Remi Schmaltz’s family has been in Alberta agriculture for four generations. When it was his and his brothers turn to take over the family business, they quickly realized it was struggling due to commoditization. So, he and brother Tasha Schmaltz set out to research where agriculture was headed and exactly what farmers really needed.

What their research landed on was the idea of precision agronomy: using technology to apply efficient farming techniques that are acutely specific to their land and crops. And, in 2011, Decisive Farming was launched.

Today the company deals with 1,500 farms, six million acres of land, in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as well as customers in the US. And in its biggest news yet, Decisive Farming was acquired by none other than TELUS in 2019 and is part of their new, global business unit that is focused on transforming the food value chain.

HOW IT WORKS

There are three core farm functions that Decisive Farming addresses to help farmers work more efficiently and sustainably, and increase revenue: farm management, precision agronomy, and crop marketing.

Decisive Farming’s digital platform goes by the name My Farm Manager®, which they describe as a central hub for any farm. My Farm Manager® allows farmers to track and access historical information about their land, so they can make fully informed decisions about their operations. So far, the company has partnered with more than two dozen service providers whose solutions integrate into the My Farm Manager® platform - and this includes big global players in agriculture, like John Deere, Federated Co-op and Case IH. The platform is all underpinned by proprietary ag tech software for which the team has secured multiple patents. Their Croptivity® app is also used by farmers to save time on tasks such as data entry, team management, customer collaboration, and reporting from the field or elsewhere.

When it comes to precision agronomy solutions, we want you to imagine a 160-acre field - it’s unlikely to be uniform throughout, so you can’t treat all of it in the same way. What Decisive Farming does is use variable rate technology (known as VRT) to break that land into zones via imagery, topography, and other data layers. The team patented this technology too. Using this, farmers can put a prescription into their tractor’s computer to fertilize, water, and treat the field according to that information. VRT is key to optimizing yield potential. Farmers are able to track where they need to spend on seeding and input down to where they’re needed most.

Decisive Farming also helps customers create informed plans for the crop marketing season, helping them mitigate the risks they might face on the open market. The aim is simple - to empower farmers with market trend know-how and give them personalized support to ensure their profitability.

THE AG TECH BOOM

Although ag tech was experiencing a surge in interest and innovation in their early years, and competitors were seeing the opportunity in areas like precision agriculture, Schmaltz and his team had a stronger understanding of the pain points throughout a farm, and set out to offer a full suite of solutions for them.

The team’s deep knowledge of the sector meant they already knew of the products out in the market, actually being used by their target customers. Instead of building their own versions of those products, some of which had been backed by the biggest names in agriculture, they set out to build a platform that would integrate those services into one place, to make life easier for farmers.

FROM FARMING TO TECH STARTUP

While Schmaltz knew a lot about being an agriculture business owner, becoming a tech startup founder was a whole new ballgame, especially when it came to raising capital and navigating the startup ecosystem. He received support from Calgary-based TECTERRA, which works with Canadian companies innovating in geomatics technologies. He also went through startup bootcamps offered by Randy Thompson and Valhalla Angels (formerly known as VA Angels), one of Canada’s most active angel investment groups. The Calgary chapter was the first in their network and has helped many local early-stage founders for almost 20 years.

“I went through the bootcamp to understand pitches, how to build a deck and what different investors want to see,” says Schmaltz. “It was my first foray into understanding those things.”

But it’s the Schmaltz family and Alberta’s deep roots in agriculture that show through in Decisive Farming’s success, not only because its early customers were farms across Western Canada but also the fact they raised capital from the AVAC Group, the Alberta-based investment company that has historically identified and funded promising ag tech companies in Canada.

“AVAC was the first investor that put money into our business back in 2011,” Schmaltz says. “They have been a strong supporter of us and we’re a success story for them too.”

In 2016, they were able to raise their first round of venture capital, led by Calgary-based McRock Capital, Export Development Canada (EDC), and the Accelerate Fund, which provides early-stage financing for startups in Alberta. McRock Capital and EDC also invested in the Series B financing round raised by Decisive Farming more recently in 2019.

*CEO and Co-Founder of Decisive Farming, Remi Schmaltz*

With most of the Decisive Farming team split between Irricana and Calgary, Schmaltz has been able to tap into the local talent pools in each area. Based in Irricana are the company’s GIS technicians, agronomists, soil technicians, and maintenance personnel, while the Calgary office is mainly composed of the software team.

In the early days, finding tech talent in Alberta was an obstacle for Schmaltz - wanting to grow his software team, he initially found himself in the same boat as many startup founders looking for local talent that wasn’t quite there yet. Now home to a growing pool of tech talent with diverse skills from development, to software engineering, data science, and more, Calgary couldn’t be a more fitting base for the Decisive Farming software team.

“At the start, we had to align our expectations to a certain pool, especially with regard to tech and software, but that outlook has ended up treating us well,” says Schmaltz. “We’ve found great talent over the years.”

THE RIGHT FIT

In 2019, Decisive Farming received an offer from a familiar name, although not in their space - TELUS - which closed a deal to acquire the company last December. It wasn’t the first company that offered to acquire Decisive Farming, but for Schmaltz, TELUS was the right fit and the brand’s inroads in healthcare digitization was something he saw as a signal of the strength they could bring into agriculture.

“It’s encouraging to see TELUS come into agriculture as an independent player,” says Schmaltz. “They’re not trying to sell crop inputs to farmers. They want to connect the agriculture and food value chain from grower-to-grocer, to increase efficiency, production, and deliver better food outcomes for businesses and the end consumer. Our employees, customers and partners were all very positive about it.”

Decisive Farming’s whole team was able to move to TELUS, where the company is now part of the TELUS Agriculture global business unit.

“They see agriculture digitization as a huge opportunity, and they are forming a core business around those efforts,” says Schmaltz. “We’re pretty excited about the future with TELUS.”

GIVING BACK

As the founder of a tech startup that has been acquired by a large enterprise, Schmaltz’s success is enviable for many entrepreneurs. And that’s why he wants to pay it forward.

“I’ve had lots of help over the years,” says Schmaltz. “So, I try to give back. I recently joined the A100 and have started to do some mentorship, informally, at the Creative Deconstruction Lab—Rockies and The Accelerator,” naming two great programs for Calgary-based founders of seed-stage startups. The Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a program that provides support for founders of science and technology companies, and CDL-Rockies, the Calgary chapter, offers a specific program stream for ag startups.

“I’d like to be able to help other entrepreneurs navigate the system,” he says.

And he’s done just that, helping seed the ag tech talent in Alberta. Throughout the years Decisive Farming has established close working relationships with several local institutions of higher education, including the University of Calgary, SAIT, and Olds College, on a wide variety of partnerships around remote sensing techs, and other research projects.

In 2014, the company worked with Steve Liang, the Founder and CTO at SensorUp, as well as Associate Professor at U Calgary and Lab Scientist at Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies on evaluating sensor tech. The company has also provided internships at SAIT.

“I’ve had lots of help over the years, so I try to give back. I’d like to be able to help other entrepreneurs navigate the system.”

— Remi Schmaltz, CEO and Co-Founder of Decisive Farming

WHAT’S NEXT

Most importantly, Schmaltz is focused on leading the next phase for Decisive Farming.

Now that they’re aligned within the TELUS ecosystem, Decisive Farming will be pushing into the US, and acquisitions in Canada and the US to further consolidate the market. They’re also ramping up their software and tech team, working with the TELUS AI group.

“As we continue to expand, we now have a nice verified data set on the farm. The next question is, how do we extract further value for farmers via ML and AI?” says Schmaltz. “We’re connecting with best-in-breed partners in this space because we know we can’t do everything.”

Decisive Farming will be working to further integration with sensors infield, with equipment, telematics and more data sets. And it doesn’t end there, the company is also looking to connect accountants, insurance specialists, agronomists, and more, all integrated into their platform.

The ultimate goal, according to Schmaltz, is: “More strategic decision making on the farm.”

From a family whose been in Albertan agriculture for generations, Schmaltz and his team are not just continuing a legacy, but innovating on that legacy as creators of a true 21st century solution - the digital farm.

To hear more about this future-focused business, visit Decisive Farming’s website here.

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Decisive Farming: Creating the digital farm