An Alberta farmer had one goal in mind: to have up-to-date, easily accessible grain pricing information.
So Lynn Dargis, a former Olds College student, made that available for every farmer in Western Canada.
Farmers are able to compare live bids and look at price history through a subscription to Farmbucks – available through website or app.
The former central Alberta student said Farmbucks is an Expedia of grain prices. The platform makes it easy to see at any time where the top pricing opportunities are, and who they’re coming from, connecting buyers and sellers.
“Grain prices are changing every minute, and each grain buyer has their own price that they offer farmers, so it’s pretty complex,” she said.
“The app or website sorts prices for farmers, according to the location, and the search radius around them,” she said.
The idea came to Dargis out of necessity, because she was frustrated searching or calling for prices every day.
“I just didn’t have the time required. We’re out there working in the fields, because I’m a farmer and I grow cattle and I have cattle, too,” the wife and the mother of three said.
The 33-year-old said nothing like Farmbucks existed, at least not in Western Canada, according to her research.
“Because price transparency isn’t standard in agriculture just yet.”
Farmbucks covers grain products such as wheat, canola, oats, barley, rye – almost all grains grown in the Prairies. The platform doesn’t have cattle prices just yet, but there are plans to cover that as well, Dargis said.
Farmbucks was launched about eight months ago, and so far, there are more than 1,700 subscribers to the service.
“Farmers are loving it. They just want more. They want to see every offer that’s available to them – it doesn’t matter who it’s coming from – on there, so we’re building up to be there.
“It’s a process, but we’re getting there,” she said.
Dargis was recently awarded the $25,000 grand prize at the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs’ Pitch for the Purse Finale during an annual gala in Vancouver for Farmbucks.
The top three finalists, including Dargis, were chosen among 14 companies, which were picked from more than 200 applications across Canada to present their pitches at semi-final events in Toronto and Vancouver last November.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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