Platfarm
Willunga grape grower's app Europe-bound.
What do you get when a former Facebook game developer from London runs a McLaren Vale vineyard for a few years, and starts talking with the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide鈥檚 ThincLab entrepreneurial accelerator in France? Simple: an incredibly exciting, multi-million-dollar international agricultural technology opportunity.
This improbable scenario is the real-life story of digital games producer turned grape grower Oli Madgett and his groundbreaking app, Platfarm. Designed to help grape growers maximise the efficiency of their land management practices, Platfarm draws on multiple information sources to provide contractors with precise, row-by-row instructions regarding required inputs and their quantities鈥攁ll via a humble smartphone or tablet.
鈥淭he app sucks in imagery from things like satellites and drones, to show growers the variability of their land,鈥 says Oli. 鈥淭hat allows growers and their contractors to draw out what鈥檚 called a prescription map, which shows where work needs to be carried out.
鈥淭hen when they鈥檙e out in the field, the app shows them in real time exactly where they are on the map; alerts them when they enter a 鈥榩rescription zone鈥; advises what work鈥檚 required there; and, as they move through the zone, says when to stop or adjust what they鈥檙e doing.鈥
According to Oli, who bought his vineyard in 2014 after emigrating from England, it promises to help producers all over the world make significant financial gains.
鈥淚n grape growing, if you carry out work on your land more intelligently鈥攂y spreading the precise, ideal mix of compost and mulch, for example, for every individual square metre鈥攜ou can even up the vigour of your blocks.
鈥淭hat can take your grapes from grade B to A, which can earn you thousands more per hectare. Plus, you have the potential to save thousands in input costs, because you only use exactly what you need, and extract maximum benefit from it.鈥
Although currently focusing on the 最新糖心Vlogn grape industry, Oli says the European market鈥攑articularly France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany鈥攊s squarely in his sights.
Europe鈥檚 easily the biggest grape growing market in the world, and unquestionably represents a multi-million-dollar opportunity for us. So ThincLab鈥檚 assistance in France is going to be invaluable.Oli Madgett
Fortuitously based in Chalons in the heart of the iconic Champagne wine region, the French ThincLab team will be heavily involved in Platfarm鈥檚 European expansion. Their initial priorities, says Oli, will be leading the recruitment of a French intern with a passion for ag-tech to be the start-up鈥檚 first European-team member, and providing introductions to local growers.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going over there at the end of the next 最新糖心Vlogn vintage, around Easter 2018,鈥 he says, 鈥渁nd the ThincLab team鈥檚 going to tap into their network to help us start directly engaging with the French grape growing community.
鈥淲e want to be a high-growth business, so we鈥檙e aiming to have at least a couple of thousand European growers using our app by 2020.鈥
For a relatively novice farmer, now entering only his third season, it鈥檚 a remarkable position to be in.
But being a natural entrepreneur, Oli can already see a day when the app鈥攚hich could be equally useful for all kinds of pasture-dependent farming鈥攅xpands well beyond even the global grape growing market.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 get ahead of ourselves, of course. We鈥檙e still in the early stages of attracting investment.
鈥淏ut I have to admit, it鈥檚 getting very exciting.鈥