Farmmee’s objective is to assist farmers to find companies and suppliers that may meet their wants
From left: Molly Woodruff, Cindy Rockwell and Becky McCrae, builders of Farmmee. (Rick Purnell)
With backgrounds in farming and agriculture, the trio behind a brand new farming app know the challenges that may include farming on tight deadlines — haulers breaking down or storms threatening crops proper earlier than harvest.
These challenges led three Iowa entrepreneurs to create Farmmee, an app aimed toward serving to join farmers to individuals and corporations that may present essential companies.
Farmmee connects farmers with suppliers who can carry out companies they could want, together with spreading manure, hauling hay or a variety of different duties. Farmers can also record themselves as suppliers, providing their experience and companies to different farmers.
Molly Woodruff, Cindy Rockwell and Becky McCrea have many years of expertise in tech and IT amongst them. The trio personal AppLifts, a Des Moines-based tech firm. All three of them even have agriculture backgrounds.
Rockwell, Farmmee’s director of enterprise growth, owns a corn and soybean farm in Carlisle, and Woodruff, the CEO, operates a 100-year-old household farm along with her husband in Indianola.
McCrea, the chief expertise officer, has labored at crop insurance coverage and agriculture start-ups.
The inspiration for the app got here when the group was exploring methods to enhance their very own operations and attempting to broaden it out to different farmers.
They landed on a mannequin that related farmers to suppliers, modeling apps similar to Uber that enable for direct connection of shoppers and repair suppliers.
“The app could be very easy,” Rockwell mentioned. “One aspect is, ‘I need assistance,’ and the opposite aspect is ‘I can present assist.’ And it’s actually these two buttons.”
The app launched in early Could. To this point, the app has had seen solely a handful of downloads, however Rockwell mentioned curiosity has been rising.
“Persons are hitting our web site, they’re signing up for our publication, we’re getting a couple of individuals beginning to enroll this week,” she mentioned.
The app is free to make use of for farmers and doesn’t take a reduce of the funds. Suppliers pays a month-to-month subscription after a free trial interval, and farmers and suppliers will have the ability to negotiate charges and pay on their very own.
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