AgTools, a California-based software company, is making ripples in the agriculture and tech industries by helping farmers prevent losses.
Each year more than $218 billion, or 1.3 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, is spent on growing, processing, transporting and disposing of food that's never eaten, according to a 2016 report from ReFED, a nonprofit group that works to reduce U.S. food waste.
In an effort to help farmers get the best price for their products -- and help curb spending on wasted food -- AgTools uses IBM computer technology to process market data so farmers can make smarter business choices.
"Large corporations supply to the retailers and control the data back and forth," said Martha Montoya, chief executive officer and founder of AgTools LLC. "Now the growers and the retailers are going to be able to have the same data."
Montoya first worked with IBM at the 2016 Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit. At this year's conference in Rogers last week, Montoya and IBM reported on their progress since then.
With IBM's Watson technology, AgTools provides updates and predictions based on more than 60 market factors such as weather reports, exchange rates, terminal commodity prices, and consumer trends. At its core, the software presents data year-over-year in a simple format to level the playing field for farmers, corporate buyers and food-supply-chain stakeholders.
"The farmer is thinking about the farm, like a painter; they want their fruits and vegetables to be the best," Montoya said. "At the end of the day they're physically exhausted."
Raised by coffee farmers in Colombia, Montoya understood the long nights and longer days spent tending crops. She said they often spent ample time raising products and not enough time looking at outside factors that could cut into their profits. For 25 years Montoya has seen the ups and downs of the agriculture industry.
"I remember one of my trucks going to Atlanta a couple of years ago," Montoya told this year's tech summit crowd. "The whole city's flooding and I'm just praying that our truck is not going to be flooded, because -- there goes our fruit."
It's factors like this, that made IBM's Watson technology appealing to Montoya. IBM's supercomputer collects data from across the globe and answers questions based on that data. Watson gained popularity in 2011, when it beat human contestants on Jeopardy!, winning the first prize of $1 million.
In 2013, Watson's first commercial application helped doctors make decisions in lung cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
In 2017, IBM enrolled AgTools into its Global Entrepreneur Program that supports small tech companies in getting their projects to the marketplace. Before last year's tech summit in Rogers, AgTools won an innovation award from Microsoft for women-owned businesses in the tech industry.
Today the software is designed to fill the gaps between retailers and farmers who grow mainly vegetables, fruits and herbs. Montoya said she would like to develop AgTools for fisheries, cattle and the poultry industries.
But while AgTools may be helpful for commercial produce growers, "this technology doesn't really help local farmers," said Andrew McKenzie, professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
In the poultry industry the farmers don't own the birds. Companies, such as Tyson Foods, have logistics plans and chicken and feed prices set, offering limited flexibility for the grower. Smaller vegetable and livestock farmers who sell directly to restaurants and nearby retailers face fewer obstacles with a shorter supply chain, McKenzie said.
A similar program used to link farmers with retailers, chefs and consumers, is Arkansas MarketMaker, a partnership that provides resources and industry news in one website.
Farmers are planning, not just hoping to sell their products, said Matt King, director of market information and economics at the Arkansas Farm Bureau. "Most are savvy businessmen."
When comparing AgTools to the state's MarketMaker, King said he could see the benefits.
"This sounds like it's just taking that next step," King said, referencing the IBM partnership.
Gustavo Montoya, director and data solutions architect for AgTools LLC and brother of Martha Montoya, said he wants to use more functions from Watson.
At the close of Tuesday's presentation, Gustavo Montoya recalled showing Colombian fieldworkers how to use AgTool. He said it felt humbling, but jarring.
"You know in the movie: 'You had me at hello'? Well, I lost them at log-in."
SundayMonday Business on 10/22/2017