Agronomic due diligence · Feedstock platform architecture
Axiom Bio Assets advises investors, lenders and operators on the biological layer of SAF, renewable diesel and perennial oil crop projects. That layer determines whether feedstock arrives on schedule, at contracted volume and inside certification.
The problem
In most underperforming bioenergy projects, the cause is visible at the design stage, before execution begins.
Failure mode 1
Yield enters the model as a constant. In perennial crops it is a curve shaped by genetics, environment and management, and it differs from site to site.
Failure mode 2
Maturation, domestication and multi-site validation follow biological clocks. Schedules built without them open a supply gap during the first years of debt service.
Failure mode 3
Genetics, field operations, processing and certification are contracted as separate blocks. The interfaces between them carry risk that no single party owns.
Axiom measures that risk and structures it for financing before the investment decision.
Operating premises
Four premises frame each engagement. A platform is designed around them, and a lender's technical advisor tests them first.
Productivity is modeled by age, genotype and environment, and reported as ranges with stated confidence.
Time to first harvest and to stable output is a biological parameter. Financing structures should follow it.
Multi-environment validation comes before scale. A result from one site is a hypothesis for the next one.
Genetics, seedlings, cultivation, harvest, logistics and extraction are designed as one architecture with defined interfaces and owners.
Practice areas
For funds, DFIs and lenders
Independent review of the biological case behind a feedstock project: yield assumptions, land suitability, genetic material, operating plans, capex and opex.
For developers and corporates
Design of the supply base as one system, from genetics and seedlings through oil extraction, with the industrial interface specified at the outset.
For expansion decisions
Agroclimatic and edaphic zoning, land pipeline structuring and multi-environment validation programs that reduce uncertainty before deployment at scale.
For regulated fuel markets
Traceability and sustainability frameworks that qualify feedstock for low-carbon fuel programs and the offtake terms tied to them.
Independent review of biological and operational risk for boards, investment committees and technical committees.
Method
Each stage ends at a decision gate with a defined output. Capital is released when the biological evidence supports it.
Establish the biological baseline: species, genetics, environment and the quality of existing evidence.
OutputEvidence map and gap analysis
Design the integrated system and its interfaces, with yield and schedule expressed as ranges.
OutputSystem blueprint and assumptions book
Test the assumptions across environments and against third-party standards before scale.
OutputValidation results and gate decision
Deploy against the validated design, with KPIs and reporting that lenders and boards can audit.
OutputGovernance framework and monitoring
Track record
Project financing supported by the agricultural case, through technical due diligence with IFC, IDB Invest and BNDES.
Long-term capital allocated to one of the largest macaúba domestication platforms globally.
Perennial crops deployed across multiple production units.
Strategic land pipeline structured for deployment and certification.
Annual agricultural budgets under management.
Employees led across field, industrial and technical operations.
Margin uplift versus market benchmarks in vegetable oils trading, through execution, quality and supply reliability.
Invested in R&D through partnerships with leading research institutions.
Figures refer to programs led by the principal in prior executive roles in Brazil and the United States.
Principal
Founder and Principal · Agronomy, UFV
Agronomist with nearly two decades in perennial oil crops and bioenergy in Brazil and the United States. As Director of Agribusiness at Acelen Renewables, he led the agronomic development of macaúba, a non-domesticated native palm, into a feedstock platform for SAF and renewable diesel. Earlier, at Vale's BIOPALMA, he directed oil palm operations and commercial strategy across more than 30,000 hectares, with 4,000+ employees and operating budgets above USD 100M.
He concentrates on projects in which biology limits scale and long-term value depends on system design decisions made at the start.
Appointments
Career
Engagement formats
Fixed scope and a defined deliverable, timed to an investment committee or a lender's financial close.
Fits: acquisitions, new financings, refinancing reviews
Ongoing senior counsel to management through platform design, validation and scale-up.
Fits: developers and corporates in build-out
Independent board, advisory or technical committee seat focused on biological and operational risk.
Fits: portfolio companies and joint ventures
Contact
A short note covering three points is enough to start. Initial conversations are confidential.