The Birth of Almanac: Rethinking Farming from the Ground Up
The agricultural industry has seen wave after wave of technological innovation, each promising to revolutionize the way we farm. It’s easy to be seduced by these shiny new objects on the hill, but real progress in farming isn’t just about technology; it’s about people, relationships, and understanding the land. This is the story of Almanac—a re-imagined agricultural company born from the simplest of actions—listening. Before looking forward, let’s take a quick look back at the recent history of the agriculture industry.
The Proliferation of Technology in Agriculture
Over the last decade, high-tech agricultural technology has exploded around the world, especially in the Global North. From precision farming tools to satellite monitoring, drones, automation, robotics, and more—the tech landscape in agriculture has become increasingly complex and often seems like a solution looking for a problem. “The biggest issue is whether you want to be the guinea pig and put a lot of effort into [x tech] and then you find out that it doesn’t really help,” said Tony Gould, a farm operations manager from New Zealand. Promises of efficiency, higher yields, and sustainability have captured the attention of the industry. However, many of these innovations have struggled to make a tangible impact on the ground. While the potential is enormous, the challenge has been translating these tools into solutions that are timely, easy to use, and easy to understand. Put simply, farmers need technology that genuinely helps manage the day-to-day demands of their operations.
The Problem with AgTech: Too Many Solutions, Not Enough Integration or Interoperability
For years, two companies—Semios and Agworld—paved their own paths in agricultural technology. Semios focused on precision pest, water and soil management, while Agworld honed in on farm management, becoming the digital equivalent of the farmer’s notebook. Both earned the trust of farmers over their decade long existence and made significant impacts individually. But despite their successes, these companies, like much of the agricultural technology landscape, were working in isolation.
Farmers loved what each company had to offer, but because they solved very different problems on the farm, they were just amongst two of the various tools farms now needed to be managed. “There is tech that can go to the granular level, giving about 20k data points. When you have an overabundance of data and you give that to a run of the mill grower…it’s just too much,” said one California pest control advisor.
The fragmented approach was not just a missed business opportunity for Semios and Agworld—it was a symptom of a much larger issue. In an industry with rising challenges like regulatory hurdles, climate change, labor shortages, and fluctuating market demands, farmers were left to juggle too many disconnected tools that didn’t speak the same language. “Some companies are going above and beyond what is needed, and it looks good on paper but a farmer is not going to use it. You get the whole paralysis by analysis when there is too much information coming at you,” said Rich Kreps, a crop advisor from California.
A Moment of Clarity: Listening to Farmers
The realization that something needed to change didn’t come from a boardroom, a lab, or an engineering sprint. It came from conversations with agronomists, pest control advisors, and farmers—in their fields, on their terms. The message was clear: more shiny tools that worked in isolation weren’t viable or sustainable long-term. “Problem is nothing’s on one dashboard. You’ve got nine different dashboards and like 39-41 apps,” said Greg Newman an Agronomist in Washington. They need tools that talk to each other, solutions that simplify instead of complicating their already challenging work; timely insights that make real differences.
“It feels like in farming, we’re getting hit from every direction,” said Rich Kreps, summarizing what so many others felt. The constant barrage of challenges—from water shortages to shifting regulations—left little room for technology that added complexity without delivering clear value.
“Instead of rushing to innovate or come up with aggressive new sales and marketing plans, we decided to start by listening,” said Martin Dudley, VP of Marketing at Almanac. “And what we heard was simple: farmers want integration and interoperability. They want technology that respects their hard-earned knowledge and enhances it, not tech that tries to replace it. Farmers want partners, not sales pitches.”
Call it serendipitous, fate, or sheer luck, but Semios and Agworld had recently acquired a new secret weapon—Sumer Johal. Not only did Sumer grow up in a farming family in India, he’s an MIT-educated professional with almost two decades in leadership roles at the intersection of technology, digital transformation, and agriculture. He also serves as the Executive Director of AgStack at The Linux Foundation, leading the development of the world’s first open-source digital infrastructure for food and agriculture.
The Birth of Almanac: Breaking Down Silos
“With what we were hearing from the ag community, coupled with Sumer’s experience and vision, everything just clicked. The more we learned from the community, the more excited our teams got,” added Martin Dudley.
With this newfound clarity, Semios and Agworld came together under a new vision—Almanac. But this wasn’t just about a new name or a fresh coat of paint. It was about reimagining what agricultural technology could and should be. Almanac was born to break down the silos, both literally and figuratively. “By integrating different technologies, we aim to provide farmers with a comprehensive view of their operations—a connected intelligence that moves beyond isolated data points to deliver real, actionable insights,” said Sumer Johal.
The connected intelligence needed a name, something the community could easily interact with and understand. This wasn’t about more reporting, spreadsheets, or dashboards—this was about timely, simple insights. Alma was born. Alma isn’t just another app; it’s an integrated system, leveraging machine learning and AI, that brings together insights from not only across a farmer’s individual operation but also from farms like theirs and globally. “We’ve got millions of AI sensors, monitors and traps on millions of acres across the globe, plus inputs from the farm teams themselves about what’s happening on the ground. The data collected from all these data points is important and necessary, but the nuggets of wisdom extracted from it all is invaluable. And that’s what we’re most excited about. With Alma, the game will change,” added Sumer Johal.
Alma’s beta was just released this year and already has developed overwhelming interest from the agricultural community. Take for instance agronomists, who previously would have to spend hours or days sifting through dashboards and reports, identifying specific trends at a block by block level to provide timely recommendations to the growers. Now Alma will serve that up to them real-time. “I’ve been testing Alma’s beta and one thing really stood out to me. As I visited each of the farm’s I serve, the recommendations were updated based on my location. Alma provided the insights I needed to feel prepared to be on that farm and focus my attention on the current issues. I couldn’t believe how easy it made finding the information I needed,” said Abby Welch, Entomologist.
A New Hope for the Future of Farming
Almanac aims to be synonymous with farm and farmer intelligence. “By staying true to our principles, we’re working to redefine what agricultural progress looks like. We’re not here to disrupt; we’re here to connect, to empower, and to support. Because at the end of the day, technology is only as powerful as the people it serves. And in agriculture, that means keeping the farmer at the center of everything we do,” said Sumer Johal.
The challenges in agriculture are real, and they’re not going away anytime soon. But there is hope. The birth of Almanac is a signal that change is possible—that we can move away from isolated, disconnected systems and toward a more collaborative, integrated future. A future where technology doesn’t just promise transformation but delivers it in a way that respects the wisdom of the past and embraces the potential of tomorrow.
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