Over four years ago, the Myriad Mobile team began working on a project that is now a full product and mobile app called Bushel. As a nationally recognized and fast-growing company, Myriad Mobile has innovated the agriculture industry and is anticipating a strong future from this mobile app. “We have built Bushel as an automated ecosystem of data that helps farmers make more efficient decisions,” explained Jake Joraanstad, CEO of Myriad Mobile.

From Project to Product

The Bushel app began as a project with Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative and took on the name mAgri for a brief time. This project was built to automate paperwork, waiting, and field reports for this sugar beet cooperative. “We were shocked by one thing from this project… There was nearly 100% interaction from the potential users, and the farmers loved it and began using it year-round,” said Joraanstad.

Following this insight, Myriad Mobile’s co-founder, Ryan Raguse, saw a possibility to expand into other crops and cooperatives across the country including row crops and ethanol. “Over the course of 2016, the Myriad Mobile team was committed to creating a mobile app that would be scalable for small and large customers… In 2017, we have 16 companies signed up with a projection of many more in 2018,” explained Joraanstad. With the demand for a mobile app created, the Myriad Mobile team began to address what features farmers and elevators needed.

Arthur Companies was an early customer that helped the Myriad Mobile team sharpen the features of the Bushel App. As a result, Myriad Mobile created features that help farmers make fast and efficient decisions. “By being able to provide their [growers’]
account information at their fingertips, we’re providing the service to our customers that they need and require to maintain the operations of their farm,” said John Melland, CFO of Arthur Companies.

Exponential Future

Because of Bushel’s success in 2016, the team of 3 employees has expanded to around 15 employees working on the mobile app’s future. In early 2017, Myriad Mobile raised $1.5 million dollars in capital to fund the Bushel product expansion. “Our company is profitable again this year…. I am excited to see what is ahead in 2018 and the new planting season as we have a potential to see over 45,000 farmers utilize the Bushel app,” explained Joraanstad.

The Bushel product is sold to cooperative elevators and then offered as a free service for participating farmers. Information is gathered from the elevators and farmers to show real-time contracts, elevator tickets, and even wait time for crop drop-off. “We call our data gathering the ‘Bushel Tunnel’… It has allowed us to go from a two-month installation to two weeks,” said Joraanstad. Myriad Mobile hopes to continue this fast-paced growth and speed to market as they look to expand in 2018 and further.

Learn more from Jake Joraanstad and Bushel as he speaks at 1 Million Cups Fargo on Wednesday, November 1st, 2017 at 9:15 a.m. at The Stage at Island Park.