What is Entrepreneur Day?

Entrepreneur Day at the State Capitol is a gathering of North Dakota entrepreneurs from across the state of North Dakota to meet with state policymakers.

What is AgCinect?

AgCinect is a software application for producers to integrate, enter, organize, share, and analyze data from their entire operation.  AgCinect was developed when a group of farmers and ranchers came together and expressed different pain points they experience when running their operations.  Also, the challenges they experience with other solutions they have tried.  To learn more about the AgCinect solution email toddnagel@agcinect.com or call (701) 355-6406.

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Cultivate is a conference showcasing emerging technology in agriculture that convenes leaders to explore tech innovations they’ve created, are currently building, or are searching for in their industry. The conference was attended by investors, bankers, farmers, and a variety of AgTech companies from all over the region.

What is AgCinect?

AgCinect is a software application for producers to integrate, enter, organize, share, and analyze data from their entire operation.  AgCinect was developed when a group of farmers and ranchers came together and expressed different pain points they experience when running their operations.  Also, the challenges they experience with other solutions they have tried.  To learn more about the AgCinect solution email toddnagel@agcinect.com or call (701) 355-6406.

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Properly Prepare Equipment Before Harvest

This means calibrating your combine monitor before the season to make sure the data being collected is accurate.  It is even important to re-calibrate midway through a season to make sure you are capturing consistent data.  If the data being collected is not correct, the insights from analytics will be skewed.  This can lead to misinformed decision making, and lack of true ROI understanding.

With your monitor properly setup and calibrated, data will be generated and compiled as you make your way through harvest season.  Combine monitors have a vast number of features, so the more you utilize the greater your insights will become.  Having this data at the end of the season will provide you with a tool to help make proper decisions in the coming year.

Take Time to Analyze your Data

Having all this data is great, but value only comes when we can learn and improve our practices from the results.  It can be easy to put away your combine at the end of the year and forget about harvest outputs until next season.  My suggestion here would be to look over the data while it is still fresh in your mind.  This allows you to add notes or comments to specific fields or areas needing additional data.

For example, a combine monitor does not recognize the lower areas of the field produced poorly because a late spring frost caused damage.  This is the type of information stemming directly from the knowledge of the producer.  It can create as much value as the data coming directly from your combine monitor.  By pairing a producer’s knowledge with the data generated from a combine, you get a true picture of production.  Utilizing factors past the simple collection of yield data provides a more accurate model by taking into consideration reasons why yield outputs vary.

Store and Compare Multiple Years of Data 

Looking at harvest data for the current year provides the farmer insight into the effectiveness of different applications, seed varieties, and many other practices.  The true value comes when a farmer can look back multiple years to discover trends and make ROI predictions based on data.  A combine monitor only has enough storage space for current year data at best.

Where does this data go once it is cleared off your combine monitor?  How can you store and gain value from previous years’ data?  How can you compare harvest data with planting data?

The answer is a warehouse to store, organize, and analyze your data.  AgCinect is a data management solution capable of storing information from multiple growing seasons.  This gives the producer a tool to manage their data for the current year as well as comparing it to previous season results.  Even more beneficial is the ability to store both planting, spraying, and harvest data in one location.  This allows you to get a complete picture of your entire operation for a true analysis.

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On September 11-13th the AgCinect team will be at the Big Iron Farm Show in West Fargo, ND.  AgCinect is a cloud-based software solution powerful enough to run all aspects of any farm and ranch operation.

AgCinect gives farmers a tool to help capture, store, and analyze data across their entire business.  This provides access to detailed analytics, reports, and financials allowing farmers to make decisions backed by data.

Stop by booth A-03 if your in the area and see what we have to offer!

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CEO Jon Richter said the Linton-based company is just releasing its product to the public after three years of organization and development.

“About three years ago we had a group of farmers and ranchers come together and wanted a better way to manage their data, manage their profitability, and manage the inputs that they put in their systems,” he said.

There particularly was interest from partnership farms, in which multiple family members had hands in the operation and needed to share data.

“There was another product out there that did some of these things. It was very costly,” Richter said.

So the group of ag producers began working with Plains Mobile, which provided the platform for building the business solutions. They tested the solutions in their own operations, creating and refining the features they needed.

“The way we basically continue to evolve is based on feedback of our partners and customers,” Richter said.

New features are added on an ongoing basis. Because the solution is cloud-based, customers don’t have to concern themselves with updates. There’s no downloaded software but users simply log into their online account from any device in any location. Accounts can be set up with multiple user access for partnership operations.

Described as straight forward and simple to use, AgCinect products include:

– calving calendar for records of breeding and birthing.

– feedlot management to track inputs and doctoring.

– livestock management for maintaining genetic information and automating feeding cost records and tracking inputs by pen or group.

– field tracking to keep historical data on crop rotation and seed varieties.

– seed-to-sale allows oversight of field inputs from seeding to harvest, along with analytics of expenses and results.

– equipment monitoring to track by hours and repairs to see the overhead costs and incomes associated with specific equipment.

– inventory management helps oversee quantities of grain, chemical and livestock.  This helps gain insight into commodities available for future planning and smarter purchasing.

– accounting keeps track of sales and receipts while generating balance sheets, income statements and other financial reports.

The company’s consultants assist customers in getting setup.

During the State Fair, AgCinect is offering introductory pricing that makes it worthwhile to stop by the booth in the Commercial II building on the northeast corner of the fairgrounds. The company also has offices in Linton and Bismarck and can be found online at agcinect.com.

Manning the AgCinect booth at the fair this week, employee Cody Hickel said interest by fairgoers has been greater than expected. Many farmers say they use computer software programs but aren’t necessarily aware there is an option out there that can give them much more detail, analytics and data, he said.

“In five to 10 years, everyone will have a system like this,” Richter predicted. “We want farmers and ranchers to really make good business decisions. That’s ultimately the reason why you would want a well organized method to manage your data.”

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Jon Richter ranches West of Linton and is also the owner of PlainsMobile Inc, a cloud based business solution company. His team was hired by a local group of farmers to build AgCinect. Our technical team created AgCinect based on the design and use feedback from our partners.

How it started

“The main problem when talking to local farmers and ranchers, was there were multiple programs needed to track their data. This was costly especially if purchasing a field management program, and these solutions didn’t meet all of their needs. With all the feedback from the AgCinect investment partners, we continue to improve the overall business solution on a daily basis” Richter said.

We recognized there are separate products for feed lots, calving, field management, and accounting. These products do not integrate so at any time of the year, the farmer and/or rancher does not have accurate analytics to measure their operation” Richter said.

AgCinect gives farmers and ranchers a comprehensive solution to manage the data for their full agriculture operation as it combines programs ranging from calving books to financial programs. The platform serves as a one-stop-shop for tracking all types of data on an agricultural operation.

AgCinect features

For cattle operations, ranchers are able to keep track of groups of cattle by customer pot, age, and pen. Feedlot owners also have the ability to keep track of how many pounds of feed are used daily, doctoring fees, daily yardage, and headcount across different entities. At the end of month, they can automatically print and/or email invoices. All ranchers have to do is enter inputs into the system once a day, and the data is stored and used in various ways to give them valuable feedback and automated invoices. This gives ranchers the ability to see what is working and what has room for improvement.

On the calving side, ranchers can enter a new calve in seconds and take notes on their production herd to manage future culling. You can enter doctoring records to keep track of sick calves. In operations where multiple people handle calving, data cubes provide critical information on health issues in the herd. AgCinect is a multi-user cloud solution so all individuals (if granted access) have secure access to the data in the operation.

“Our solution is 100% mobile friendly as well, so ranchers can enter calving and feed lot records in seconds on their phone. We make data entry as quick and seamless as possible” Richter said.

On crop operations, farmers can measure specific inputs from seed to sale on a crop lifecycle, and can see exactly how much they profit off each acre and each crop type. Not just this year, but as far back as data is entered. Historical records allow for an overview insight of operations to help with future planning and past analysis. Access to this data gives the visibility to see exactly what was lucrative and ultimately what worked for the farmer and what didn’t.

The program also can help both farmers and ranchers track the expense, usage, or depreciation of individual equipment used with respect to specific projects.

From our customers

Andrew Vetter runs a custom feedlot, has a cow-calf operation, and is a crop producer East of Linton. He said he has been looking for a program like this for a long time, and he is hoping it can help him save time and eliminate errors that might be made when moving numbers from one program to the next. I also plan to move my expense and sales information from Quicken to AgCinect which will allow me to keep my data in one solution. With all my data in AgCinect, I will be able generate accurate financial statements and track profitability anytime during the year.

“At the end of the year, it takes hours upon hours to move numbers, in order to give me what my income was for each part of my operation. I think this could really be a big help,” Vetter said.

Customers who have been using the product say it has done exactly that. Chris Zenker and his brother Mike, who own a multi-entity ranch near Gackle, ND agree that having AgCinect has made their partnership more seamless.

“Being able to track all of your information on your fields, all the way from input to harvest, then being able to use the data to analyze what worked and what didn’t, especially in a multi-partner operation, has been great. I can generate accurate reports which tell me our specific input costs by farm partner.” Mike said.

“The fact that you can see exactly what you put onto each field from previous years is really helpful in planning for upcoming planting seasons,” Chris said.

“Most industry software, is simply “use-as-is.” In our program, if there is a feature that isn’t implemented and a producer would like, we can add it, sometimes in a matter of hours. We enjoy hearing what can be added or changed, and our mission is to improve the life and business success of the farmer and rancher.” Richter said.

All of the data entered is securely stored in the internet cloud, which is the standard for modern business solutions. This also means the data is accessible from any device, whether that be a phone, tablet, or computer.

Seamless integration

AgCinect has also recently partnered with Climate FieldView. The partnership will allow customers of both products to be able to seamlessly move data from one program to the other.

“We are extremely excited about our partnership with Climate FieldView. With FieldView, all planting, spraying applications, and harvesting events will automatically be captured in AgCinect. The farmer will not have to manually enter their field information. We are currently very busy building the technical integration, and also educating the Monsanto sales channel on AgCinect.

To find out more visit www.agcinect.com, or call (888) 627-1798.

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The agriculture industry has evolved over the past 20 years at an alarming and pressing rate.  Almost every practice has been changed and improved in one way or another.

I enjoyed the privilege of growing up on an agricultural farm, and have seen firsthand how dramatic this evolution has been. Historically it was good enough to simply pick your seed variety, add the suggested fertilizer and chemical, and harvest what you had at the end of the season. The only crucial thing was earning enough to make your annual payments and move on to the following year.

In today’s market, we understand breaking even is not going to be enough. Productivity and profitability need to be at the forefront of any operation for it to remain competitive. The agriculture industry presents new technologies to farmers at an overwhelming rate. The key for the farmer is to pick and choose which technologies to adopt.

Adoption in the past

I can recall the first time hearing the idea of utilizing cover crops to fix nutrients and develop a solid micronutrient and microorganism environment. I remember thinking this seemed counterproductive.

My initial response was,“Why would you seed more plants on land to increase its soil health?! Don’t plants deplete the soil?”

However, once I educated myself on healthy organic matter environments and understood soil as a complex living ecosystem, the idea made sense. We use different tools and practices over time to improve our production. Once we evolve and become familiar with these new tools, we wonder how we ever operated without them. Recently, farmers and ranchers are turning to data as a tool for smarter decision-making and increased efficiency in their operations.

By capturing and utilizing data, analytics are generated to give a clearer picture into operations. Farms produce enormous amounts of data from field inputs to financials. I know the general record keeping practices an average farmer uses. The little red calving book, the box of receipts for tax or insurance, the spray and application records that are difficult to understand.

  How AgCinect can help

AgCinect is a farm and ranch management solution to help users collect data from all aspects of their operation from sales and accounting, to crop inputs and livestock. AgCinect provides a tool to capture data for an in-depth analysis into production and profitability. By housing all your information in one place, you can utilize your data in meaningful and beneficial ways. Whether recalling seed varieties and planting dates from previous years or checking cattle records to see breeding history for a specific animal, knowledge becomes a valuable asset.

AgCinect gives farmers and ranchers the tool they need to automate their farm, which provides valuable insights and eliminates time consuming tasks. The average farmer is more interested in planting than paperwork, so utilizing AgCinect eliminates the scattered files and incomplete documents. Entering data once becomes a lot easier than maintaining a box of receipts and files with helpless knowledge.

Contact us today to see how AgCinect can help you save time, make more informed decisions, and keep all your valuable information in one place ready to be analyzed and utilized.

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AgCinect was developed in the middle of America’s Bread Basket by a team consisting of workers who grew up in farm and ranch communities. AgCinect is a cloud based business solution that allows a farm or ranch operation to efficiently manage all of their data.

The AgCinect solution was created by Plains Mobile. Plains Mobile is a cloud-based software development company specializing in the development of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions.

“We are extremely excited to be developing the AgCinect business solution. This is the first comprehensive Agriculture solution in the marketplace that brings together all the business needs of the diversified farmer. With AgCinect, farms can track their per acre yield, inventory, feedlot inputs as well as many other data related operations on their ranch.” says Jon Richter, CEO of Plains Mobile Inc.

About AgCinect

AgCinect, founded in 2016, is a provider of cloud-based farm and ranch operation solutions designed by farmers and ranchers. For more information regarding AgCinect visit their site, www.agcinect.com.

About Plains Mobile

Plains Mobile, founded in 2011, is a provider of custom cloud-based business solutions through its Platform as a Service (PaaS), ezCinect OBI. They provide custom Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, custom integrations, and cloud-based Accounting solutions. For more information regarding Plains Mobile visit their site, www.plainsmobile.com.

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