the agribusiness sector.

The results will remain available for future consultation and can be updated annually through a mini-census, ensuring ongoing relevance at minimal cost.

Milestone 1 – Preparation (Month 1) 33,075 ADA • US $19,845 — partners confirmed, research instruments finalized, and timeline published.

Milestone 2 – Qualitative interviews (Months 2–3) 79,380 ADA • US $47,628 — 40 interviews completed and an executive summary of insights delivered.

Milestone 3 – Quantitative survey (Months 2–4) 76,060 ADA • US $45,636 — questionnaire deployed, 300 validated responses collected, and raw data set released.

Milestone 4 – Analysis and preliminary CPS (Months 4–5) 69,460 ADA • US $41,676 — data tabulated, cross-checked with official statistics, and three preliminary Cardano Problem Statements drafted.

Milestone 5 – Final report and dissemination (Months 6–7) 72,775 ADA • US $43,665 — bilingual report, final spreadsheet, finalized CPSs, and public presentation delivered.

Project Manager • Part-time (15 hours/week) for all 7 months — oversees timeline, budget, and stakeholder coordination

Coordinator / Lead Researcher • Part-time (20 hours/week) for all 7 months — designs methodology, leads interviews, writes final report

Data Analyst • Full-time (40 hours/week) in months 2–5 • Part-time in months 6–7 — handles tabulation, statistics, charts

Research Assistant • 1.5 days per week throughout the project — manages scheduling, logistics, and documentation

Regulatory Consultant • Ad-hoc: about 1 day per month in months 4–5 — ensures compliance with MAPA/CVM and data-protection rules

PT ↔ EN Translator • 8 hours/week in months 6–7 — produces the bilingual version of the report and CPSs

The project’s core team brings proven expertise in three areas that are critical to the success of the “Blockchain Adoption Map for Brazilian Agribusiness.”

Maria Carmo is a leading educator in the Cardano ecosystem, a pioneer in Project Catalyst (Fund 1) and the host of more than a hundred livestreams and events—including a broadcast on Binance Brazil’s channel that surpassed 34 000 views. As host of the Cardano Summit 2022 in Brazil and the CIP-1694 workshop in 2023, Maria has mastered the art of translating technical concepts for diverse audiences—an ideal skill set for turning interviews with producers and traders into clear insights for the Cardano community.

Daniela Alves, who will lead the project’s methodology, spent fifteen years as the executive director of a corporate-diplomacy firm, heading market studies for governments—among them Canada—and for multinational corporations entering Brazil. She served five years as vice-director of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and sat on the BRICS Business Council, giving her direct access to exporters, cooperatives and regulatory authorities. As a lecturer at IBMEC-SP and executive coordinator of a government plan for the city of São Paulo, Daniela honed strong skills in managing complex projects and presenting high-level results.

Charmaine Alves is an international agribusiness consultant with hands-on experience both in rural Brazil and in the Chinese market. She has drafted development plans for farming municipalities and maintains ongoing relationships with agriculture departments, cooperatives and overseas buyers—ensuring swift access to key interviewees and reliable validation of the study’s conclusions.

The core goal of this proposal is to create a lasting knowledge asset— a report, a data set and a set of problem statements — that the Cardano ecosystem can reuse without relying on expensive infrastructure or a permanent team. Its long-term upkeep rests on four pillars:

Open, lightweight publication • The final report will be published as a PDF on the GovChainLab website. • The master data sheet will be delivered in .xlsx, making updates possible without proprietary tools. Anyone in the community—or any future researcher—will be able to download, review and expand the content at zero cost.

Light annual update cycle In partnership with cooperatives, start-ups and other institutions, we will run a “mini-census” each October: a short survey (10–12 questions) whose results will be compiled into a three- to four-page addendum. The workload is estimated at two weeks for a single analyst and can be financed through a Catalyst micro-grant or an Intersect allocation.

Zero infrastructure costs The project requires no dedicated servers and no complex interactive dashboards, keeping recurring expenses at virtually zero.

In short, once the initial study is complete, the deliverables remain current through a low-cost update cycle, leveraged by existing partnerships and lightweight community funding, ensuring the material stays alive and continues to guide new Cardano initiatives in the agribusiness sector.

To launch the “Blockchain Adoption Map for Brazilian Agribusiness,” all strategic connections are already in place: we maintain active relationships with cooperatives, major exporters, sector entities (CNA, OCB), and research institutes such as Embrapa, ensuring immediate access to the necessary information sources. Once funding is approved, the remaining steps are purely operational—formalizing participation terms already agreed to verbally, scheduling on-site interviews, and initiating the online survey. With these measures, the project is fully prepared to begin and proceed on a seven-month timeline through to delivery of the final report.