Global AgTech leader Semios acquires Altrac to deliver more value to growers through control and automation

Jun 09, 2021

VANCOUVER, BC - Semios, the leading precision-farming platform for permanent crops, announced today it has acquired Altrac, developers of an agriculture automation platform enabling farmers to monitor and control important agricultural systems required to produce high-value crops from their computer or mobile device.

"Semios' success is founded in helping farmers manage their risk and optimize yields through data, AI-driven insights and technology," said Dr. Michael Gilbert, CEO of Semios. "Partnerships are a fundamental part of our strategy and last year we partnered with Altrac to combine the power of our per-acre, in-canopy climate sensors with Altrac's industry-leading frost fan automation devices to manage the potentially devastating impacts of frost on crops. Our customers were really excited about the results, which motivated us to make this investment in Altrac. We look forward to unlocking more opportunities together."

Farmers have long struggled to keep up with the growing number of precision agriculture tools available to address critical issues threatening crops. The acquisition of Altrac is a pivotal first step in Semios' ambitious strategy to consolidate crop management solutions into one, easy-to-use platform. Bringing independent applications into one dashboard with a single login makes them more accessible and beneficial to farmers.

"Semios has been a fantastic partner, and we are excited to further our collaboration to allow Altrac to accelerate the geographic reach and adoption of our wind machine and irrigation control solutions across North America," said Neil Schultz, General Manager and co-founder of Altrac. "We know there are additional problems facing farmers that have yet to be solved, and we look forward to tackling them together as a combined solution."

Through the integration of separate, complimentary solutions into one dashboard, Semios is simplifying the grower's experience, saving customers time and money while providing the same installation, training, in-field service and remote support farmers have come to appreciate – and that the company is known for.

"Every phase of crop development is interconnected. Critical crop management decisions need the right data, at the right time, in order to achieve the right outcomes. Semios helps growers get the most accurate overview of their crop's development as it happens, leading to informed decision making and ultimately better crop outcomes," adds Gilbert.

With planned announcements of additional acquisitions and strategic partnerships on the horizon, Semios is taking big steps to simplify the experience for growers while helping them leverage technology to produce more food, more sustainably.

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Video: The 15-Year Bet Behind Every New Variety!

Canada is trying to decide how much agricultural research capacity it can afford to lose. Brian Rossnagel believes the better question is whether the country can afford to rebuild it.

The longtime barley and oat breeder makes the case with a simple fact about his profession: the consequences of today’s decisions may not become visible for 10 or 15 years.

“Pick the right parents. That’s the biggest thing,” Rossnagel says. “If you pick the wrong parents, you’re not going to get anywhere—and you don’t know that until 10 years, 15 years later.”

That warning carries particular weight as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada moves to reduce spending and streamline parts of its science operations. The department’s 2026–27 plan anticipates the loss of approximately 665 positions by 2028–29 and says some research will be reduced where capacity exists in academia or industry. AAFC says the changes will make its science operations more cost-effective over the long term.

For Canada’s seed industry, Rossnagel’s career illustrates what is at stake.

This fall, the retired University of Saskatchewan breeder will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. During his 35-year career at the Crop Development Centre, he helped develop more than 100 barley and oat varieties, including CDC Austenson—one of Western Canada’s most widely grown feed barleys. His induction recognizes not only those varieties, but the collaboration and research system that made them possible.

Rossnagel is quick to emphasize that none of it was the work of one person.

“The first thing I thought about was all the other people who contributed to whatever success I and my program had over the years,” he says. “We know that it’s not an individual who does this. It’s a group—a team.”

That team extends well beyond the breeder whose name appears beside a variety. It includes technicians, pathologists, quality specialists, statisticians, regional testing sites, seed growers and industry partners. It also includes the breeders who came before and those who will carry the germplasm forward.

CDC Fraser barley, for example, moved through three breeding careers. Its parents came from Brian Harvey’s program. Rossnagel advanced the material after Harvey retired, and Aaron Beattie later guided it through registration and release.

That kind of handoff is normal in plant breeding. The person who makes the original cross may never see the resulting variety reach farmers.

It also explains why lost research capacity cannot simply be switched back on when budgets improve.

“If you shut it off, it’s very, very difficult—and particularly costly—to start it up again,” Rossnagel says. “If you have to start from scratch, it’s going to be at least 10 years before anybody notices whether you’re getting anything done or not.”

The concern is not simply how many experimental lines Canada can process. Modern equipment, statistical tools and genetic technologies allow today’s breeding programs to evaluate tens of thousands of lines—far more than Rossnagel could handle when he entered the field in the early 1970s.

But efficiency and automation do not generate every idea.

“If you pare back down, and instead of having six or seven individual scientists concentrating on wheat breeding, you go down and say three people could handle all this, well, that’s half the ideas gone,” he says. “Particularly if you happen to lose the three people who had the really neat and innovative ideas, boy, that’s a problem.”

It is a timely distinction for Canadian agriculture. Consolidating programs may preserve the volume of material moving through a system, at least initially. It may not preserve the diversity of thinking, regional knowledge or willingness to pursue unconventional crosses.

That regional knowledge matters because Canadian agriculture is not one uniform production environment. A variety suited to southern Alberta may face different disease, moisture and maturity pressures than one grown in Manitoba, Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

“Agriculture is applied biology,” Rossnagel says. “Biology, all around the Earth, moves from the poles to the equator. It does not move from Newfoundland to B.C. like politics do.”