荔枝视频

One of the most time-consuming jobs on a ranch is tracking down and moving cattle across areas that can span hundreds of thousands of acres 鈥� a task essential to maintaining grazing land and monitoring animal health. 

That鈥檚 why three 荔枝视频 students founded a startup that allows ranchers to use AI and drones to draw boundaries on a digital map of their ranch, while GPS-enabled collars guide cattle within those areas in real-time.  

In an industry stretched thin by labour demands and the high cost of physical fencing, Agrivanna aims to help ranchers make better decisions while reducing upfront costs. 

鈥淥ur main goal here is to increase ROI and productivity for Canadian farmers and make the costs of these technologies cheaper and more affordable for them,鈥� says CEO Amirhossein Foroughi. 

From farm roots to startup 

The idea traces back to Foroughi鈥檚 upbringing on his father鈥檚 dairy farm in Iran. 

鈥淚 was more into tech than farming, but the stories of my life finally bring me to the agricultural,鈥� says Foroughi, who graduates this week with a master鈥檚 from the . 

At U荔枝视频, he met co-founder and chief technology officer Aminreza Abbasi through the club and later convinced chief operational officer Haden Harrison to join through an elevator pitch at the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking. 

Abbasi, a student pursuing a major in computer science and a minor in data science, says the startup offered a way to apply his skills beyond intangible outcomes. 

鈥淚 was finally able to use my programming knowledge to solve an actual problem that farmers are going through on a daily basis,鈥� says Abbasi, in his fifth year of studies. 

Harrison, a commerce student finishing his third year, grew up farming in Saskatchewan and brought insight into the realities ranchers face.  

Together, the team started building Agrivanna, placing second in and first in pitch competitions earlier this year. 

Solution development

Harrison says locating and moving cattle can take weeks to months of labour, often requiring travel by foot, ATV, truck or horseback on large grazing leases, and getting physical fences installed can cost around $6,000 per kilometre. 

But with Agrivanna鈥檚 solution, cattle are fitted with special collars that emit a soft sound to steer the animals, and a mild electrical stimulus if the animal continues. This helps the cattle learn to stay within designated areas. 

鈥淎s soon as the animal gets closer to the boundary, the sound cue would start,鈥� says Abbasi, who adds, if triggered, the following electrical stimulus does not harm, but continues to guide it.  

Beyond tracking, the platform uses satellite and drone imagery to analyze land conditions and automate grazing decisions. 

鈥淲e can plan a rotation of the animals, and have them waiting at the gate when you get there,鈥� says Harrison, adding the approach can make land up to 40 per cent more productive. 

Cost is a major objection the team addresses. Other virtual fence systems often require multiple fixed base stations costing thousands of dollars each to provide a network for smart collars. Agrivanna uses mobile, drone-supported stations and on-device AI, allowing the system to operate without cellular connectivity. 

The technology was shaped through direct input from ranchers. 

鈥淲e talked with more than 50 farmers to figure out what would be the best solution,鈥� says Abbasi. 

What鈥檚 next 

Agrivanna is moving from development into field testing, with its first on-cow pilot projects planned this summer on beef ranches in Alberta and Saskatchewan.  

The team is looking to demonstrate that cattle respond to virtual boundaries, while showing users that the solution offers time savings, cost reductions and improvements in land use. 

The founders credit their U荔枝视频 studies and the Hunter Hub for helping them reach this stage, citing mentorship and access to prototyping resources as key to building their product. 

鈥淭he mentors who鈥檝e been through many of the processes that we鈥檙e experiencing now are invaluable. You don鈥檛 know what you don鈥檛 know,鈥� says Harrison. 

Next, Agrivanna will go head to head at the Hunter Hub鈥檚 Start Something Summit at Platform 荔枝视频 on June 5, where student ventures will compete for a share of $40,000 in prizes. 

鈥淭here are lots of challenges in agriculture,鈥� says Foroughi. 鈥淎nd every one of those challenges is an opportunity.鈥�