Joaquín Basanta: leadership and innovation in the sustainable transformation of agriculture

Joaquín Basanta is the founder and current president of Agro Sustentable, an Argentine company that promotes an agricultural production model centered on efficiency, technological innovation and respect for the environment. Under his leadership, the company has positioned itself as one of the main references in the development and application of bioinputs and high-impact technological solutions for the agro-industrial sector.

From the beginning, Basanta’s vision was based on a concrete premise: it is possible to scale organic production without compromising productivity or quality standards. His strategic approach integrates scientific knowledge, advanced technology and environmental commitment, factors that have consolidated Agro Sustentable as a key player in the modernization process of Argentine and regional agriculture.

The starting point of this path can be traced back to 2015, when a technical report on organic fertilizers sparked Basanta’s interest in a production model alternative to the traditional one. Far from being a simple trend, the possibility of obtaining higher yields through biological solutions represented, for him, an opportunity to structurally transform the agricultural system. This objective materialized in the creation of Agro Sustentable, together with his partner Matías Imperiale, an agricultural engineer specialized in sustainable systems.

The company has achieved sustained growth since its foundation, with a proposal centered on the development of certified inputs, such as organic fertilizers and insecticides, designed to increase field efficiency while reducing environmental impact. The incorporation of technology is one of the fundamental pillars of its model. The use of agricultural drones, artificial intelligence tools and high-precision sensors has made it possible to optimize the use of natural resources and minimize waste, also facilitating access to these solutions for small and medium-sized producers.

In 2021, Agro Sustentable inaugurated its production plant in the province of Misiones, incorporating technological innovation processes that make it possible to reduce water use by 90% in certain applications. This infrastructure not only improves operational efficiency, but also reinforces the company’s environmental commitment.

Institutional recognition arrived in 2022, when Agro Sustentable obtained certification as a B Corp, integrating environmental, social and economic impact criteria into its business model. This distinction was followed by entry into the European market in 2023 and the granting of the National Young Entrepreneur Award in Spain to Joaquín Basanta, the first Argentine to receive that distinction.

At the international level, the company has positioned itself as a reliable supplier of bioinputs in demanding markets such as Brazil, Paraguay and Spain. Its presence at the WIPO GREEN event of the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva in 2024 consolidated Agro Sustentable’s role as an exponent of green innovation in Latin America. There, Basanta presented the positive impact of the company’s business model in terms of productivity and sustainability, highlighting concrete cases such as peach cultivation in Mendoza, optimized through its biological solutions.

The growth of the bioinputs market, estimated to reach 24% of the global total by 2029, represents an opportunity that Agro Sustentable is already capitalizing on. The company has outlined an expansion strategy based on the scalability of organic production, aimed at both the domestic market and international trade, with a focus on the United States and the European Union.

One of the differentiating factors of the model promoted by Basanta is the integration of cutting-edge technology in the development, application and monitoring of products. This vision, which combines science, sustainability and productivity, allows the company to adapt to the challenges of an industry in transformation, with solutions that respond both to consumer demands and to the concrete needs of producers.

In addition, Agro Sustentable has consolidated itself as a reference in research and development, working in collaboration with universities, technology centers and producers of different scales. This articulation between technical knowledge and entrepreneurial capital has been essential in turning an initiative born from an idea into a company recognized at the regional level.

Through an integral approach that ranges from the formulation of bioinputs to user training in their implementation, Joaquín Basanta has managed to consolidate a proposal that not only responds to current market demands, but also contributes to defining the direction of the agriculture of the future.