About us - Optifarm

Our Mission

To link the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence with the traditions of farming by allowing the data from animals to drive timely, well informed actions.

How we started

Born out of a need from our own farming business to become proactive rather than reactive if we were ever to maximise the potential of our business we began exploring what is really needed at farm level.

As a team, we have a deep heritage in farming and farm data but felt that simply analysing dashboards and graphs was not enough. It was always about what happened yesterday, last week, or last cycle. We also saw that our best farm managers were being distracted by trying to understand technology and data when their passion was with their animals.

So, we took inspiration from other sectors where team members can specialise in areas of the business of most interest to them and we let our farm staff farm and formed a data team that would proactively connect to farms repeatedly all day, using farm data and their knowledge of farming to look for optimisation opportunities and then communicate this to the farm staff on farm in simple messages and discussions bringing both practical farming and data back together.

Once others saw what we were doing and requested our support our internal solution became a global service, we attracted outside investment and started to cross over into more farm livestock sectors.

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Most issues are not that complicated but you need to react fast when animals are involved
More issues occur overnight when staff are usually not around
Most alerting and alarming systems are set too broadly to deliver value beyond emergency call outs
Technology suppliers are great engineers but not farmers
Maximising all the potential often requires more than one data set
Digital platforms do a terrible job at communicating with those whom have a brain designed to empathise with animals not computers
Different data sets in livestock production don’t talk to each other and cannot usually be amalgamated for combined analysis
Data is not usually used to derive actions on farm in real time, but usually to form strategic decisions for the medium to long term

We cannot accept these limitations if we are to drive a farming business to its potential
Any service must be in real time so farmers react when they and their animals need it the most
You must deliver this service 24 hours a day 7 days a week as you can’t predict when issues need addressing
Farm staff love technology and data but only if it adds value to their lives and means they can look after their animals better
To support on farm staff you need to understand their world to gain trust and respect
It makes no difference whether you connect remotely to the data from the other side of town, a country or the other side of the world, making this a truly global option
By combining data, an understanding of animals and a consideration for the farmers world you are best placed to assist with productivity gains and welfare validation of those animals
There is no reason this digital service cannot add value to any livestock farming enterprise or species that has some real time data available
Key is to bring the digital and analogue worlds of livestock farming together in one place through data, messaging and conversations

Collaborative

We are team players, reliable partners for our clients, investors, suppliers and colleagues, fully engaged with the daily challenges we all face.

Authenticity

We have a unique combination of farming, data and experience that helps us develop, well-informed, practical solutions that improve livestock production.

Pioneering

We bring insight to our sector by challenging the status quo, asking the big ‘what-if’ questions and continually testing innovative ideas and technologies.