National award shortlisting for Greenstalk founder

Greenstalk’s founder David Aarons has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award for his work transforming farms by making decades-old equipment digitally “smart”.

David is a finalist in the Agri-tech Innovator of the Year category of the British Farming Awards.

The software entrepreneur launched Greenstalk as a result of conversations with friends in the farming community about the challenges and expense of upgrading to digital farming practices.

It led to him working with farms in Norfolk and Suffolk to monitor existing machinery ranging from weighbridges to production lines. This means their output can be relayed on Greenstalk’s software platform via a mobile device, saving farmers many thousands of pounds and giving them all the information they need at their fingertips.

Greenstalk’s clients include vegetable producer Frederick Hiam whose site in Brandon now has sensors monitoring power output, QR codes and smart ticketing tracking produce, and a digital geofence created around its fuel tanks using the existing CCTV cameras to protect against fuel theft. An old weighbridge has been retro-fitted with sensors so it can photograph and record the details of vehicles arriving on site and analyse their load.

At Raveningham Estate, monitors have been retrofitted to irrigation pumps and grain stores to record power usage via Greenstalk’s web-based software platform.

David said: “I’m thrilled to be recognised for the work we’ve done together so far. I don’t believe in discarding existing machinery when it can be made ‘intelligent’ at a fraction of the cost. Our innovative approach has enabled us to apply our skills to the agri-tech sector and we want to do that by building solutions from the ground up, by listening to farmers’ needs and adapting Greenstalk technology to suit. It helps farmers to manage their operations more efficiently and make data-driven decisions, which is essential for tackling the challenges that today’s farming community face.”

The British Farming Awards will be held at Birmingham NEC in October.

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