San José, 10 December 2025 (IICA) – With the objective of accelerating the development of technological solutions to strengthen Costa Rica’s agri-food sector, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the National Training Institute (INA), the Foreign Trade Promotion Agency (PROCOMER) and the Costa Rica–United States Foundation (CRUSA) held the event “Strengthening Costa Rica’s Agrifoodtech Ecosystem”, a space dedicated to showcasing the country’s entrepreneurial talent and promoting strategic alliances for the transformation of agriculture.
At the meeting held at IICA Headquarters in San José, several startups presented projects featuring technological innovations aimed at boosting agri-food productivity, as part of a program called Agrifoodtech, promoted by the organizing institutions to accelerate the market introduction of new solutions and support the growth of emerging companies.
“The acceleration program has given us tools to better prepare ourselves to raise funds and seek investment in order to carry out the internationalization process we are building”, said Lizzy Retana, co-founder of Biovenko, one of the participating startups.
The opening session featured Byron Salas, Executive Director of CRUSA; Adriana Aguilar, Head of Business Development and Promotion at INA; and Lloyd Day, Deputy Director General of IICA.
Juan Ramírez, Coordinator of PROCOMER’s Descubre Program, explained that Agrifoodtech “was designed this year with the objective of spurring the AgriTech ecosystem in Costa Rica, which is just beginning, and for which we need to generate mechanisms that will allow these companies to scale and provide solutions to national and international business sectors”.
Byron Salas, Executive Director of CRUSA, highlighted three key characteristics of the program currently being strengthened: “First, the enormous potential we have to generate innovation that goes beyond the national level; second, we have entrepreneurs but significant gaps to address — we have the talent and the infrastructure, but we need an ecosystem that can put ideas into practice and that has capital, prototyping models, financial resources, markets and public policy; and third, the urgency of promoting women’s leadership in entrepreneurship, removing barriers so that more women can access opportunities and resources”.
Adriana Aguilar, Head of Business Development and Promotion at the INA, underscored the importance of partnerships to achieve the objectives: “At INA, in our 60 years of experience, we know that training and guidance are fundamental, but generating impact requires bringing together experts from other areas to work jointly, knowing where we need to go and how we can strengthen companies”.
Lloyd Day, Deputy Director General of IICA, emphasized that over the next 25 years food will need to be produced for two billion more people, a scenario in which AgriTechs will play a leading role.
“It is said that we will pollute more, but I am optimistic and confident that we will produce while caring for the planet, the soil, and water thanks to courageous people who study, invest and make sacrifices to produce more with less. All of this begins here, with entrepreneurs whose companies will shape the future and carry the technology that will transform our agricultural practices”, he stated.
Enterprises for the digital and sustainable transformation of agriculture
As part of the event, Costa Rican startups presented innovations that address key challenges related to productivity, sustainability and efficiency in the agri-food sector.
Biovenko introduced biotechnology-based solutions to stimulate crops and control pests and diseases, while Ag Tech showcased developments in nanotechnology aimed at optimizing agricultural processes.
In the digital sphere, S&G Solutions presented an integrated software platform for managing and analyzing agro-industrial operations, and ROSSMON highlighted the use of artificial intelligence for the early detection of crop diseases.
Agricultural mechanization and automation were represented by Roldma Consultores, who offer specialized services to modernize production operations. Green Xpo Lab presented systems that integrate drones, satellite imagery and data analysis to provide precise assessments that guide fertilization, irrigation and efficient decision-making for the use of resources.
Another startup featured was InnoBovin, a company bringing cutting-edge technology to the sector through its livestock management and traceability platform, which centralizes productive, health and animal performance data. H&A Química y Ambiente, for its part, provides consulting services focused on sustainable agriculture, the use of bio-inputs, and comprehensive soil restoration.
In the field of circular economy, Innovaciones Circulares presented its technology for transforming residual nutrients from pig farms into high-value fertilizers for degraded soils and tropical crops. Finally, Cultura Fungi showcased its family-run model dedicated to producing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms free of agrochemicals.
“This program pushed us to think about how to reach larger markets around the world and provided us with tools to improve our product—guidance on legal matters and on how to raise funds—something no other program had offered us before”, emphasized Ana Cristina Trejos, co-founder of Cultura Fungi.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
