Problem, purpose, passion and persistence – a start-up founder’s journey

Author: | Date: 20 Mar 2018

Take home messages

  • The best agriculture innovations will come direct from farmers and those actively engaged in agriculture as they understand the industry.
  • Start with the problem – what problem are you trying to solve though your platform, product or service?
  • Validate, validate, validate – get out and speak to your customers. This ensures that you are building a product that is fit for purpose.
  • What is your purpose? – A clearly defined purpose will help you stay focussed.
  • Embrace failure – and learn from it.
  • Resilience – build professional, personal and physical resilience.
  • Start-ups need access to capital, peers, mentors, corporates for pilots and working spaces.

The FARMpay journey

From a farming family, FARMpay’s founding team has lived the experience of many grain growers; selling a large amount of grain with payment delayed for months and limited transparency over the grain supply chain. The industry standard for payment of on-farm grain sales is 30+ days. This current process is inefficient for growers, traders and buyers:

  • Lack of transparency over the supply chain and manual processing of data causes transaction delays.
  • Contract management is fragmented leading to poor logistics management.
  • Delayed payment leads to cash-flow and risk management challenges for traders and growers.

In December 2016, the FARMpay founders embarked on an innovation journey which has taken them from regional Australia to Silicon Valley, Israel, China and beyond.

Combining a strong understanding of the issues faced by all parties and extensive knowledge of the agribusiness sector, the FARMpay platform was developed to provide a better way to manage on-farm grain sales.

FARMpay is a supply chain management platform that provides real time transfer of data and rapid payment for on-farm grain sales. FARMpay provides a more efficient, equitable, transparent and secure process for grain growers, traders and buyers involved with the selling of grain.

Key trends

  1. Artificial Intelligence
  2. Robotics
  3. Internet of Things
  4. 3D Printing
  5. Blockchain
  6. Bio-hacking

Key grants and assistance available

Agri-tech incubators and accelerators

Conclusion

The agriculture sector continues to see the emergence and adoption of new technology that can create efficiency, improve productivity, reduce risk and increase profitability. Encouraging and supporting new innovation and start-ups provides benefits for the agriculture sector and broader economy.

Contact details

Naomi Stuart
Naomi.stuart@farmpay.com.au
@FARMpayAus