January 27, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Launched in 2005, Farmers Edge has leveraged the potential to transform agricultural production to increase yields, efficiency, and sustainability for the long-term, becoming the most comprehensive data management platform on the market and transforming the industry with disruptive technologies and strategic partnerships.

In its latest move, Farmers Edge announced a long-term strategic agreement with Google Cloud to market its services and to drive the use of AI, machine learning, and predictive analytics in its platform.

Under the terms of the agreement, as part of the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program, the two companies will launch a global co-sell initiative to provide next-generation tools to the world’s farmers and agribusinesses. Toward this end, Farmers Edge’s digital platform, FarmCommand®, will be enhanced to enable near real-time carbon and sustainability tracking, more streamlined insurance reporting and claims management, and other advanced tools to be used by financial providers and retailers.

Powered by AI and in-field sensors, FarmCommand® transforms collected data into insights, and offers weather forecasting, highly accurate predictive crop modeling, advanced scouting tools, and automatically detects changes in crop health, so farmers can monitor their fields for optimized production and output.

“The opportunities to better serve the needs of all stakeholders across the digital agricultural ecosystem with Google Cloud are limitless,” said Wade Barnes, founder and CEO, Farmers Edge. “By working together, we can digitize more acres, generate more impactful insights, create more value, and deliver on our commitment to building the most comprehensive, intelligent, and connected platform available.”

In 2016 the company closed on a C$58 million (US$41.2 million) investment round led by Mitsui and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers’ Green Growth Fund, and including Osmington Inc. The company also announced the appointment of former Monsanto executive, Lucas Trindade, as general manager of Brazilian Operations. In April, it announced it was partnering with Eastern Colorado Seeds with the goal of expanding its presence and increasing farmer adoption across the U.S. Plains region.

One month later, Toronto-based commercial real estate firm Osmington Inc. exercised a $3.2 million investment option in the company.

That same year also brought expansion in the U.S. with the opening of an Iowa headquarters in Ames, and a new partnership with Delta Agribusiness in New South Wales, Australia, giving the company a foot in each of the world’s top agricultural production regions. including Canada, the U.S., South America, Russia, and Australia. It also announced a $6.1 million investment secured from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), and an additional $12.2 million committed from internal sources and consortium partners in September 2016.

On the back of this funding, the company turned its eye toward more strategic partnerships and in May 2018 announced a partnership with Raven Industries, a leader in the application control market, and in June 2018, partnered with global manufacturer and distributor of irrigation and infrastructure equipment Lindsay Corporation. 

These partnerships were followed by another announced in February 2020 with American Crop Insurance – an insurance services provider in the U.S. Northeast region – to disrupt the traditional crop insurance model by creating a data-driven, experiential platform. 

Now, through its newest partnership with Google Cloud, Farmers Edge has the ability to further strengthen its platform, increase global sustainability, and reach even more of the world’s farmers.

“The agriculture industry is increasingly looking to digitally transform business processes, particularly as organizations seek to minimize costs and maximize sustainability,” said Avanish Sahai, vice president, partnerships, Google Cloud. “We’re proud to partner with Farmers Edge to accelerate the industry’s move to the cloud and to deliver its digital platform as a service on Google Cloud, bringing customers global scale and enabling access to capabilities in AI, ML, and analytics.”

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.