[Editor’s Note: Founder Forum, a series featuring Q&As with local startup founders, is sponsored by the Maine Technology Institute. Read more about MSI’s sponsored-content strategy here.]
Technological innovation has impacted just about every industry sector in one way or another, but one area that Alex Jones feels has been left behind is small-scale farming. That’s why last April he founded Farmhand Automation to provide robotic and AI tools to small-scale farms.
A Maine native, Jones recently moved back to the state after spending two years on the West Coast working in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence. This isn’t Jones’ first foray into entrepreneurship. Before his short hiatus in the Seattle area, he was product manager at Forager, the local software startup that’s developed a platform to help connect local farms with local groceries, and previously founded a company that built an IoT device to help monitor bee hives.
Maine Startups Insider asked Jones some questions about his new Biddeford-based venture and his vision for the company.
MSI: What’s your three-sentence elevator pitch?
Jones: We intuitively understand that local food is better for ourselves and better for the planet, but as agriculture continues to suffer from labor shortages, rising costs, and climate change, we see little to no innovation outside of industrial-scale farming. Farmhand Automation is translating state-of-the-art robotics into affordable automation to help small-scale farmers bring the local food revolution into the 21st century.
Why did you launch Farmhand Automation?
I’ve always wanted to make local food more equitable for growers and more accessible to consumers. The fact that we have to make an economical decision at the grocery store to pay more for food that we know is healthier for us and the planet doesn’t make sense to me. The food industry, like many others, has systemic problems that cannot be solved with software alone. After working on the West Coast for the last two years and taking part in the robotics renaissance happening in agriculture, I feel confident enough that we can bring innovation to small-scale farms and change the calculus on the food equation.
Where are you in the company life cycle?
We’ve developed our prototype and are currently designing the second iteration for field trials this summer.
What’s your competitive advantage?
Our biggest competitive advantage is our focus. We hope to be the first movers in this new category of small-scale farm robotics within the larger agriculture robotics space. The cost structures and customer development are completely different from the established products on the market, and we think that puts us way ahead.
What are your startup costs?
Our costs are 80% in our people, and we are currently hiring for a couple positions. We focus on in-house digital manufacturing, which keeps prototyping and production costs low.
How are you funding startup costs?
We’re currently raising a seed round and have gotten great support from the Maine Technology Institute.
What are the next few milestones you’re working toward?
Currently, we are looking to grow our team, deploy our latest technology, and carry out some successful trials this summer on our test field in Scarborough.
Where would you like to see the company in five years?
We’re a Public Benefit Corporation with a mission to accelerate decentralized and ecologically sustainable food systems. In 5 years, I’d like to see us creating a dent in the systemic problems holding back local food producers with a clear roadmap to making local food the norm in the 21st century.
Very exciting company. I agree that there is a lot of potential using AI and automation to reduce costs and reduce labor shortage issues. I look forward to seeing how the company progresses in the next few years.
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