March 14, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

For all the advances and penetration of tech in agriculture, the sector’s supply chains remain shockingly vulnerable. As Jeremy Stroud commented in his article, Covid-19, Agricultural Value Chains and Farmland Transactions, published by GAI News in July 2020, “The foundations of the modern agri-food value chain have been tested in recent months. With the spread of COVID-19 causing remarkable supply and demand disruptions, we are arriving at a fascinating junction in the world of food business.”

Experiences in recent years, encompassing a global pandemic, war, and natural disasters, have shown all too clearly the critical need to address and resolve the shortcomings and gaps in our global supply chains if we’re to feed a booming population.

The benefits of integrating technology into how ag value chains operate would be multi-faceted, according to Food Logistics, which outlined how million of dollars would be saved in the long-term by mitigating the impacts of adverse weather conditions, facilitating clear communication between value chain participants, boosting warehouse efficiency, and making transportation more affordable through greater efficiency. 

One company at the forefront is Hectare. Recognizing the equally important roles being played by not only farmers and ranchers, but traders, manufacturers, and retailers too, Hectare is working to connect agriculture for a more sustainable future through the use of technology. 

Hectare, however, wasn’t always Hectare. In 2015 company founder and CEO Jamie McInnes together with beef farmer Dan Luff leveraged their combined experiences in farming and technology to launch SellMyLivestock – a platform to buy and sell livestock online that has grown into the UK’s largest network of progressive livestock farmers. 

Soon after, farmer Andrew Huxham joined the team for the launch of Graindex – a grain trading platform digitizing commodity trades between farmers and a network of buyers that is now the top grain marketplace in the UK.

In 2021 the team began to build out Hectare’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, offering a range of affordable tech products supporting farmers and agribusinesses including its Inventory, Trading, Market Insights, and Logistics solutions that are being used by more than 130,000 farmers and businesses to enhance business performance, animal welfare, sustainability, and security. 

Since its launch in 2015, the company stated it has seen significant growth and adoption, having already facilitated over $1 billion in commodities trading generating unique and extensive insights concerning everything from animal health to market price benchmarking.

“The toughest challenges to solve are often the ones you can’t see, even for those of us who are involved in the movement of crops and livestock day-in, day-out,” said Jamie McInnes, CEO, Hectare.

“Our aim is to solve the invisible problems in the food supply chain by creating connected digital solutions that enable everyone to make small, practical changes – from sourcing grain more locally to digitizing paper-based processes like invoicing – to help hit big goals.”

To continue this momentum, the company announced it has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by unnamed existing and private investors.

“Whether the focus is enhanced animal welfare or peace of mind on food sustainability and security,” said McInnes, “our vision is to create a connected farm-to-factory gate supply chain so crops, livestock, and customers are looked after through sustainable agriculture.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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