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First steps
Business needs
We began with an internal research phase, conducting 5 interviews with business stakeholders to dive into the commercial model, and 10 interviews with regional sales reps to understand the traditional sales process and friction points with growers.
A key finding emerged from the seed development team: they needed growers to log highly precise field data, as this was the primary input for laboratory trials and continuous genetic improvement.
The challenge was clear: the more information the technical team required, the heavier the workload placed on the grower. Therefore, designing a seamless, frictionless experience for logging crop data became a central pillar of the project.
User research
During the program's first season, we had 25 registered growers. I conducted 8 in-depth interviews to understand their actual field workflows, aiming to discover not just what data they needed to log, but when and how they would do it.
The findings were highly specific. Since growers were already using AgTech tools, we benchmarked their go-to solutions to align with their operational expectations. We discovered that they placed the highest value on tracking rainfall, input applications, and soil characteristics. Furthermore, we pinpointed their exact context of use: they would access the platform primarily via desktop or tablets right on the plots, often dealing with limited connectivity.
These insights drove our design strategy: prioritize the data growers care about most, drastically simplify data entry, and optimize the overall experience for low-connectivity field environments.
From registration to harvest
Program registration flows
We structured the project around two main pillars: the season enrollment flow and the crop cycle monitoring.
Before the platform, the program was in its early stages, running trials on company-owned fields with about 50 selected growers. Scaling meant digitalizing the enrollment process so any grower could join autonomously.
Our research highlighted the two main factors driving a grower's decision to join: the seed's technical compatibility with their soil and the crop's financial profitability. To address this, we designed a progressive, five-step flow that prioritized absolute transparency from the start:
Crop definition and soil characteristics.
Technical seed variety selection.
Dynamic price calculation, including additional inputs.
Identity validation.
Account creation and digital contract signature.
This structure not only simplified complex data entry but also became the baseline for subsequent seasons, allowing us to agilely adjust technical requirements and commercial variables with each new edition.
Crop monitoring
The second pillar was comprehensive crop cycle monitoring. Growers needed to log critical events on their plots, such as fertilizer applications, rainfall tracking, and climate alerts. The challenge was making this data entry as seamless as possible without sacrificing the granular detail required by the technical team.
Working closely with the technical team, we mapped out the crop's essential biological stages to design accurate data-entry flows. We validated our initial prototypes through 10 usability testing sessions with real growers, allowing us to simplify the interactions and reduce friction. Since research revealed that growers typically visited the plots and then worked from their computers, we intentionally optimized the experience for desktop and tablet rather than adopting a standard mobile-first approach.
By aligning our research insights with business goals, we identified needs that extended beyond monitoring. Consequently, we proposed and integrated two additional modules: logistics management and input requests with harvest coordination. This centralized processes within the platform that growers previously managed independently across multiple suppliers.
Challenges Overcome
One of the main challenges was transitioning to a coordinated management model, which required growers to perform unfamiliar tasks and tracking routines. To tackle this, I designed tutorials directly integrated into the platform and partnered with the sales team—the primary link to the growers—to organize in-person workshops that eased the learning curve.
The second major challenge was synchronizing with the seed technical team. Each season depended on new seed varieties developed in the lab, leaving tight timeframes to adapt the platform to their technical specifications. To mitigate this, we used interviews and surveys to pinpoint the most relevant data for growers, providing the technical team with a clear prioritization of the required information. This allowed us to iterate on the platform without waiting for 100% of the technical details for each new variety.
Results
Product impact and learnings
During the three years I worked on the project, the Generación HB4 program grew significantly season after season. The platform accompanied that growth from its beginnings, when the program had 15 growers and 3,000 hectares of HB4 soy, until reaching 50,000 hectares of HB4 wheat planted and a soy program with capacity for 150 growers and 20,000 hectares in 2022/23.
Beyond the growth in scale, the platform was the driving force that made it possible to professionalize and make the seed multiplication stage auditable, guaranteeing the traceability of each crop and providing the technical team with the necessary data for the continuous genetic improvement of the program.
My work took place during this critical period prior to mass commercialization, iterating season after season to adapt the platform to new varieties, new technical requirements, and a constantly growing grower base.
