Turning regenerative agriculture into measurable progress with GeoAI
From ambition to measurable regeneration Regenerative agriculture has moved from a promising concept to a strategic priority for companies working...
At this year’s World Coffee Innovation Summit in London, Picterra and Planet shared the stage to discuss a challenge that reaches far beyond the coffee industry: how companies can move from reactive compliance to proactive sustainability.
In a live conversation at the event, Dr. Frank de Morsier of Picterra and Dr. Flávia de Souza Mendes of Planet explored how combining GeoAI with daily satellite imagery is helping supply chains detect deforestation risks earlier, verify sourcing claims, and strengthen relationships with farmers and suppliers.
Their central message was clear: the tools now exist to act before the damage is done, not after. Watch the conversation on demand on LinkedIn and YouTube.
For many companies, deforestation monitoring remains reactive. Verification still depends on annual reports or static datasets that reveal problems only once they are too late to fix. The result is costly interventions, supply disruptions, and reputational exposure.
High-frequency satellite imagery and GeoAI analysis are starting to change this. By automating the detection of land-use change at the plot level, companies can finally continuously monitor sourcing areas rather than only periodically. This allows early intervention and helps suppliers correct issues before they become non-compliance cases.
This shift from post-event investigation to ongoing verification marks a turning point for sustainability leaders. It makes deforestation-free sourcing both more credible and more efficient, reducing the time, cost, and risk involved in compliance.
Traditional deforestation maps have provided useful global overviews, but they rarely offer the precision or frequency needed to make operational decisions. For sustainability teams and buyers, what matters most is understanding where change is happening and who it involves.
Planet’s daily, high-resolution imagery provides the foundation for that visibility, while Picterra’s GeoAI turns it into verified, plot-level evidence. Together, these technologies give companies the power to move from broad monitoring to specific, traceable action across their supply chains.
This shift allows organizations not only to detect deforestation but to verify whether land-use changes are natural, compliant, or require immediate engagement. It transforms what was once a reactive compliance process into a continuous, data-driven practice that supports long-term supply chain resilience.
While compliance remains a key driver, companies are beginning to recognize the broader value of deforestation monitoring. When both buyers and suppliers have access to the same verified data, the conversation changes from control to collaboration.
Shared visibility also helps build trust. Instead of reacting to violations, companies and suppliers can focus on strengthening resilience together. Early alerts allow for dialogue and support before irreversible losses occur, creating more stable relationships and reducing the cost and disruption of supplier turnover.
As Flávia explained during the discussion, the moment suppliers see value in the data, when they can use it to demonstrate compliance or improve yield and resilience, it becomes a tool for shared progress rather than inspection. This collaborative approach sets the foundation for broader landscape monitoring and links directly to the next phase: regeneration.
Once companies gain visibility over deforestation risk, the same tools can be applied to monitor what happens next: recovery, regeneration, and long-term ecosystem health. The combination of daily imagery and GeoAI now makes it possible to quantify changes in soil cover, canopy density, and biodiversity with the same precision once used for detecting loss.
This shift expands the value of verification from regulatory compliance to resilience planning. It enables companies to see the positive impact of their interventions and to prove that regenerative investments deliver both environmental and financial returns. For industries such as coffee, this means securing future supply while improving the landscapes that sustain it.
The conversation at the World Coffee Innovation Summit made one thing clear: verification is the bridge between sustainability ambition and measurable impact. Without credible evidence, even the best intentions struggle to translate into trust or lasting change.
GeoAI and satellite data now enable companies to monitor, measure, and verify environmental performance continuously. This not only strengthens compliance but also reduces cost and risk, turning sustainability into a strategic advantage rather than a reporting burden.
From deforestation-free sourcing to regenerative agriculture and biodiversity protection, the shift toward verified sustainability is reshaping how supply chains operate. What once felt complex or costly is becoming achievable, scalable, and transformative for both business and nature.
If you would like to explore how GeoAI could support your organization’s sustainability verification goals, you can book a free consultation to define your roadmap.
Plus, don’t miss the following live in the series on November 11 in partnership with CocoaRadar and Dimitra: “From promise to proof: verifying regenerative agriculture’s real impact”. Register to attend on LinkedIn and YouTube.
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