Agriculture doesn’t have a shortage of technology. There are software platforms, sensors, weather stations, automation systems, data providers and increasingly sophisticated analytics available to growers and their advisors. The bigger challenge is turning all of that technology and data into something that improves how an agricultural operation actually runs. That’s where I believe the Semios Group is building something different.
Across our Group, we bring together software, in-field IoT technology, trusted agricultural data and operational insights. Through Agworld, Semios, Altrac and Greenbook, that spans farm management software, in-field monitoring and control, and the crop input information growers and their advisors rely on. These aren’t separate capabilities we’ve assembled simply to build a larger technology portfolio. Together, they give us the opportunity to better connect what is happening in the field with the decisions and workflows that surround it.
Software, hardware and insights working together
There are companies that build farm software. There are companies that manufacture sensors. There are companies focused on agricultural data. Semios Group operates across all three.
Our combination of SaaS, IoT and operational insights allows us to approach agricultural problems from a different perspective. We can understand not only what a farming operation planned to do, but increasingly also provide context around what is actually happening in the field and help turn that information into action. The goal isn’t to overwhelm anyone with more data; it’s the opposite.
We want to reduce the effort required to collect, interpret and act on information. That means surfacing the right information at the right point in a workflow, automating tasks where it makes sense and helping people make decisions with better context.
A good example of what that looks like in practice is Sandhu Bros Farms, which grows almonds, cherries, walnuts, pistachios and pecans across more than 60,000 acres in California and Texas. Semios mating disruption dispensers, traps and remote sensors cover their almond blocks, and the data coming out of the orchard feeds straight into the decisions the team makes each day. As Aman Sandhu, who oversees financial and cropping decisions for the family operation, explains: “I can get a text message whenever my traps catch more than five moths in a day, which is the custom threshold that we’ve set in the Semios app. At that point I can tell my guys, get ready, we probably have to spray.” The results are just as practical. Through some of the worst navel orangeworm seasons on record, blocks protected with Semios have consistently held damage at 1% to 4%, compared to 15% to 50% or more on unprotected ground nearby. At roughly $3 per pound of almonds, even a 5% to 6% reduction in damage equates to around $414 an acre in avoided losses on an average California yield, covering the cost of the program several times over. That’s the difference between innovation for its own sake and technology that earns its place in an operation.
Independence matters
As agricultural technology becomes more deeply embedded in decision-making, I believe independence and trust become increasingly important. Semios Group is not there to determine that the answer to a problem must be a particular chemical, fertiliser, seed variety or piece of machinery. Our job is to provide customers and their trusted advisors with the technology, data and insights that help them determine the right answer for their operation.
Agricultural decisions are complex and highly specific to an operation. The more information we can bring together objectively, from agronomic records and product information to environmental conditions and equipment, the more useful we can be without taking decision-making away from the people who know their businesses best.
Building the connected agricultural operation
This is ultimately where we’re heading as Semios Group. We’re continuing to strengthen the individual products and capabilities our customers already rely on, whilst also continuing to find more ways to connect them where they can create more value.
For clients, that will mean less fragmentation, fewer disconnected systems and better information flowing into everyday decisions. For us, it means continuing to build something relatively uncommon in agricultural technology: an independent platform combining SaaS, IoT and operational insights around the needs of the agricultural operation.
We already have many of the pieces. What excites me most is what becomes possible as we bring them together.
