Startup showcases livestock software program
By Jim Stafford
Copyright © 2016, The Oklahoma Publishing Company
SAN FRANCISCO — Sean Akadiri crossed the floor of the OKBio exhibition booth at the 2016 Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) convention here and touched a large video screen.
The website of Oklahoma City-based Agric-Bioformatics popped onto the screen.
Founded by Akadiri in 2013, Agric-Bioformatics developed an innovative software platform that allows livestock producers to analyze, manage and improve performance and genomics data of their herd.
Called AgBoost, the Internet-based software launched in beta form this week, which provided Akadiri the opportunity to preview it in live demos at the Bio show. He showcased its capabilities in 25 partnering meetings over the course of the show, which ended Thursday.
“That was real exciting to show people and not just talk about it,” Akadiri said. “The reaction has been amazing. It’s something very, very different than what is out there; something that is visual, really clean and 21st century.”
Based on genetic samples, a rancher can forecast herd performance, select the best animals to breed, track their valuation and improve profitability. The data grows more valuable as an animal moves through the chain from farm to stocker operation to feedlot to slaughterhouse.
Users pay a monthly subscription fee to Agric-Bioformatics for data management.
Akadiri is part of a team of three, along with contract software developers who turned AgBoost into a visual showcase. An advisory team composed of professors from Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Alberta has aided development of the company, with additional support from the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Akadiri said.
Startup funding has been provided by Akadiri’s partners along with Oklahoma Technology Business Finance Program funding from i2E Inc., and a grant from the Oklahoma EPSCoR, which is the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research that is part of the National Science Foundation.
“With our data, producers can do a lot of forecasting to see how this animal they are buying is going to perform over time and the quality of what they are getting, so it’s not a guessing game any more,” Akadiri said.
“What happens is when the data goes from one hand to another, the value goes up because everyone keeps adding data to it,” he said.
