CHOTEAU — Precision agriculture highlights the intersection of tradition and technology, using data to help agriculture producers manage crops and livestock more efficiently.
We take a closer look at how a new Choteau resident is helping a precision ag company plant seeds for sustainable and smart agriculture.
Outside of Choteau is not exactly where you'd expect groundbreaking technology to be developed. However, it was over one firewood sale that an urban software engineer found his way into the agriculture industry.
But Choteau native and owner of Farmtech Doug Weist might change your mind. This is a cool way to apply science to farming."
Farmtech aims to optimize a farmer's operation via soil imagery and crop health. However, it does more than give you the data.
"Taking all that information and not just making a pretty map but actually making decisions for the farmer, which is our FarmIQ platform,” Weist said.
Farmtech's growth meant Weist needed to add a programmer to his team – a tall order in north central Montana.
"Finding someone you can call or text and have dinner with and can write software is pretty unique in this world,” Weist said.
Chicago native and new Choteau resident David Cimbalista fit the bill.
"The reason I found David is he sold me a batch of firewood to me, and had just mentioned, 'Hey if you ever need programming,' and kind of blew him off and three months later I was calling him,” Weist said.
David moved to Montana with loads of programming know-how — but little to no agriculture knowledge.
"I probably didn't know the difference between a tractor and a combine,” Cimbalista said.
His love of puzzle-solving pushed him to take on this challenge, "I love just figuring things out and being able to do things I've never done before."
Just a year into the partnership, their work is yielding results.
"Now we have an online platform we're building for the farmers in the area, and it's really just come so long of a way in the last year or so we've been together."
Doug and David hope Farmtech will be serving over one million acres in the next few years.
"To more or less touch that many people's lives, and to touch the food they eat, all the farmers who depend on it for their livelihood, it's gonna save them a lot of money, produce more yield for them,” Cimbalista said.
It’s a perfect partnership that almost never happened.
"It's kind of 50/50, I do take a lot of responsibility for making it accessible, but Doug is kind of the one that has that farmer's experience, he knows the touch that it needs to have to make sure it's a success,” Cimbalista said.
"Your crop could be totally different in a month,” Weist noted.
And for Farmtech, the sky's the limit.
"There's really cool stuff out there you can build, and I'm just happy to be a part of it,” Cimbalista said.
“These farmers need every advantage they can get and technology is one that can definitely help them — for sure,” Weist concluded.
You can learn more about Farmtech by clicking here.
