In 2017 CSBP, a part of Wesfarmers approached Hatchd and Adapptor to help co-design, co-create and launch a brand new SaaS product from the ground up.
Part of Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy & Fertilisers, CSBP sells fertiliser to WA growers and has done so for over 100 years. CSBP developed several pieces of software to provide to fertiliser customers free of charge. While it was clear it helped secure fertiliser sales, Wesfarmers recognised the untapped market potential and began exploring how the IP could be repurposed to form an agtech SaaS product.
The solution was to included a web app and mobile app (for mobile phone and tablet devices) that lets farmers analyse biomass imagery specific to their farms and improve decision making as a result.
Over an 11 month period the solution was co-designed with the Decipher Team, Hatchd Digital and NGIS from the ground up. The app was developed in Xamarin (to help the Decipher dev team support the application over the long term) the solution benefits from shared code between iOS and Android platforms, specifically the network and database layers.
The app uses some of the most advanced features of Google Maps API including tile overlays to display custom annotations and biomass data sourced from Google Earth Engine. The overall solution enables farmers and agronomists to monitor crop variability, compare growth performance, track trends and organise information about their land, by displaying complex data in a simple and meaningful way to ultimately help increase farm yield, return-on-investment and sustainability.
With the mobile app framers or agronomists can easily plan and assign sampling jobs, collect samples of soil or plants, submit to a laboratory, and once analysed view the results on the intuitive map.
The solution was launched in 2017, and the team then focused on improving the apps with additional functionality. Over time Hatchd and Adapptor transitioned the skills required to the Decipher team so they could continue developing the solution in-house.
Decipher went on to receive the Award for Innovation and Commercialisation, and J.K Barrie Award for Industry Excellence at the 2018 National Asia Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards (APSEA).
