Padraig Hennessy. Image: © Elodie Burrillon
In the latest episode of For Tech’s Sake, we take a closer look at the world of farming, technology’s impact on the industry and the challenges agritech start-ups face.
When it comes to the world of agriculture, technology has proven itself to be a whole subindustry in itself and one that Ireland in particular excels at.
For example, Dairy Robotics is a Kildare-based start-up that designs and manufactures animal health monitoring devices and robotics to automate the process of milking cows. UCD spin-out ProvEye is using drones and computer vision to support crop monitoring.
In Limerick, there is also Cotter Agritech, which uses patented hardware and software to help farmers to precisely target animals with antiparasitic drugs instead of blanket treating an entire flock or herd. Meanwhile, Micron Agritech has developed a parasite testing kit for animals that allows vets to conduct on-site testing using their mobile phones.
And these are just a small selection of Irish start-ups that we have written about here on SiliconRepublic.com, but there are plenty more both on this island and further afield that are using everything from sensors and automated machinery to smartphones and IoT devices to give us what is known as ‘smart farming’.
But is there a concern that this level of tech in the world of farming could become too much? Could it drive up costs to small, family-run farms or create a wider digital divide or even reduce the tacit knowledge that comes from generations of farmers handing down traditional skills?
To explore all of this and more, we spoke to Padraig Hennessy in the latest episode of For Tech’s Sake. Hennessy is the CEO of Terra Nutritech, another agritech start-up, which is developing technology for precision liquid delivery of nutritional supplements for animals. He is also chair of AgTech Ireland, an industry group which aims to represent and drive Ireland’s thriving agtech sector.
He said one of the biggest challenges within the agritech sector is data. “On many farms you go into, there’s anywhere from three to 10 data gathering devices…none of them speak to each other at the moment,” he said.
“So, there’s a big data issue there, and the first challenge is who owns the data. I’d always be a big advocate of farmers need to own the data.”
He said the real value of farm data comes from bringing datasets together in order to give better insights back to the farmers. “But we need to be able to house all this data, in my opinion, in some sort of independent not-for-profit organisation and those conversations are only just beginning.”
From an agritech start-up point of view, Hennessy also talked about the challenges around getting funding because of the unique way that agritech start-ups experience growth.
“It’s slow, it’s farm by farm by farm. There’s no silver bullet where you’re just going to get mass adoption. You can get really, really good loyal customers when you do things right. But you’re never going to 10X growth in a year,” he said.
“A lot of VCs are starting to see that now and that’s why they’re starting to pull back a small bit from agtech because they’re seeing the life cycle of products just isn’t the same.”
Check out the full episode with Padraig Hennessy and subscribe for more.
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
