The winners of the inaugural AgTech Awards at Agribition: (left to right) Darren Wolchyn with Smart Paddock, Katlin Lang with Farm Simple, and Mokah Shmigelsky with OneCup AI. (Alice McFarlane/farmnewsNOW)

By Alice McFarlane

Agribition AgTech Awards

Inaugural AgTech awards handed out at Canadian Western Agribition

Dec 1, 2023 | 5:12 PM

Three companies were recognized for their innovations that improve animal welfare.

The Agribition Animal AgTech Awards were handed out to Farm Simple, OneCup AI, and Smart Paddock.

The companies competed in a pitch-style format during the show and were judged in the areas of technology, team and experience, and market potential and finance.

Vibank, Sask. company Farm Simple received the Rising Star Award for its device called Herd Hand which helps monitor livestock watering systems.

C-Founder Katlin Lang said it was born out of a real-life problem: wanting to monitor the water supply while away from the farm.

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“Farm Simple works with the use of hardware and software. Our hardware monitors the livestock water levels, temperatures, and pressure while the producers aren’t physically at the water source,” Lang said. “Then it’s going to send a text message alert if something goes wrong. They can also view all their data on their dashboard online.”

The Innovation Award went to Smart Paddock based in Victoria, Australia. Founder and CEO Darren said the solar-powered Bluebell GPS Smart Ear Tags will keep track of cattle.

“We track them around the property and give you alerts for downed animals, distressed animals, stray animals and we are now working on some more advanced features around reproduction. That’s heat detection and calving detection. We’re the first company to ever do something like this before,” Wolchyn said.

Alberta-based OneCup AI took home the Business of the Year Award for its software called BETSY.

CEO and Co-Founder Mocha Shmigelsky said the device scans an entire animal for various diseases, weight loss or gain, injury, and dehydration to help producers improve overall herd health.

“Over time we identify all the animals in a herd and then as they get their identification, we essentially create a historical profile for each animal,” Shmigelsky said. “We can go back in their history and see their gait pattern and anything that changes with that gait pattern or their feed and water intake and what that looks like and if any changes happen.”

Shaun Kindopp, CEO of Canadian Western Agribition, said the awards are the first of their kind honouring the innovators in animal agricultural technology.

“Not only do these solutions make farmers’ lives easier, but they also contribute to the growth and progress of the entire agricultural industry,” he said.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW