Engineers look to solve problems and Katlin Lang is no exception, having started a business that helps agricultural producers save time and money while ensuring their livestock have a vital need met.
The problem was presented to Lang by a friend of his, an agricultural producer who was looking to spend a few days away from the farm. He needed to monitor the water available to his cattle during those days he planned to be away.
Rather than driving back and forth every day, he wondered if there was technology that could be developed to do that monitoring for him, alerting him when there was a need for him to return, but otherwise allowing him to enjoy his time away.
Lang put his knowledge and skill as an electrical systems engineer to use, designing and manufacturing a prototype that became a commercialized product now known as the Herd Hand, sold by Lang’s business FarmSimple.
“Water monitoring technology has been around for a long time in places like Australia, but nobody has taken the time to really understand our market and our climate and what kind of technology would work here for our producers,” said Lang.
The Herd Hand monitors water levels in remote troughs in real time. Producers can log into an online account to check their water levels. They can even receive text message alerts when water levels go low. A second product, the Herd Hand DT (dual temperature), monitors the temperature of watering bowls, sending producers a text message when the water temperature or internal temperature of a bowl begins to drop to freezing temperatures, creating an opportunity to fix an issue before damage occurs. Creation and adoption of new technology like the Herd Hand allows businesses to remain competitive because it can make a significant difference in an operation’s cost savings, loss prevention, and efficiency.
“When farmers are sending their cows out to pastures where they graze, it’s common to have to pump water into a trough system,” said Lang, who grew up on a mixed farm with cattle and grain near the town of Francis, Saskatchewan. “That’s got its advantages for the health of the cattle doing it that way, but if that technology doesn’t refill the water when it goes low, then that’s a problem for the cows. So, farmers find themselves driving every day to just to check the water. That time and money spent on fuel adds up to $4,000 on average for a single summer.”
“Our product is $650. They can install it and save themselves five or six trips a week they don’t have to make out there,” Lang said. “If you look at it, that’s a whole month salary for someone. That’s a family vacation.”
Initially, Lang saw what he built for his friend as a hobby project, something he could do to make a little extra money to spend on future projects. Although it may have started as a hobby, the product has strong potential. Many producers face similar issues, so FarmSimple’s product could have a large impact within the agriculture industry not only in Saskatchewan, but worldwide.
“That ball started rolling in 2020 and then our commercially ready products were available in 2021,” said Lang. “We’re in our second sales cycle now. The way it’s rolled out too is we’ve started getting customers in Saskatchewan to make sure it works for them and then we branch out to the neighboring provinces.”
Farmers are finding him online at farmsimple.ca and at farm shows such as Agribition in Regina and Ag in Motion in Saskatoon. Last year at Ag In Motion, FarmSimple won the Livestock Innovation Award.
“That has helped it terms of getting some media exposure from it, which we appreciate because it generally results in leads and then those leads turn into customers. We have an educational component about teaching people that this is a new product,” said Lang. “So, that’s step one and then we get into the sales aspect of what our product can do.”
Being an entrepreneur in rural Saskatchewan is rewarding to Lang. After earning his engineering degree, he found work with a construction company in construction management and an engineering company in electrical consulting.
“They were both great companies to work for, but I just couldn’t quite shake the bug of entrepreneurship and getting back closer to agriculture,” said Lang, who runs FarmSimple in Vibank, Saskatchewan, approximately 50 kilometres southeast of Regina. “All my friends and family are still in agriculture.”
That has benefited him, providing him the lifestyle he appreciates, but also his business.
“The advantages to being rural is we’re close to farms, so, it’s easy for us to go out to these farms and work on prototypes or just work directly with the farmer.”
He’s hoping to solve even more problems for farmers.
“Our product was overbuilt in terms of it being able to take all kinds of sensor inputs,” said Lang. “So, we like to ask our customers, ‘What else would you like to monitor? What other problems do you find when you think about management of your inventory or your consumables?’”
Finding the funding he needed to start and grow the business has been possible because he has connected with organizations that want to see innovative Saskatchewan businesses like his start and grow. He first reached out to Futurpreneur Canada, a non-profit organization helping Canadians become business owners with loan financing, mentoring and business resources.
“They provided a loan so we could develop our web application and develop the hardware and get it to a point where we could sell units,” said Lang. “We could ship it out to a customer, they could type their serial number into their account and they’re good to go.”
More recently, he received funding from Startup TNT, which connects new and experienced angel investors with startups and entrepreneurs. He has used that funding to be able to hire a sales and marketing specialist as well as two summer students to help him grow the business.
It’s the innovative Saskatchewan businesses like FarmSimple and their technologies that ensure Saskatchewan can continue to lead the agriculture industry and ag-tech across the globe.
“We’re proud to say that our product is designed and manufactured here in Saskatchewan,” said Lang. “As we scale, we have to build up a manufacturing team that will be able to produce more units quicker for us. We’re using our recent funding to attempt to catapult our company to see some significant growth.”
“We want to grow to the point where people look to FarmSimple when they think, ‘I need to monitor something on my farm. I’m going to go to them because they can solve my problems,’” said Lang. “We’re really looking to get to that point of organic traction where FarmSimple is a brand that everyone recognizes and they know that we’re local here in Saskatchewan.”