FoodFul founder JB Tarnate explained to the judges that, with the company’s product, farmers can save serious milk money.
FoodFul founder JB Tarnate milked his pitch to the judges’ panel for all it was worth. And it worked. In winning the Make It in Brooklyn Future of Farming pitch contest, organized with NYC AgTech Week, FoodFul took home a slew of prizes, including $5,000 and some great connections with the judging panel.
FoodFul promises to improve the health of dairy cows and the efficiency of production. IoT devices attached to the ears of dairy cows measure the animal’s temperature and other factors. Unusual temperatures, a sign of potential sickness, are sent to the farmer as an alert, allowing the farmer to swiftly get medical attention for the cow or quarantine it, making sure any sickness isn’t spread. This technology could save dairy farmers a lot of money otherwise lost due to unhealthy livestock, and improve the animals’ well-being.
FoodFul was up against some tough competition, including NATIVE AgTech, a supply chain traceability company founded by Sarah Sanders; WeRadiate, which uses sensors in compost to measure heat and other vital metrics for regulatory compliance, founded by Sashti Balu; Food Cycle, which takes food waste, feeds it to flies, and then feeds the fly larva to grubs to create a high-quality livestock feed, founded by Alexis Lin; and GrowSquares, cofounded by Daeshaun McClintock, maker of personalized urban gardens aided by data science and microbiology.
“We certainly had a great time at the event and we think it will be a huge help in getting us launched at our early adopter farms,” Tarnate said. Over 100 attendees packed Fulton Hall, at Gotham Market at The Ashland, to see the competition, and the event was emceed by Simon Sylvester-Chaudhuri, executive director of CIV:LAB. Judges for the competition included: Ilia Papas, founder of Blue Apron; Lily Bernicker, venture capitalist at the Collaborative Fund; Soo Choi, startup ecosystem manager for Google; Henry Sztul, SVP of Science and Technology at Bowery Farming, and Abby Lyall, program director at food accelerator Big Idea Ventures.
FoodFul’s prizes do not end at the $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of Make It in Brooklyn sponsors NYU Tandon School of Engineering and JPMorgan Chase. Google kicked in $20,000 worth of credits for its cloud storage platform, Big Idea Ventures guaranteed an interview in the application process to its accelerator, and EA Creative Consulting donated a free strategy consulting session for the winner.
