What do old farm kids do when they’re not busy? They start tinkering. And that’s how the Bushel app was born.
Bushel is the grain industry’s first automated mobile app platform for elevators and cooperatives to connect with their growers and deliver real-time actionable information via a mobile app.
The mobile app delivers information to the elevator’s customers including real-time scale tickets, contracts, pre-pays, and cash bids. Bushel is powered by a proprietary application programming interface (API) and translator developed by the Myriad Mobile team. The API and translator enable Bushel to work with any elevator accounting system.
“Bushel started with a scale ticket app Myriad developed for a large sugarbeet cooperative that eliminated the paper ‘slip’ and manual entry that went along with it,” said Jake Joraanstad, Myriad Mobile CEO and co-founder. “My co-founder and Myriad’s Chairman, Ryan Raguse, quickly identified the vital role technology could play in streamlining business for grain elevators and delivering real-time information to their growers.”
The simple scale ticket app quickly grew into a multi-year project automating and streamlining the workflow of a sugarbeet grower.
“The response from our growers was overwhelming–with nearly 100 percent of our growers using the platform,” said Mike Metzger, director of research and development for Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative, one of the nation’s largest sugarbeet cooperatives based in Wahpeton, North Dakota serving more than 400 growers. “We’ve really been able to streamline our operations and strengthen our relationships with our growers.”
The secure, cloud-based platform eliminates data entry and streamlines communication enabling growers to connect directly with the elevator via the app to receive bids, track contracts, monitor markets, and check pre-paid amounts.
The elevator-branded mobile apps “sport” the intuitive design, robust features, quality ,and security that Myriad has built its name on–having done projects for ag-industry giants John Deere, Bobcat and Monsanto.
“We have primarily designed and developed custom applications for ag-based clients,” said Joraanstad. “We believe those who take a technology-first approach in their business strategy will win.”
Myriad recently raised $1.5 million in capital to build out the mobile grain app platform and the team to launch Bushel with strategic investors in the Ag space.
“We wanted to make exponential technologies attainable for a broader base to better serve farmers,” said Joraanstad. “With Bushel, we can provide a mobile app platform developed specifically for the grain industry at a lower price point in a custom-branded solution.”
The initial version of Bushel was piloted with North Dakota-based elevator network The Arthur Companies, which serves more than 350 growers in eight locations.
“Our goal is to continually innovate to help growers meet the challenges of global agriculture,” said Brooks Burgum, CEO of the The Arthur Companies. “We wanted to offer the best capabilities to empower our growers to make the best decisions to maximize their operational profitability. With 200 growers joining in the first two weeks–we knew they were ready and waiting for this type of technology.”
To date, Bushel is yielding big–with nearly a dozen new customers signed on and above-average adoption and app usage rates.
“Leveraging modern technology–like Bushel in the grain industry–can provide the tight integration between all elements of the supply chain that global agriculture demands,” added Joraanstad. “Elevators and coops can work more seamlessly with their producers while giving them the data they need.”
Joraanstad concluded, “As a grower told us, ‘you just made a farmer very happy.’ Seeing our technology positively impact the industry makes us ‘farm kids’ happy too.”
