Finalist Agri-Trak Pitches at Startup Battlefield | TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

We have one more company before we get To it I need you to know how to apply For startup Battlefield all these Companies are here because they applied All the companies you see downstairs are Here for the same reason and we don't Charge an entrance fee for any of this If you go to techcrunch.com Startup Dash Battlefield you'll find it or you just Google startup Battlefield you'll find The application for next year we're Going to open up applications in February so please be on the lookout for That and please apply and if you know a Startup that's that's hot in the sector Tell them apply too all right so we have One more company From bingamington I said that wrong did I say it right I Got the thumbs up we have agritrack Presenting for Agri track is Jason Hill Give a round of applause Hi my name is Jamie sonneville CEO and Founder of agritrac and I'm on a mission To save Family Farms Foreign So this is me I was raised in Southern California but I've sold all around the World because my entire career has been In sales at every level and about five Years ago I joined another AG Tech SAS Startup and successfully took them to Market but being in the agricultural Industry really taught me a lot about

The nuances that exist in farming when It comes to the challenges they face so About a year and a half ago I met Jamie Sonneville This is Jamie in her family's apple Orchard Jamie sonneville is a fifth Generation Apple grower she's a Cornell Grad and her background is in I.T About what last spring she gave me a Call and she said I built a software for Farms and I want your help taking it to Market so this is agritrack Agritrack was built I like to say from The inside out so buy a farmer for Farms Making it one of a kind we track the Most vital data that forms need which is Labor who is doing what when and where And why that's the most vital data is Because it's directly tied to the Government program of h2a h2a enables U.S Farms to hire seasonal labor from Other countries and without that program They have no Workforce and without no Workforce we can only imagine what Happens right so uh because it's a Federal program it's heavily regulated Which means heavy paperwork and Farms Have to track so many things already Everything has to be tracked they do This not just to understand their Farms Better but to stay compliant because in That program for labor if the Department Of Labor comes knocking and does an Audit they're not compliant they get

Heavily fined and they could even lose Their form So the problem with this is that 84 Percent of farms today are still Tracking everything with pen and paper It's completely Unsustainable and why I say on a sustain Unsustainable is because the Department Of Labor reports that during these Audits 70 of those audits in agriculture Find some type of violation or Infraction Just can't continue so agritrac helps Solve this by digitizing the problem of Pen and paper farmers can use agritrack And have confidence in their data Collection knowing that it's accurate And that if the Department of Labor Comes they have peace of mind So agritrek accomplishes this in a trio Of apps the first is a web dashboard Where Farm owners and managers can take A look in real time of what's happening In their Farm And then there's a tablet app which is Primarily used in the field for data Inputs that feed directly into the Dashboard it also utilizes NFC Technology for an easy clock in and out Which is really helpful in a farm where They're going all over the place and Then there's a phone app where full-time Employees can clock in and out at Different locations and it actually

Geopens where they've done that so That's super helpful so let's take a Quick look at how it works If we can move to the phone demo Sam here is going to clock in using the Phone app and if we can move to the Dashboard demo In a few seconds here after she clocks In we're going to see her time card pop Right in And once it pops in there it is We can click on it and we're going to be Able to see where Sam is working at Moscone and what she's doing which is Presenting and then when we scroll down We can see that geopen right here in Downtown San Francisco so who is doing What when and where and we go to the Home page of the dashboard you can see a Colorful array of data inputs that are Used and helpful for Farm owners to just Have data to make informed Decisions by The reporting side of it the one I want To point out is the labor audit report Because it's directly in line with the Department of Labor and that compliance Side so if they do get an audit all they Have to do is run the report hand it Over and they're good to go Another thing of note is that farmers Can play pay their workers differently Than other Industries so they can pay Hourly but they also can pay via a Method Called Peace rate it's basically

Production based so like how many apples Did this worker pick how many branches Did they trim and the farmer has to pay The worker the higher of the two wages And then when you factor in overtime you Can see how complicated that can get Agritrac does all that heavy lifting for Them so we've already built in that Algorithm so payroll becomes a lot Easier in fact our clients are telling Us that payroll used to take about a day Or longer and now they can get it done In minutes and do it from anywhere so Back to the deck please So when I joined Agri track we decided To run a test pilot just to check Market Readiness we signed 21 farms and our ARR Is approaching 114 000. we also hired a Small team to support the customer base And continue developing the platform But labor is just the tip of the spear Food traceability is coming so we're Already at work on a module around Traceability And regulations around spray Applications are going to continue to Change so we're going to work on display Module as well In the future Farms are going to have to Track more data than ever before so With pen and paper it's just not Possible as Agri track continues to Aggregate more data across more farms Eventually we're going to implement deep

Tech like Ai and machine learning so That we can provide Predictive Analytics And then ultimately prescriptive data so That Farms can use that to know exactly How to maximize their efficiencies and Their yields Farms have to adopt Technology or sadly they're just not Going to be around Agri track is perfectly positioned to Lead this inevitable change to Connected Farming We are growing which means we're hiring We're looking for an SDR to continue Growing cells and we're looking for some Developments uh Team some devs and we're Also interested in the channel Partnerships for any software that might Complement agitrack really well and Finally if you're a farm have you signed Up with agritrack and if not let's talk Thank you Oh Thank you for stepping in for Jamie Really appreciate it yes you're welcome My moon let's start with you all right Well at a base level it seems like You're time tracking and payroll Software today And uh I imagine Farm's been paying their employees for Many years and for decades and so I'm Trying to understand what's the Deficiency amongst the current providers Of payroll software for Farmers so we're

Not just to clarify we're not a payroll Software we track the data that's in the Field and it's which is really difficult To do which is why other platforms Haven't worked in that space So think of it this way you can have a Team of workers that can start in one Place doing one type of job at one wage And then move in the same day to another Place doing a different job with a Different wage So a lot of the Legacy software systems Out there are the built for other Industries simply won't work in farming So we do take those data points for time Time cards and then there's a report That feeds directly into payroll because We do all that algorithm and that that Math for them when they're trying to Figure out which which is the prevailing Wage got it thanks Uh well I'm surprised you don't run Payroll because it's almost like you Know the next thing yeah you should Um could be anyways the question I have Is how do you sell into this Farms right I think most of farms are small farms And how are you guys doing it today and Yeah three questions so economic to do That yeah so we found uh that Farms are Even though it's a huge industry they're Very tightly and tightly connected so The first uh like in this test pilot it Was really a matter of the network

Effect uh as well as just outbound and Letting them know we're in the area We're new we're working on helping them And when one farmer adopts it's sure You're sure to find neighboring farms And start looking and saying what are They doing we should do the same thing If you were to uh if you were to if your Customer asks what's my Roi if I bring In your product who would you tell them Yeah so that's a great question too uh We found our our current clients are Reporting an average savings of eight Minutes Uh per worker per day in savings that Was uh essentially what we call payroll Leakage So when you add that to the number of Workers and the hours in a week on a six Day work week it that adds up really Quickly so we have one of our first Clients said that they paid for their Subscription to Agri track within the First like few weeks of harvest Uh Matthew and then Dana Um can you talk a little bit about Um HOA compliance and kind of like the Sort of Special Sauce there yeah so That's something that's unique to Agritrac that differentiates us from Anybody else you would think that Something had come out to help Farms Manage h2a because it's literally vital To their existence without a Workforce

They can't they can't survive plain and Simple so h2a is a is a very regulated Program uh which is what was really Important to Jamie to dig into to help Forms manage that I spoke to one uh Farmer that said that just to make sure That all the h2a is set up he spends About a month and a half off season just Making sure everything is lined up all The paperwork is done all the Regulations are covered it's it's a Headache Farmers just so you know just the Piggyback sorry because a lot of people Don't know this farmers have to pay for The housing for the workers they have to Give them transportation to and from the Store they have to pay them that the Wages they have to pay for their Transportation to and from it's really It's a lot of output for the farm bed It's necessary they can't live without It so they have they have to do it So Um first of all great presentation I am A total sucker for you know a cute photo At the beginning and the authenticity Thank you yeah I mean it's good it's Good to show the authenticity I think It's kind of an area like this yeah Um but uh and an ask at the end I so Um so well done Um I I guess you know I think it's Always really appealing to enter into an

Industry that says it's still paper and Pen but there's so much you know that Goes into that in terms of adoption and The challenges around it so Um in addition to housing do farmers Have to provide a phone to all of the Workers like how how does the app work Like you know adoption yeah so that's Another thing credit to Jamie for Thinking of uh the phone app is actually A web app so it's literally a browser Yeah where they can clock in and check In so it's no different than they use it On their existing phones you don't have To download a plan or like download an App to do it and has it been pretty I Mean I know it's early on but is Adoption an issue and sort of adherence Yeah so it is a an industry that is slow To adopt yeah um but what's really cool Is there's a new generation for the First time that's recognizing the Importance of digitizing farms so They're like we we need to do this to Their parents and grandparents right but Also the the beautiful thing about Agritrack is it's directly tied to the Workers pay So they they have to adopt it or they Don't get paid yeah and then sorry one Left sure yeah Yeah compliant the compliance piece on Each way is that does that automatically Sort of upload to whatever regulatory

Body needs you are onto it yes so we are Work with several labor Brokers that Also help us keep uh updated on changing Regulations around h2a so we build that Right into the system and all all the uh Farmers they don't have to worry about It we take care of that for them so it Just updates you'll ingest new Regulatory Compliance rules and then Also export the appropriate reports yes Mark Uh yeah can I can I ask you two numbers How much are they are you charging per Worker I assume it's a per worker fee so It's there's two are we have a tiered Pricing structure Um and it's based on the amount of Agri-track they're going to use and the Number of head counts during peak season So uh the entry level for like a really Small farm that might have 10 employees Could be as low as like 2 000 a year and Then it scales from there depending on Where they go and how many head counts They have Okay and the Second Story we're gonna do Some math yeah let's watch the hourly Rate of a farm worker so the raises Every year and this is what's another Really insightful thing Um so I believe this year it's 16.90 an Hour And Um

Yeah I forgot my second thought okay It's good I don't want to take more Airspace yeah Charles I said one Question you've got these two value Propositions you've got the sort of data Capture and compliance it feels to me Like the compliance one is the more Salient one for your customer am I am I Getting the right conclusion from the Presentation I just want to make sure Yeah these early adopters of agritrack The number one reason has been around The compliance because of what's at Stake however the aggregate data is Going to be like none other because We're collecting data that nobody else Is collecting right now Yeah and it's very granular and it is uh Yeah Marissa uh since you're starting From the compliance standpoint I'm Wondering if you've seen anything in Terms of improved efficiency and Productivity because my guess is when You're looking at where people are Working illnesses someone doesn't show Up or different needs here or there due To weather or the like are you finding That even anecdotally you're starting to See improvements in terms of how the fun The the farm runs more on a global level Yeah right so one of the really other Cool things about agritrek is that we Start their timer when they clock in and Out to the minute it's actually

Literally to the second uh whereas Previously pen and paper it's like okay It was like seven to five you know or There are other systems out there that Round to the nearest 15 the quarter hour Which loses that Gap right so the the Workers have been excited so far because Now they're getting paid for when they Actually work so if you have a worker That shows up early and wants to get to It they're getting paid and if they stay Late they're getting paid so yeah Productivity is definitely a kind of an Ancillary benefit so that's where we're Going to leave it thank you so much Awesome okay You guys have been a great audience I Really appreciate the participation and The care that you gave and the respect To all the companies they worked very Hard to be here you can see 180 more Companies that started Battlefield in The second floor of Moscone so I'd Encourage you to do that but what's Going to happen now is these judges are Going back into a secret room and Deliberate TechCrunch editorial is out Of the picture now and the fate of this This competition is the hand of the Judges behind me but you need to stay Tuned Daryl will be right back out with The next interview thank you so much We'll see you next year