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David Geiger: Welcome to the Iowa Ag Podcast. I’m your host, David Geiger here at the Jet Rows Barbecue Studio, and we are gonna have a conversation today about how Iowa can be a hub of international commerce when it comes to agriculture, and why that’s important to join me to talk about that. We have with us NATO Fermento. He is the finance and operations Manager with. Spray tech Tu, thank you so much for joining me. Uh, a quick disclosure. I’ve known Hana Tu for a few years because he is from Brazil and I also lived in Brazil for a while. So, uh, forgive me for moment. Uh, Ji uh, thank you so so much for being here, ATU for joining us today.

Renato Firmento: Oh, thanks for having me. Yeah. Um, I know, I think when we first met, uh, definitely wasn’t expecting, but your Portuguese was was really good, so you did a nice job when you went down to Brazil. Uh, but that was I thing back in 2018.

David Geiger: Yeah. Yeah. It was a while ago.

Renato Firmento: been a while. I think we were just, kind of getting started here in, in the us so yeah. Thanks for having me. It’s good to be here.

David Geiger: And that’s a good point to bring up because when I first met you, you were working at the same company you’re with right now, which is Spray Tech. Yes. And just to introduce what that is and, and what that does for agriculture, could you jump into that a little bit?

Renato Firmento: Yeah. So I started, actually, that was my, my first year with Spray Tech started there in 2018. Uh, the company. Uh, spray Tech is a global company. Um, the Company started back in 1989. Our founder, Diego Perotti. Uh, he’s originally from Argentina. He started the company there. He’s also a farmer. Um, he was a farmer at the time. He still farms down in South America. Um, up to this day. Um, he started the company trying to look for, you know, problems that growers are having out in the field. Um, and Came up with originally an adjuvant, uh, that’s our ec adjuvant. Today And we focus on, that’s one of our, one of our main products. But we also have a full line of phyto stimulants. uh, seed Treatment products, biologicals products that are gonna help with plant health application technology, and nutrition. Um, the company. We have presence in over 40 countries now. Wow. Um, started in South America, but really expanded to four different continents. So Yeah, it’s been great being here in the us. Um, like I said, when I first came on in 2018, that was our first, you know, kind of our first few years in the us but you know, looking back at, you know, now it’s. looking at 2026. we’ve definitely come a long way and and have grown quite a bit, but there’s still a lot of, you know, a lot of potential and a lot of good things to come.

David Geiger: and you came here with your family, I assume. How’d you get into spray tech and this agriculture agribusiness?

Renato Firmento: Yeah, so originally I came here when I moved to the United States, it was in 2012. So I wasn’t even working with spray tech at the time. I I came to play soccer, played college, college. soccer.

David Geiger: Really? I didn’t know that.

Renato Firmento: Yeah. Yeah. I still try and play, you know, once a week, just so I don’t forget

David Geiger: did know that,

Renato Firmento: that. But, uh, yeah. Came in and then, you know, got my undergrad and then when I, when I graduated with my master’s, I, um, actually, you know, like I said the company was kind of starting out here. A lot of our materials from Brazil, I started doing some translation work for spray tech. Um, and Yeah. That’s kind of, kind of how how I got started. And, you know, kind of move my way up with time and. as the company, uh, has grown and yeah, still there today. And, um, it is Good to look back, like I said, at 2018 and, and, you know, see what we’ve accomplished. Uh, especially, you know, with the base out of here in Iowa You know, I live in Iowa, my whole Time in the US and, and I really enjoy the state and, and it’s good to start something here and then expand. to other places.

David Geiger: Absolutely. And I really enjoy having interviews with folks like you because you’re similar to me in the sense that it seems like you didn’t really have much of an agriculture background before you got involved in the industry. And uh, for those who aren’t in agriculture, that get into agriculture, at least in my experience, there’s a lot of stuff to get through. There’s just so much. Knowledge that is sometimes just assumed that you have for, um, folks who are in agriculture from quite a bit. So just to introduce your, your time with spray tech and your time in Iowa and learning more about farming, what’s kind of been the thing that stands out most to you when you talk to farmers, when you talk to other agribusinesses in this industry?

Renato Firmento: Yeah, it’s definitely, um, I, I definitely. didn’t, Didn’t have an nag background, you know, growing up. I grew up in a city in the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil, you know, probably about a million people. Um, we, We didn’t have a lot of farms out there. Maybe a couple of small cattle operations or something. So When I moved to Iowa, obviously, you know, I lived in Des Moines, Uh, but when you go out, you know, you go out, you know, 15, 20 miles and you start seeing, you know, corn and you’re kind of, you, know, it it was something new to me. Uh, but when I, when I started with spray tech, it was definitely a learning. Um, you know, uh. It was a process, I think, and even up to this day, you know, I’ve been with the company for eight years, but you’re still learning, you know, sometimes, uh, you go visit, you know, a farmer or you, you know, you learn about a new product or a disease, whatever it is. There’s just so much to agriculture that you’re always learning you know, even if you’ve done it for uh, 30 years, you know, eight years, five. I think it, it’s there’s always, uh, things to learn, Um. but it, it’s an industry that is very fascinating. Um, it’s something that, you know, now looking back and, and looking at my. the Future of my career. I Definitely don’t see myself doing something else. Uh, when You’re, you know, learn about, you know, agriculture, you know, all the challenges that are involved with, you know, with, with farmers and everything that, that that they do. Um, it’s very fascinating. in a, an, an industry that I, that I fell in love with,

David Geiger: And,

Renato Firmento: Um, if you’re interested in, you know, working, you know, there’s a lot to learn. Yeah. Um, I think it’s a great industry to be in. it. You always say It’s something. that, you know, You’re looking at, you know, 20, 25, 50 years down the road, we’re still gonna have agriculture ’cause we need to produce, you know, food and we need to produce energy and all those other things. So, uh, it’s definitely a, a great industry to be involved with, but also very very fascinating.

David Geiger: And atu. I wanna go back to the work you do with spray tech and. The word you used at the very beginning adjuvant as being a primary part of the business that is, uh, pretty an up and coming word. You hear that a lot more and more in this industry. Can you define it for folks who aren’t in agriculture real quick of what an adjuvant is?

Renato Firmento: Yeah, absolutely. So an our adjuvant is pretty much You know, when you’re going out to spray something you need an adjuvant, something that’s gonna make your, your chemicals work better. So let’s say, you know, if a farmer goes out to spray, you know, it could be a Herbicide, a fungicide, and sex. I mean any, pretty much any product, uh, nutritional product, uh, you need a product that’s gonna help with the application. For instance, when you’re looking at the water, you know, water one the pH, It usually, you know, we see anywhere from like eight to 10. So if you go to spray your herbicide, for instance, at a. F at a a PH you know, your herbicide is not gonna like that very much. So herbicide, you know, you need to be anywhere. from, you know, Three and a half to a five, you know fungicide, a five to a five and a half. So we need to, for one, drop the pH of the water and then eliminate some of the hardness. So there’s a lot of calcium and magnesium in the water. When you add the adjuvant, you kind of neutralize those charges, so when you’re putting your chemicals in that water is treated, you’re basically treating the water for when you’re going out to do your application. That’s what an adjuvant is doing um, that’s in the tank. And then when it’s coming out of the Nozzles, you wanna avoid drift, Obviously, you want the product that you’re spraying to be, you know, getting to where it needs to be. So that drift agent’s gonna help. Um, And also when it gets to the plant that coverage, you know, the spreader sticker, you wanna make sure that if you just mix, you know, water with chemicals, you’re not gonna have that in there. So the adjuvant is taken care of The tank mix the when, when the product’s coming out of the nozzles and when it gets to the plant to make sure that whatever you’re spraying is. actually getting to where you need to go.

David Geiger: So that’s really interesting to me because I recall one of the very first experiences I had with a farmer and they were explaining to me how pesticides worked in general, and he held up a water bottle and he’s like, this is the amount of the actual pesticide that’s gonna go on this entire acre of field. Right. And I think it’s easy to overlook or forget that when you see a a container, it’s not just full to the brim of a chemical, right? It’s mostly water. And then you’ll pour that water bottle for that acre in there, and then what you’re saying is on top of whatever that is, whether it’s a pesticide or herbicide, a fungicide, you’re also adding this adjuvant, which will then help it grip a bit better onto the crop.

Renato Firmento: Yep. Absolutely. So, you know, usually farmers, I mean, you see different, but you know, anywhere between you know, a 500, you know, a thousand gallon load You know, it’s kind of a, um. number that, you know, farmers use or that equipment that they have. So, you know, you’re spraying a thousand gallons, you know, if that’s your water rate. But then also you’re gonna have your chemicals. The chemicals are gonna be at a much lower rate in our products. For instance, we’re working anywhere from two to four ounces per acre. So very small rates. Um, and then looking at the herbicides. you’re looking at, you know, 16 32, 64 ounces to the acre. But yeah, it’s gonna be a lot of water and then some of the chemical that needs to be diluted. And our job is to, when that chemical gets introduced, that, you know, you’re treating the water, you know, we talk a lot about, pH, you know, water hardness, um, and, and efficacy of the chemicals. You know, Those products cost a lot of money, You know, you’re spending a lot of money on the, chemicals, so you, you need, it’s basically an insurance that, for your chemicals to work well and if you’re not having an, you know, an adjuvant or, or product like that in there. um, there’s probably gonna be some losses in, in today’s economy. You know, we definitely wanna avoid that as much as we can.

David Geiger: and I like to apply it to our conversation about bringing Iowa as an international hub, because I think as a company that comes from South America, owner from Argentina, heavily based in Brazil, and I don’t wanna glaze up Brazil too much because in a way there’s a little bit competition go between the Midwest and Brazil. Right. So I don’t wanna glaze it up too much, right? Yeah. But. Brazil has significant expertise in dealing with insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides because they do not have the, the winter kill that we get here. Right. And so they have to deal with that all year.

Renato Firmento: day, like today, you never see that in Brazil. I mean, our coldest day of the year is probably, I mean, obviously depend on the region, but you know, you’re probably looking at. Maybe 30, you know, that would be our coldest day. So, yeah, we definitely, like you mentioned, uh, a lot of chemical applications because we don’t have. a frost, you know, so that, you know, the, the insects or the, the bacteria, Whatever is in there. It doesn’t really die because it you know, still in the soil. So, yeah, a lot of, you know, probably here in, in the Midwest, you see, you know, usually one fungicide applications when you go up north, you know, usually, sometimes people don’t even spray a fungicide in Brazil where we’re looking at four to five fungicide and insecticide applications in. one season. And

David Geiger: not even the serenia. that’s,

Renato Firmento: one. So it’ll be two, be two of them. So Fra, and. so if You do both then. that’s 10. Oh,

David Geiger: Wow. Wow. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And the reason why I bring that up is because that’s a way where, where folks from Brazil can use their expertise of, and knowledge and experience in bringing adjuvants and all these chemicals and using that to protect the crops and have crop, better crop and and pest management and bring it here. Is that kind of the idea of why there was an approach to the US market as a whole?

Renato Firmento: I think, uh, honestly, The, the, what you mentioned is definitely a big thing. You know, kind of bringing in our technology. But I think that what motivated, um, you know, Diego at the time, you know, with his business decision, uh, was more of, you know, we have, you know, we have, he’s very passionate about the business the company. And you know what, he started over 30 years ago, uh, he had a successful business in Argentina and Brazil and Paraguay and a couple other countries and said, you know, why not? You know, do something in the United States, we’re looking at Brazil and the United States for soybean production you know, two of the leading countries. So he was like, you know, why not my product has worked in different soil types. you know, Weather, you know, Brazil and Argentina are closed geographically, but they’re actually quite different. in terms of their

David Geiger: Argentina is much further south for their growing

Renato Firmento: Yeah, definitely not as much disease pressure. So more similar to the US in that way. Um, so yeah, he was just, you know. He knew the product worked. Um, He, you know, he wanted to kind of, establish that and he said, whatever we can go, that we can help, you know, farmers be more efficient, more, more sustainable, and have a better operation, that we have a product that’s gonna allow that. You know, why why not? And then, yeah, we’re, we’re here, we’re here. what, 10, 10, 12 years later. So

David Geiger: I think most folks get behind the idea of just having options, right? Because farming is way more complicated than your average person may think, right? You, you can’t just apply one scenario to all the fields. You have to have the soil types and the climate and variety of different geological and, uh, weather ideas and thoughts behind that. So. What has been, I guess, your take when you look at all the different geographies of where you’ve seen work done with your company and or the company, uh, that you work with, spray tech and, uh, what you guys do when it comes to just how diversified you can see different areas?

Renato Firmento: Yeah, I think, uh, the one word and I, and that I like to, to focus on is consistency. Right? You know, you can, obviously, you’re gonna use the product. you know, and it’s, it can be in Different scenarios, different circumstances, you know, is it disease pressure. Is it, uh, the type of soil, that you’re dealing with, Is it the type of equipment that you’re dealing with different crops. I mean, even in, in the US we, you know, our base is Iowa, you know, over here we have. corn. or Soybeans is kind of, the bread and butter. but we have now we’ve expanded into the south, we’ve done some work there with cotton peanuts, uh, rice, um, uh, canola up in North Dakota, you know, sugar beets in Idaho potatoes. So Even in the US working with different crops and the consistency of the product, you know, regardless of if it’s corn or soybeans or, or, a specialty crop or vegetables, it’s gonna work and then down in Brazil we’re talking about um, you know, sugar cane for instance. citrus. Uh, So consistency that regardless of the crop or the circumstances they’re using, the product with, that it’s gonna work that’s gonna. help with the application that we’re gonna have an ROI in there. Um, I think that’s the biggest thing.

David Geiger: Hatu. When you look at Iowa, let’s kind of bring it down to the state. You said based here, you’ve lived here for the last, almost 15 years now. It’s been a big part of, of you and, and your involvement in agriculture. What about Iowa has made, I guess, this process work and, and has been a part of how you’ve learned and grown in this field and also in spray tech?

Renato Firmento: Yeah, I Think, uh, from a personal standpoint, you know, like I said I’ve been here for, for 15 years, Uh, my wife was you know, born and raised here. My, my son, you know, so, you know, growing a family here and, uh, they’re very great, you know, support great people in the state of Iowa. um, in general. But I think when spray tech um, came You know, into the US. I think one, a lot of people actually like are looking, you know. In Brazil. I, I, I guess I can use that as an example, but they’re looking at Iowa as that, you know, prime. spot for agriculture. You know, they come to, you know, farm progress show where, you know, you have you know, a big egg companies in here. Like they look at Iowa as like, it’s kind of, you know, if you establish a company in the state of Iowa, you know they’re gonna be. You know, your reputation or it is a credible, uh, state, it’s somewhere that you wanna be in for for agriculture. I think that’s the biggest thing. geographically, it makes sense to, you’re kind of in the middle, you know, in the middle of the country with, you know, you have Illinois, Nebraska Missouri, those other, uh, important states for, for crop production in here, Um, but I Think overall, and, and we kind of learned that with time um, it’s a, it’s a community that um, you know, kind of. hosted US with, with open arms, And I think that we’re able to expand. and the Majority of our workforce now is you know, people that, you know here in Iowa or people that are you know, born and, and born and raised here. um, and Americans in other, uh, parts of the country. So yeah, people I, think in the US maybe underestimate how much. international. Farmers or people that are involved in the ag industry, look at the Midwest, but, but Iowa especially, um, when it comes to agriculture,

David Geiger: When I, it’s so funny, when I talk to non-ag agricultural people, they will confuse Iowa with Idaho or Ohio, like they don’t know where Iowa is, but you talk agriculture and everyone’s like, oh, Iowa. Yeah. Yeah. You mean the number, number two state in the country for agriculture? Yeah. That it’s, it’s a really cool place and. I liked what you talked about there because I know you guys also do some work in bringing folks here to see not only what you do, but also what this community and, and this state provides. Is that right?

Renato Firmento: Yep. We probably bring, I don’t say 200, uh, guests. You know, roughly every year from different countries, you know, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Mexico, uh, Ukraine, Australia, I mean, there’s, we’ve host. Uh, people from all over the world, pretty much Usually, uh, probably half of that would be around farm. progress. Showtime, you know, Usually companies coming from there put together, you know, kind of a tour. Um, we come You know, we bring this group and then we go visit, you know, farmers in the us. We, you know, visit some of our partners, some of our retailers, um, you know, our offices. you know, we will, we’ll Grill, we’ll do barbecue. So it’s pretty much like a whole week

David Geiger: Brazilian, the shoko

Renato Firmento: Uh, it will be mainly Argentina because Usually it’s a mix of both. But, um, we, we, we love to bring people over here. We do kind of both ways. We take a group of American, you know, partners, customers that we work with to Brazil. We are actually leaving here in a couple, of weeks. uh, and then usually in August. uh, we bring a big group, uh, around that farm progress short time. So, yeah. And when they come here and they see, you know, they visit our office or manufacturing facilities, go visit farmers, they ask a lot of questions. You know, what are you doing? Like how does this work? You know? ’cause there are a lot of similarities, but there are also a lot of differences in what those farmers are doing. Uh, so it’s really cool to I guess, facilitate that uh, connection under that. Exchange of information between the US Farmer and the South American farmer or you know, wherever they come from Um, when they come here and they see it and they. you know, Tour, uh, they really enjoy their time and most of them wanna come back. So

David Geiger: you, you say they learn a lot too, but I bet it’s a really great time for everyone to make connections and potentially expand business in a way.

Renato Firmento: Yeah, absolutely. It’s a great, um, you know, we have, you know, guys that, you know, Matt, you know, it could be a customer of ours or someone in Brazil, you know, they exchange you know, phone numbers and there’s a lot of networking being done. You know, at the event. Uh, we bring that big group, uh, but there’s also, you know. there’s a Lot of other groups that you know, customers or partners that come with. So being, you know, being kind of in right in the middle of it, especially around that, you know, farm progress, Showtime is, is Really nice. Um, and, you know, we’ve done that for, for over 10 years and we’re gonna continue to do it. So,

David Geiger: And that includes the, you keep, you keep mentioning the Farm Progress Show and I heard there’s some pretty cool stuff going on this potential next year when we go back to Boone.

Renato Firmento: Yeah. Yeah. So in, uh, we, um, spray Tech, uh, we currently have a, a manufacturing Facility, uh, that we started with in 2021. Uh, with our growth, uh, we kind of, you know, took a, took a next step. Uh, we bought some. purchased some land down in Boone County, which is right by Farm Progress, sho site, uh, where we’re gonna have uh, our new manufacturing facility. Uh, we’re also gonna have a research plot. So the land is 57 acres, Uh, so we’re gonna have about 40 acres of uh, plots where we’re gonna you know, test, you know, some new products that we’re coming into the, market, you know, do side, side, we wanna host a field day That we can bring our customers, in, but also uh, that the new manufacturing facility with our growth. um, that, that’s gonna be Huge. And, and kind of taking that, you know, taking that next step into you know, establishing our, roots in the US Um, I would say we’re, we’re, a global company, but the US is definitely a big part of our, of our project now. You know, our owner, our CEO lives here now. Uh, and we wanna start, you know, from Iowa, from the us. One expanding into the countries and even sending products to, you know, to Europe and to other countries around the world. So.

David Geiger: atu. Just as a, a final thought, final conclusion, could you just. Tell me what it means to be a part of spray tech and also a, an Iowan with us. I, I’m just interested to hear your perspective as someone who’s come from a different country and has integrated into the, into the community in a very similar way to how I have as well. I think I like just learning more about stuff like that. Yeah.

Renato Firmento: No spray tech as a company, you know. it’s definitely been, been Great. Uh, we have a great team. You know, it’s not just, you know, myself or, you know, Diego is a great team. You know, all the, from our manufacturing, or you know, our sales team, admin, uh, everybody comes together. You know, we’re a group of people that share the spray tech name, and everybody represents that really well. Um, and I think uh, it, it’s a. A project, you know, it’s, it’s a life project, not just for myself. And I think everybody kind of sees that everybody plays their role and has their own spray tech Um, as we grow and for, for Iowa and, and the ag industry, I think it, it, everyone’s really welcoming I think it’s like, From the day that I’ve started up to today, you know, that.

David Geiger: there I

Renato Firmento: I really haven’t had a negative experience, You know, people are very um, helpful, willing to, you know, to to to, to teach. And also You know, they’re, they’ll, if you have something to share with them, you know, learning. And I think that, you know, that exchange, we, farmers are farmers, you know, if it’s, you know, in, in Iowa in, in Brazil in Argentina, you know, we’re trying to do the same thing. And I think there’s a lot of similarities there that when those people come together, um, I think that the industry as a whole agriculture you know, we can accomplish a lot of things if we come together. So.

David Geiger: atu Fermento is the finance and operation manager with Spray Tech. Thank you so much Atu for joining me

Renato Firmento: Thanks for having me

David Geiger: podcast. Thank you. Again, this is the IAG podcast. I’m your host, David Geiger here at the Jet Rows Barbecue Studio. Thank you so much for joining us again, and feel free to check out some of the other content I do. You can find that on some of my social media channels. That’s at Geiger reports, and I’ll see you again next time. Everybody.