Agroinnovation: Design Thinking in Agricultural Enterprises

In Chapter I: Design Thinking (DT) in the Agricultural Sector, DT is defined as a methodology applied for creative problem-solving, in response to the needs and desires of users or customers. The principles of this methodology are: people first, balance of divergent and convergent thinking, iteration, collaborative work, think big start small. The stages of DT are: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Validate and Implement. Each of these stages generally has its tools. The challenges that agricultural entrepreneurs face are: Access to capital, market volatility, technological innovation, sustainable agricultural production, product development with a value proposition, proper cash flow management, and network and contact management. This chapter presents two case studies.

In Chapter II: Generating Business Ideas, it begins with the generation of ideas, for which the brainstorming technique is used, then the preselection of ideas is carried out based on guiding questions, the preselected ideas are subjected to the final selection process through the use of a matrix designed for the effect, the idea with the highest score is the selected one.

In Chapter III: Empathizing with Users in the Agricultural Sector, it is mentioned that the empathy phase involves deep research and understanding of the user or customer, their problems, needs, aspirations, their environment, in relation to the product or service being developed through the following tools: Interviews, focus groups, customer profile, empathy map, customer journey, mind map, and observation.

In Chapter IV: Defining the Problem, the Define stage is the identification of the variables of a problem or need for a specific user. The tools used in this phase are: Problem tree, problem statement, 5W 1H, the 5 whys.

In Chapter V: Ideation in the Field, the Ideate phase is defined as the generation of all possible ideas for the solution of the problem or problems identified in the Define phase, here divergent and convergent thinking is applied to result in one or two ideas or solution alternatives through the application of the following techniques: Brainstorming, Scamper method, value proposition, moodboard, elevator pitch, crazi eights, voting.

In Chapter VI: Agile Prototyping, the concept of prototyping is presented as giving shape to the idea, building a model that can be physical or virtual. The tools used in this stage are: Low fidelity prototype, mockup, business model canvas, videos, storyboard.

In Chapter VII: Testing and Feedback, the Validation stage is defined as the tests that are carried out with the target audience to obtain feedback. The tools used in this stage are: Feedback interviews, User experience map, Usability test, Field tests.

In Chapter VIII: Implementation, it refers to the management of the venture, selling and marketing. The tools used in this stage are varied and complex, the tool mentioned is the Marketing and Sales Plan.