FinTech Insights (FTI): Hi Jon, Welcome to the Fintech Top Voice interview series. Please tell us a little bit about your journey in the tech industry and how you arrived at the idea of starting Dimitra.
Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be speaking with you. I’ve spent over two decades developing and deploying enterprise technology, and all the way felt there was a massive disconnect. Cutting-edge technology with the potential to revolutionise farming as we know it was not reaching the smallholder farmers who form the backbone of global agriculture.
The idea for Dimitra came from seeing how emerging technologies like AI and blockchain could radically improve outcomes for farmers, especially those in traditionally overlooked regions. We created Dimitra to empower farmers to enhance their livelihoods by providing access to farming technologies, regardless of their geographic location or economic status.
FTI: What are your core offerings? Which markets are you currently focusing on and why?
Jon : Dimitra provides a suite of blockchain and AI-powered platforms designed to help farmers increase yields, reduce costs, and meet evolving regulatory demands. From our Connected Farmer app to ESG Compass and Carbon Credit tools, each of Dimitra’s tailored platforms provides scalable technology solutions that help farmers, cooperatives, and agribusinesses improve productivity, efficiency, and sustainability.
Our team has global and local experience, working with partners in countries including Brazil, India, Uganda, Indonesia, among others. We’ve also partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in Suriname to create a traceability app for indigenous pineapple farmers, using blockchain and AI to improve farming and access markets. One of our recent projects is in the heart of Mexico’s Sierra de Álica, with over 24,000 hectares of land being enrolled in a carbon credit program.
We’re also focused on Latin America as a strategic growth region, especially through our partnership with MANTRA in Mexico. Together, we’re enabling Indigenous and smallholder farmers in Sierra de Álica to generate, track, and tokenize carbon credits using Dimitra’s AI and satellite monitoring tools, giving them transparent, traceable access to global climate markets. With over 24,000 hectares already enrolled and a focus on culturally significant crops like agave and maize, it’s a powerful model for how tech-enabled, community-led climate finance can scale across the region.
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FTI: Blockchain + AI is advancing faster than regulation and risk frameworks. In your view, what’s the most urgent blind spot in how AgTech businesses are currently insuring—or failing to insure—their financial management systems?
Jon : One of the blind spots is how disconnected and fragile financial systems still are. Many AgTech businesses still rely on siloed, unverifiable data, leading to the possibility of financial oversight. This creates real risks – data can be lost, misreported, or manipulated, and businesses may struggle to meet evolving compliance requirements.
As blockchain and AI automate more processes, the lack of real-time traceability puts companies at risk of fraud, misreporting, and non-compliance, especially in regulated markets. To build a more secure and trustworthy financial ecosystem, we need smarter systems that not only automate financial tracking but also ensure transparency, trustworthiness and data integrity. The tools exist, but adoption is still lagging where it matters most.
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FTI: How is Dimitra leveraging blockchain and AI to create financial inclusion for smallholder farmers in emerging markets?
Jon : Each of Dimitra’s market-leading platforms ensures farmers and businesses have access to the latest technologies to combat deforestation, increase yield, reduce costs and mitigate risks. We combine disruptive technologies including AI, machine learning, satellite and drones, IoT, genomics and mobile tech. to give smallholder farmers access to tools that were once only available to large-scale operations.
In many emerging markets, farmers are invisible to formal financial systems. We’re changing that by creating a digital identity tied to their real-world performance, enabling them to prove their credibility and build long-term economic resilience. Our mobile-first platforms deliver real-time, data-driven insights to help farmers increase yields, reduce costs, and meet compliance standards. Through the use of blockchain technology, we provide traceability, transparent and secure records thereby helping build long-term economic resilience.
FTI: What role does tokenisation play in transforming agricultural assets into investable financial instruments?
Jon : Tokenization has the potential to unlock a new era of agricultural investment, one where farms, crops, carbon credits, and even future yields can be transformed into digital assets that are transparent, tradable, and accessible to a broader pool of investors. Tokenization allows us to convert physical agricultural assets, like crops, land use rights, or carbon credits, into blockchain-based digital assets. This unlocks fractional ownership, improves liquidity, and makes it easier for farmers to access capital. For investors, it creates transparent, traceable instruments tied to real-world value. At Dimitra, our aim is to unlock new pathways to connect high-impact farming projects with investors seeking transparent, asset-backed opportunities that deliver both returns and positive change.
FTI: How do you approach the challenge of building trust and transparency across complex agricultural supply chains using technology?
Jon : At Dimitra, we approach transparency not as a feature, but as the foundational principle of everything we do. We leverage blockchain technology to create tamper-proof records at every step of the supply chain, and use AI to identify gaps, flag any anomalies, and to share real-time insights that help improve yields and output.
Engaging directly with smallholder farmers is also crucial to adopting new technologies and building trust. Our partners on the ground, like cooperatives and local organizations also play a crucial role in building a relationship of trust with farmers.
This combination builds a shared source of truth that farmers, co-ops, buyers, and regulators can all rely on, reducing risk and increasing trust across even the most complex agricultural networks.
FTI: With growing ESG and regulatory pressures, how is Dimitra helping governments and enterprises stay compliant while supporting farmers on the ground? What are the most significant barriers you’ve faced in deploying cutting-edge technology across rural and underbanked regions—and how have you overcome them?
Jon : Dimitra helps governments and enterprises stay ahead of ESG and regulatory demands through platforms like ESG Compass and our Deforestation Certification tool. These systems automate data collection, traceability, and reporting, helping stakeholders meet standards like EUDR and CSRD while equipping farmers with mobile-friendly tools to track and share compliance end-to-end. By integrating satellite imagery, AI, and blockchain technologies, we create a seamless flow of trusted data from farm to regulator.
One of the biggest barriers to adoption we’ve faced is digital infrastructure, many of the farmers we work with lack internet access, banking or previous exposure to agtech. Most of the world’s farmers still operate offline. At Dimitra, we are bridging that gap by giving them tools to access insights, traceability, and funding through a connected ecosystem. In addition, we are also partnering with local co-ops, NGOs, and governments to deliver the right training and support. It’s not just about deploying tech, it’s about meeting farmers where they are and ensuring the tools are practical, accessible, and designed for real-world conditions.
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FTI: How do you see fintech and agtech converging over the next 2–3 years, and what new business models are likely to emerge from that intersection?
Jon : What metrics do you prioritize when measuring the impact of Dimitra’s platform—from financial returns to environmental and social outcomes? We’re seeing a clear convergence of fintech and agtech, especially around financial inclusion and climate finance. Over the next few years, we expect to see new models emerge that let farmers to tokenize assets, access microloans via smart contracts, and earn verified carbon credits, all through integrated platforms. This creates a new ecosystem
where agricultural output, environmental impact, and financial value are fully connected and tradable. We take a multidimensional approach to impact. On the financial side, we’re tracking increases in yield, cost savings, and improved access to markets or capital for farmers and co-operatives. However, that’s just the beginning. We are also measuring how our platform supports climate-smart practices, like expert advice on fertiliser use, pest management, and disease control, along with data-backed insights to improve soil health, or adherence to deforestation-free sourcing. Ultimately, our north star is farmer empowerment. If a farmer can make better decisions, access new opportunities, and improve their long-term livelihood through our technology, then we know we’re moving in the right direction. How do you balance rapid innovation with long-term sustainability in a mission-driven company like Dimitra?
Jon : At Dimitra, we see innovation and sustainability not as competing priorities, but as complementary forces. Our mission has always been to empower farmers with cutting-edge tools that are both powerful and practical. Every new technology we develop, from AI- powered insights to blockchain-backed traceability, is designed with real-world utility and long-term impact in mind. We’re not just building features, we’re building ecosystems that support sustainable agriculture, regulatory compliance and financial inclusion at scale.
Innovation is more important in modern agriculture than ever before. The industry as a whole is facing huge challenges: rising costs of supplies, a shortage of labour and changes in consumer preferences for transparency and sustainability. Technology will be a major contributor to addressing the current challenges.With this in mind, we also take a human-first approach to the technology we design, ensuring our solutions are accessible, culturally relevant, and built to last in the regions that need them most.
FTI: What lessons from your background in supply chain technology and enterprise systems have proven most valuable in building Dimitra’s platform? What advice would you give to fintech or agtech founders trying to drive real-world impact at a global scale?
Jon : My experience in supply chain technology taught me that transparency, traceability, and data integrity are non-negotiable, especially when you’re working across borders and industries. At Dimitra, we took those principles and embedded them into the core of our platform. Whether it’s blockchain-backed compliance tools or AI-driven insights, we’ve built a system that can scale globally while still delivering value at the farm level. The best piece of advice I can give to upcoming fintech and agtech founders is to work directly with the people you’re trying to serve, farmers, cooperatives and regulators. You can have the best tech in the world, but if it’s not usable on the ground level or doesn’t align with local realities, it won’t stick.
FTI: Looking ahead, how do you see the AgTech industry evolving as AI+ Blockchain becomes more deeply embedded in critical infrastructure, financial systems, and even national security?
Jon : We’re entering a pivotal moment where AgTech is no longer just about improving yields, it’s about safeguarding food systems, enabling climate resilience, and even geopolitical stability. As AI and blockchain become core to how data is processed, verified, and acted upon, agriculture is increasingly integrating into financial systems, supply chain infrastructure, and global environmental regulatory frameworks.
Looking ahead, I believe agricultural data will emerge as one of the world’s most valuable strategic assets. At Dimitra, we’re building for that future now: platforms that are transparent, interoperable, and scalable, so farmers in any region can participate in global trade, finance, and climate action with the same tools as the largest agribusinesses.