Weeding Out Challenges
In the agricultural sector, weeds present a persistent challenge, often hindering crop growth and productivity. Vancouver’s Geco Strategic Weed Management is alleviating this issue by focusing on the predictive control of weeds in farm fields. The agtech startup has developed a unique solution that leverages data and artificial intelligence to anticipate where weeds will likely emerge in the upcoming season. By integrating all available data on and above farm fields into agronomic models, Geco empowers farmers to address their most challenging weed issues proactively.
Geco’s AI-powered software solution is designed to predict weed emergence accurately and generate a standard prescription map for farms. This map can be seamlessly loaded into existing farm equipment, such as sprayers, granular applicators, or seed drills, enabling targeted control of weed hotspots. Remarkably, this system requires no new equipment or practices, offering a rapid turnaround time that allows new farms to implement the solution within a day. By providing a proactive and efficient method for weed management, Geco helps farmers optimize their crop yields and maintain sustainable farming practices.
Growing Like a Weed
Over the last year, Geco’s experienced tremendous growth. Starting with operations on only three fields in Alberta, they’ve rapidly expanded to serving 19,000 acres across 95 fields on 55 farms throughout the Prairies. The AI-startup has kept the momentum rolling, as they’re currently developing channel agreements with large agricultural retailers, which could potentially extend their reach to over 2 million acres. By 2025, Geco aims to manage over 1,000 fields across North America.
To fuel their growth strategy, Geco entered the 2024 New Ventures BC Competition. Although their customer base spans Canada and the United States, Geco remains a proud BC company and is eager to engage with the NVBC and the broader BC startup community. This competition provides a valuable platform for the startup to connect with other innovators and gain visibility within the industry.Looking ahead, Geco’s primary focus is on two key areas: scaling their technical product to serve a larger number of acres and customers, and expanding their outreach and sales efforts across Canada and the US.
Prioritizing the Customer
The best advice that CEO and Founder Greg Stewart has received, — which has significantly contributed to Geco’s growth — comes from Y Combinator: “Do the things that don’t scale.” This guidance emphasizes the importance of focusing on understanding customers and their needs during the early stages of a startup, rather than immediately building a scalable product. Stewart acknowledges the temptation to quickly decide what should be developed and dive into the building process. However, he recognizes that the slowest and most costly approach is developing a comprehensive product that doesn’t meet the market’s needs.
Instead, Geco has learned that a minimum viable product (MVP) approach can yield the same valuable lessons in a much more time- and cost-efficient manner. This strategy not only provides crucial insights but also ensures that the company is on the right track toward creating a successful product. This was demonstrated through Geco being recently chosen as the winner of Foresight Canada and the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO)’s Sustainable Agtech for Profitability Challenge. By prioritizing customer understanding and validation, Greg’s positioned Geco for sustained growth and innovation.
About the Founder
Greg Stewart, CEO & Founder
Fun Fact: Greg is a certified judge for competitive barbecue.
Company Cheatsheet:
City: North Vancouver
Founded: January 2022
Sector: Agtech; AI
