This is the inaugural Flokk Systems newsletter. You were sent this newsletter because you expressed interest in, or have been involved with, the development of Flokk.
We will send a newsletter whenever we have something significant we would like to share with our community. We have several significant developments which we cannot share with you quite yet, but will be able to share with everyone in a few weeks, so we hope you will continue to subscribe.
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Flokk is recruiting for a Product Validation Manager to lead the field validation of our product, preparing us for general availabilty in early 2022.
Flokk will will be exhibiting, and demonstrating, at Canada’s premiere Ag Technology event AgSmart, running August 10 and 11 at Olds College.
Flokk and Blindline Farms were highlighted in a segment of RFD-TV’s “Frontiers of Farming.” RFD-TV generously provided Flokk a copy of the item, which can be viewed here.
At the AgSmart technology demonstration and education exposition at Olds College, Dr. David Chalack (Chair, RDAR Board of Directors) and Mark Olson (President, Flokk Systems Inc) announced that RDAR (Results Driven Agriculture Research) will be providing financial support to Flokk Systems to advance our work identifying factors that limit the digitization of Alberta cow/calf production, and to evaluate practical solutions to those limitations.
Flokk has been selected as one of only five finalists in the AgTech Meets BioTech category of the 2021 Inventures Startup Pitch competition.
Inventures is Canada’s premiere innovation event, where where investors, startups and entrepreneurs mingle, learn from global innovation leaders, strike deals and launch creative ideas into overdrive!
Flokk has been selected as one of 20 companies to participate from the Calgary area in Startup TNT Investment Summit IV.
We are pleased to announce that Jody Bell has joined Flokk as our Product Validation Manager.
Jody grew up on on a farm near Carstairs, Alberta, where she and the Bell family manage 120 cow/calf pairs. Her background includes working on large ranches in Central Alberta and Orroroo, Australia.
Jody is currently implementing Flokk with her herd. Once are we satisfied with the results, Jody will begin reaching out to the many producers who have generously offered to help ready the product for general availability in 2022.
Flokk is exhibiting at Canadian Western Agribition, November 22-27.
We look forward to introducing Flokk to Canadian cow/calf producers and hearing their insights and feedback as we ready Flokk for general availability in 2022.
Mark Olson, President of Flokk Systems, will be participating in the panel discussion “Born in the barn, managed in the cloud. Opportunities digitizing livestock production”, part of the Cultivating Agtech stream at Inventures 2022.
This session will explore the opportunities available to companies that can provide solutions to the unique requirements and challenges of the $150 billion livestock industry.
Inventures brings together the best and brightest in global innovation for three days of learning, inspiration and creative collisions. From rousing keynotes and expert panels, to startup pitch competitions and informal networking opportunities, Inventures is the must-attend event of 2022.
Registration for Inventures 2022 is now open. We look forward to seeing you there!
Flokk Systems will be featured at Uniting the Prairies 2022.
UP 2022 is an exclusive opportunity for startup founders to meet experienced tech executives, angel investors, and active venture capitalists.
Flokk has been selected as one of only 100 companies to participate in the Match UP the afternoon of May 4. The Match UP intelligently pairs selected startups with investors and mentors for curated meetings and private networking experiences.
We would be pleased if you could join us at UP 2022!
Flokk’s field testing is the subject of an article in Grainews:
“You can turn it on when you are preg-testing cows, and if you come to an open cow you just hit the cull button on her record when you read her tag, Leask says. Then if the cows get mixed with other animals again later you could run them through an alley and read their tags and it would tell you which ones are the open cows to cull.”
You can read the complete article here.
Members of the panel discussion “Born in the barn, managed in the cloud. Opportunities digitizing livestock production”, taking place Friday, June 3 at Inventures 2022, have been finalized.
Participating are:
This session will explore opportunities available to the companies that can provide solutions to the requirements and challenges of the $150 billion livestock production industry.
Flokk has been chosen as one of only 18 finalists, from over 250 international applicants, to participate in “Selection week” for the Foodtech Tasmania program of Startupbootcamp Australia.
If selected for this intense 3-month accelerator program, Flokk will receive hands-on mentor ship from over 100 industry experts, seed funding, and access to a global and local network of investors with the ultimate goal of scaling Flokk to become an industry-leading company.
We continue to expand our online services. Releases in the last month include:
Under development for release in the next few months is:
We have been busy engaging investors, customers, and partners:
Our participation in DiscoveryLab was highlighted in Why Edmonton.
Startup TNT 2023 Agtech Summit top 20
Flokk is one of only 20 companies selected for the Startup TNT Agtech investment summit.
Startup TNT has partnered with regional partners to raise money for agricultural technology Companies and introduce new Angels to the opportunities presented by innovative startups. $200k+ will be invested into each Winner ($150k+ from the individual angels and $50k from the VC fund, syndicated together as one cheque), plus $25K-$250K Side deals into additional companies.
You can get a ticket here to watch us pitch live on February 9.
I have seen, and received several referrals to, McKinsey & Company’s report “Agtech: Breaking down the farmer adoption dilemma”. After giving it a careful read, I wanted to share what we learned.
On a gross revenue basis, NA livestock production is 75% as large as crop production. Yet Agtech application to livestock production remains so limited that it is not even mentioned in the report.
This confirms our understanding; livestock producers face the same challenges as crop producers, but are far less effectively served by Agtech. A huge opportunity exists mobilizing Agtech for livestock production.
McKinsey’s report discusses “Regulation’s increasingly important role”. We agree.
Imminent publication of Canada’s livestock traceability regulation will ignite, and delivering the industries ESG response will drive, livestock producer adoption of Agtech.
The reports final section, “Time to seize the opportunities”, outlines four strategies to drive Agtech option:
Personalizing products and business models
Flokk offers flexible functionality and pricing options, ensuring a compelling value proposition for every producer. Flokk, uniquely, offers the option for outright purchase, a precondition for many producers.
Making the customer journey easier
The Flokk adoption journey:
I have personally taken a 150 head herd from no records to complete implementation in four hours.
Renewing trust in data storage and sharing
Flokk is unique in storing all data on the producers Flokk hand held device. The producers data is entirely, and irrevocably, in the producers physical possession.
Flokk is fully committed to transparency, and customer opt-in, for data sharing and amalgamation.
Integrating solutions versus amassing point-based solutions
Flokk’s priority is “Connecting the herd”. Providing no-effort access to best of breed shared solutions is the way forward for both Flokk and the industry.
What did we learn? Flokk is mobilizing the strategies that others are just discovering.
How did we achieve this without expensive consultants? Simple; every member of the Flokk team has hands on experience in livestock production. We intimately know what producers need, and we are delivering it.
Flokk offers the opportunity to profit from best in practice Agtech adoption strategies, applied to a huge green field domain.
The “Regulations Amending the Health of Animals Regulations (Identification and Traceability)” are now published in Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 157, Number 11.
This begins a 90 day consultation period (ending 2023-06-16), after which the final version of the regulations will be published.
The end outcome will be digitization of livestock traceability and herd management in Canada, making Canada the world leader in animal traceability.
Digitization is also fundamental to planning and delivering Canadian livestock producers sustainability response.
Flokk has:
It is necessary for Flokk to take a leadership role in this transition.
Flokk looks forward to sharing with you what we learn as we lead the digitization of vital sector of Canadian Agriculture.
On April 2, RBC published a remarkable thought piece highlighting the labour challenges faced by Canadian farming.
Quoting from the RBC report:
Smart agriculture technology and practices will promote higher levels of efficiency, increase productivity, limit environmental impact, and promote sustainability. Just as important, these innovative solutions can reduce the need for low-skilled labour.
We agree.
Cereal and oilseed production has an enormous head start in this regard. But livestock production has not even begun digitization.
Flokk is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. By delivering the compelling solution to livestock producers immediate need to comply with new federal CFIA regulation, Flokk will quickly become the entrenched provider of choice for livestock producers as they adopt smart agriculture technology.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is proposing amendments to Part XV of the Health of Animals Regulations (Identification and Traceability) to enable a more effective and timely response to disease outbreaks and food safety issues, and improve support for disease surveillance activities.
With the cooperation of the CFIA, Flokk is making available recordings of industry information sessions presented by the CFIA in support of the industry consultation process. These recordings will be available until the end of the consultation periods.
These sessions:
Consultation on the proposed regulations opened March 18, 2023, and will close June 16, 2023.
Complete information may be found on the CFIA website in English and Français.
Many thanks to the CFIA for their cooperation with this initiative.
Canadian cow/calf production is a $CDN 2B industry where ¾ of its 60,000 producers manage their herds with pen and paper. This entire industry must digitize by 2025 to achieve compliance with federal animal identification and traceability regulation. Flokk offers the compelling solution for this pressing customer need with a non-negotiable deadline.
Flokk was “Born on a Ranch in Dogpound”. The entire Flokk team has hands-on experience in livestock production, ensuring we understand, empathize with, and consistently convert, our prospects.
Flokk offers a low risk and capital efficient route to early profitability, sustained revenue, and acquisition, through the rare situation where:
Come together to provide the opportunity to dominate a multi billion dollar greenfield. Flokk is Precision Ranching Realized. Proven at scale in Canada, Flokk will lead digitization of the $1T global livestock industry.
I am writing you today to offer the opportunity to profit from this unique opportunity through participation in Flokk’s $CDN 1M pre-seed round opening May 1, 2023.
Flokk is uniquely positioned to secure market dominance in digital livestock herd management:
Flokk’s customer base is growing:
With a product proven at scale serving Canadian cow/calf producers, Flokk will be positioned for significant and rapid revenue growth through:
Recent developments include:
With the cooperation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Flokk is hosting recordings of industry information seminars presented by the CFIA.
As part of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the GOA has introduced the Farm Technology Program. Eligible expenses for this program will be cost-shared at 50% grant and 50% applicant. Flokk explicitly qualifies for this program as an Eligible Expense, Category 4, “Herd management handheld devices”.
Apps on consumer grade hardware, the solution offered by most competitors, will receive minimal support from the program as “Items that are commonly used for recreational or non-agricultural purposes (e.g., iPads, TVs, and recreational drones)” are explicitly ineligible. Flokk is actively pursuing partnerships towards establishing a single application, integrated, and assured process for cow/calf producers to receive this benefit.
Verdant partners prepared a review of global agribusiness merger, acquisition, and fund raising activities in 2022. We have prepared comments specific to Flokk and the Canadian AgTech space that demonstrate Flokk’s positioning for customer acquisition, revenue generation, and exit.
Mark provided a summary of the challenges rural Alberta faces delivering its contribution addressing global food insecurity. A companion background article provides thought leadership on Alberta’s role in this new reality.
Japan removed the final outstanding restrictions to imports of Canadian beef, ensuring continued growth of this $CDN 0.5B market.
Flokk’s extensive work engaging producers, the regulator, responsible administrator, provincial administrator, and industry groups has positioned Flokk as a leader in this transition.
Flokk has entered into an agreement with a Calgary area engineering firm to refine, and prepare for manufacture, our hand held device.
Flokk was included in the top 10 for the Startup TNT 2023 AgTech summit.
Flokk has been accepted for membership in Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) as a Agriculture & Food Businesses.
Flokk is attending the CRSB semi-annual meeting this week to learn about the industry’s sustainablity strategy and explore opportunities where Flokk can contribute.
Cellular cultured protein is often cited as a technology that will displace animal source protein within a few years.
Yet after 10 years, and huge investments, cellular cultured protein struggles to deliver the palatability and flavour of ground meat, has made no progress emulating premium meat cuts, and suffers an order of magnitude cost disadvantage against animal source protein.
And now the primary advantage it claimed over animal source protein, sustainability, appears to be dubious.
Sustainable food protein will come through refinements in existing animal based processes, not wholesale replacement. And accurate, complete, and auditable reporting of herd events collected at the animals side will underpin these efforts.
Flokk Systems Inc is pleased to announce its selection as finalist for the Canadian Animal AgTech Awards presented by Deloitte.
The award provides national recognition for work in animal agriculture technology in three categories:
Agribition is a must attend event for Canadian livestock producers, and the Flokk team will be making the most of this outstanding opportunity for investor and customer engagement:
We would appreciate the opportunity to update you on our progress if you are going to be in Regina. Come visit us at booth 761 in “Ag Tech Alley” in the AffinityPlex or reach out to our president Mark Olson to arrange a meeting.
The Washington Post published today (January 22) an article highlighting the criticality of sustainability for beef and dairy in the US.
(Apologies that the article may be pay walled. Browse with JavaScript off and you can read the copy.)
Sustainable production, and the ability to prove it, is now table stakes for beef production. Meeting this challenge will be difficult for many cow/calf ranchers, who do not have the tools to collect, and submit, to multiple stakeholders, the detailed, audit able, and provable records of production practice necessary to secure carbon offsets, sustainability incentives, and provide Scope 3 emissions reporting.
The Government of Canada has launched a major initiative addressing enteric beef methane emissions. Flokk is providing a response to the draft protocol, and applying to the related funding opportunity, to ensure we are leaders in delivering the tools necessary for cow/calf and backgrounder operations to secure carbon offsets and other sustainability incentives.
And this is in addition to mandatory food safety traceability reporting coming into effect in 2025. The pen and paper methods used by 75% of cow/calf ranchers are no longer sustainable.
As the sole herd management and traceability solution member of Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, and the only provider of integrated herd management and traceability solutions purpose built for cow/calf ranching, Flokk is uniquely positioned to rapidly become the industry standard platform.
Proven at scale in Canada, Flokk will then be ideally positioned for US and export markets.
Flokk is currently seeking investors for a $1.2M pre-seed round that will establish the enabling platform for current, and future, livestock efficiency, traceability, and sustainability solutions.
This week we read a LinkedIn post from Dan Schultz that resonated with us.
From the post:
If we actually want to improve farms and rural communities, we must find ways to help farmers differentiate their products and break free from a system that’s keeping them on the brink.
#agtech should empower farmers to capture unique value rather than maintain the status quo.
We absolutely agree. Successful AgTech returns a net benefit to the farm family, and advances the welfare of rural communities, rather than simply trimming cost or growing output.
Starting with emergence of effective herbicides in the 1970s, AgTech has delivered significant comfort and convenience to farming and ranching. However the cumulative effects of AgTech have left most of them less wealthy. Innovations increase production, but margins do not grow because markets take any gains away through lower prices.
And the strategy most AgTech offers to resolve this? Innovations that produce more product.
Farmers and ranchers recognize this is not sustainable and are ready to explore alternatives. But many of the solutions offered disrupt current practice, are expensive to implement, add to administrative burden, and require all the cost and effort up front while financial returns are deferred to some future date. Roadblocks are raised that constrain new approaches, rather than paths cleared.
Ranchers need AgText like Flokk that:
Again, from the post:
What most people miss in the discussion around #agtech is that it’s not just another tool in the farmer’s tool belt or a better way for the incumbents to “digitize agriculture.” It’s a reshaping of the entire industry.
Farms and farming communities are transitioning from mere production units to vital nodes in an expansive network. It’s a chance for each to lean into their strengths, offering the unique value they’re primed to produce.
We agree. Successful AgTech companies make it easy for ranchers to participate in sophisticated production networks like CRSB that increase product value for every rancher. “Connecting the Herd” is key to increasing value through participation in animal performance, traceability, practice certification, and sustainability programs.
Flokk will be the preferred partner to ranchers as they engage, and sustain, the complex, data driven, relationships they require going forward. Schultz’s post confirms our vision, and proves it valid in both the US and Canada.
It is not just AgTech companies overlooking where opportunity lies. Most advisors and analysts believe the only way for a farm to increase profit is deliver more product or reduce cost. They cannot conceive a farmer or rancher being able to add value to their product.
Fine by us. Unicorns do not emerge from minor improvements to obsolete models. They arise from using technology to extract value that was overlooked by everyone else.
This is all beautiful theory. Flokk puts it into practice.
The opportunities to add value are endless. Regenerative agriculture, corporate ESG mandates, Tier 3 reporting, space and water constraints, carbon pricing, local food, social license, carbon offsets, ultra processed food, rural development. AgTech that advances any one of these from talking point to cash in producers pockets will succeed. Address all of them, and you will dominate.
Securing your customers trust is primary to making money from brokering their relationships. Trust comes with engagement. Engagement only comes through empathy. Flokk is uniquely capable of securing our customers trust; the entire Flokk team has hands on experience ranching.
Gaining the trust of your prospects is not sufficient. You also require the trust of the partners your customers will engage. Flokk seeks out builds relationships with organizations working to add value to our customers product. Flokk was the only company trusted to support the GOC traceability regulation consultation, and is the only sustainability reporting solution provider holding membership in CRSB.
Network effects are crucial to this strategy. A strategy focused on acquiring the next thousand customers will not succeed. Thirty to 40 percent of all producers need to be on your platform to gain the attention and cooperation of network peers. This requires a ruthless focus on simple and affordable implementation, and compelling prospect engagement, to secure broad adoption of your platform.
Flokk does not advertise we advance rural communities. We act.
We would be pleased to answer your questions about about our current 1.2M financing round that will manufacture our seed hardware inventory and launch our marketing plan.
Flokk provides the compelling solution for ranchers to secure compliance with imminent traceability regulation. This will secure the market share necessary for Flokk to rapidly grow revenue through brokering the relationships necessary for ranchers to realize sustainability incentive revenue.
Flokk’s strategy advanced significantly with publication by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) of “What we heard report - Consultation on proposed changes to Part XV of the Health of Animals Regulations (Identification and Traceability), Canada Gazette Part I”.
We invite you to read our detailed response, where we respond in detail to the items Flokk is positioned to resolve or enhance.
The highlights of our response:
Of the four “Elements not well supported” that impact cow/calf ranching, Flokk resolves all of them.
From the report:
“The CFIA anticipates publishing the final amendments in the Canada Gazette, Part II in 2024.”
Final hope for those skeptical mandatory animal traceability would come to pass was extinguished when the NDP accepted the pharmacare plan, sustaining the Liberal/NDP confidence-and-supply agreement and ensuring no Federal election before 2025.
We have heard from several reliable sources the soft launch will be mid 2025, and the hard launch (i.e. penalties applied for non-compliance) sometime in 2026.
Successful bureaucrats finalize the regulations they want, then write the report that justifies them. Publication of this report is reliable evidence the amendments are finalized, will be published sooner rather than later, and are inevitable.
From the report:
“Industry and consumers have both indicated that they want CFIA to deal effectively and consistently with instances of non-compliance. This involves issuing administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) as notices of violation with warning or with financial penalty (emphasis ours), depending on the nature of the violation.”
There will be significant financial penalties imposed on ranchers who fail to comply with the regulation.
Avoiding financial penalty provides a compelling incentive for cow/calf ranchers to subscribe to Flokk to ensure compliance at minimum cost, disruption, and effort.
We would appreciate the opportunity to answer any questions you may have about participating in our current $1.2M financing round which will fund product manufacture and execution of our marketing strategy.
There are many outstanding opportunities for Canadian ranchers, farmers, and agri-business principals to leverage their industry expertise to realize returns by investing in Canadian AgTech companies delivering solutions that solve pressing problems for Canadian farms and ranches.
Flokk Systems, in a collaboration with Lorna Baird of Olds College of Agriculture and Technology and the Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network, is pleased to invite you to join us April 16 for “Planting Knowledge, Harvesting Wealth. Investing in what you know: Agriculture Technology” a free online panel discussion where we will explore the opportunity to diversify your portfolio, and make an outsize impact on Canadian Agriculture, through investing in Canadian AgTech companies.
Our facilitator will be James Chepyha of Foresight Canada.
We are grateful to have three outstanding Canadian Agriculture and AgTech leaders on the panel:
Explore the milestones of our journey in innovation and community engagement.
Canadian cow/calf production is a $2B industry where 75% of producers use pen and paper to manage their herds. This entire industry must be digitized by Q4 2025 to enable compliance with federal animal identification and traceability regulation.
Canadian cow/calf producers have no choice but to digitize their herd management. Flokk offers the fastest to implement, easiest to use, and most affordable solution to this pressing and time constrained requirement.
Our unique, built for purpose, handheld device ensures the livestock producer, who is also the purchase decision maker, has the exceptional user experience that secures an engaged customer who will be receptive to expanded product offerings. These engaged customers will make Flokk the industry standard platform for digital livestock production management and traceabilty.
Flokk offers a low risk, capital efficient route to early and sustained profitability through providing the domain dominant solution supporting traceability, profitability, and sustainability for Canadian livestock producers.
Our strategy is:
We have been on-farm testing since Q2 2021, and tested at 10 sites in Q2 and Q3 of 2023.
We have secured $220k in pre-seed funding, and $70k in non-dilutive funding from NRC-IRAP, RDAR, and Alberta Innovates.
Flokk has been selected:
We are interested in speaking with qualified investors who are knowledgeable, engaged, and influential in Canadian agriculture, and in particular livestock production.
Our current seed capital priorities are:
If you are interested in exploring a unique opportunity to lead the digital transformation of a vital industry, we would appreciate the opportunity to tell you more about Flokk.
Watch our 2 minute Inventures pitch video
View our current pitch deck
Qualified investors will be provided access to our Data room
Please contact Mark Olson, President, Flokk Systems inc. for more information.
Come join us!
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