How GeoAI helps companies verify deforestation-free sourcing at scale
From compliance to collaboration At this year’s World Coffee Innovation Summit in London, Picterra and Planet shared the stage to...
Regenerative agriculture has moved from a promising concept to a strategic priority for companies working across cocoa, coffee, grains, and other land-intensive crops. With rising pressure to secure supply, support farmers, and mitigate climate risk, organizations are committing to practices that rebuild soil health, increase biodiversity, and enhance resilience.
In the second session of Picterra’s sustainability verification series, Tony Myers, Editor and Founder of CocoaRadar, brought together two leaders shaping this transition: Carlotta Costa, Director of ESG at Dimitra Technology, and Luke Hopkins, Customer Success Team Lead at Picterra. Their conversation focused on the central challenge emerging across global supply chains: how to verify that regenerative practices are being adopted and that they are delivering outcomes that matter for both farmers and companies.
Throughout the discussion, one message stood out clearly. Regenerative agriculture will only scale if progress is visible, trusted, and linked to real value. Companies need evidence to guide investment. Farmers need confirmation that their efforts lead to opportunities. Verification sits at the center of both.
Regenerative agriculture is gaining momentum across cocoa, coffee, and other land-intensive supply chains, but ambition alone will not secure long-term resilience. Farmers are asked to adopt new practices, companies are under pressure to demonstrate measurable progress, and both sides increasingly need verification that works at scale.
Carlotta described a reality shared by producers across regions: most farmers already understand what good land management looks like, but they often lack a trusted way to evidence progress in a format buyers and regulators accept. Effective verification should not require farmers to collect data. Instead, it should surface proof automatically, give them visibility into how their efforts are recognized, and help unlock access to incentives and premium markets.
In programs such as MiCacao, this approach has enabled smallholders to demonstrate climate-friendly and deforestation-free practices, thereby improving their market position. Verification becomes a pathway to opportunity rather than an administrative requirement, creating the trust needed for adoption at scale.
For regeneration to scale, verification must feel collaborative rather than punitive. Companies want to understand where practices are taking root, where support is needed, and how to target investment without adding work for producers. GeoAI is helping shift the dynamic from compliance to partnership by giving both sides a shared picture of what is happening on the ground.
As Luke explained, continuous monitoring makes verification largely invisible to farmers. Instead of gathering reports or uploading photos, producers focus on their land while GeoAI captures changes in vegetation cover, shade trees, crop diversity, and moisture balance. This enables sourcing teams to identify progress early, deliver targeted agronomic support, and reduce the cost and time associated with traditional audits.
This shared visibility builds trust. Farmers understand how their efforts are recognized, while companies gain confidence that their investments in regenerative agriculture are having a real impact. The result is a more constructive, predictable, and transparent supplier relationship that supports long-term resilience for both producers and buyers.
Regenerative agriculture is no longer viewed only as an environmental ambition. For many companies, it is fast becoming a core strategy for supply security, risk management, and long-term value creation. As Carlotta highlighted, the shift is driven by a growing need for trusted data that shows whether regenerative practices are reducing vulnerability and improving performance.
Companies now evaluate regeneration through three practical lenses: supply stability, regulatory confidence, and long-term cost efficiency. Healthier soils and more diverse systems strengthen resilience against climate shocks, while traceable evidence supports compliance with frameworks such as CSRD and EUDR. At the farm level, reduced input costs and more stable yields allow businesses to justify incentive programs and longer-term purchasing commitments.
The challenge is timing. Benefits build slowly, while investment is needed upfront. This makes credible verification essential. With consistent, repeatable data, companies can measure progress, reduce uncertainty, and allocate resources where they have the most significant impact. Verification becomes the mechanism that links environmental improvement to financial outcomes and future supply stability.
As regenerative programs expand, the need for consistent, scalable verification becomes even more critical. Luke emphasized that companies can only manage what they can measure, and GeoAI is giving sourcing and sustainability teams a clearer, earlier view of what is happening across their supply networks.
Through continuous satellite monitoring, companies can track indicators such as vegetation recovery, crop diversity, ground cover, and moisture balance at a large scale. Instead of relying on intermittent audits or fragmented reports, they get a shared, near real-time picture of where regenerative practices are taking hold and where additional support is needed.
This visibility strengthens decision-making. Teams can identify stressed areas early, evaluate which investments are delivering results, and focus resources where they will have the most significant effect. It also helps farmers, who benefit from more explicit guidance and recognition for verified progress, rather than spending time gathering data or navigating complex reporting tools.
By linking land health to yield stability, supply resilience, and future profitability, GeoAI allows regenerative agriculture to function as a strategic driver rather than a cost center. It turns ambition into actionable intelligence and proof into a basis for long-term value.
The conversation closed on a shared sense of optimism. Both guests agreed that regenerative agriculture is gaining momentum because farmers, companies, and standard setters are aligning around the same goal: meaningful progress backed by trusted evidence.
Regeneration succeeds when farmers are supported, when companies can verify outcomes with confidence, and when proof translates into better incentives, stronger supply security, and measurable environmental gains. GeoAI strengthens that foundation by making adoption visible, helping stakeholders understand what is working, and ensuring improvement can be tracked at scale.
The shift is underway. As verification becomes easier, faster, and more consistent across regions and commodities, companies can move beyond commitments and anchor their strategies in evidence. With better visibility and stronger collaboration from farm to boardroom, regenerative agriculture is increasingly positioned to deliver both climate resilience and long-term business value.
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.
Catch up on the first live in the series “Verify deforestation-free sourcing with GeoAI—Picterra & Planet live @ WCIS” on LinkedIn and YouTube now.
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