Simplifying farmers' daily lives through technology: that is the ambition of TerraGrow, a start-up founded by two student entrepreneurs from UniLaSalle Rouen.
The project originated from a personal experience.
Coming from a family of farmers and now the owner of the family farm, Charles realized early on how burdensome administrative tasks could be. “I saw my father spending an insane amount of time on paperwork. When I took over the farm, I told myself that it wasn't possible to waste so much time dealing with this nightmare,” he says.
A family observation, but also a general one:
Farmers lack financial visibility: “They sometimes wait up to a year or two for their accounts. They are flying blind.”
Together with his partner Pierre, whom he met during their studies, they developed an innovative approach: rather than replacing existing tools, they created “technological building blocks” that could be integrated into them. Their credo: putting artificial intelligence to work for useful purposes.
“We equip those who support farmers: cooperatives, accountants, software publishers, to save them time and simplify the daily lives of farmers.”
Among the solutions developed are a voice assistant that allows users to dictate information to automate data entry, and a tool that can automatically read and classify invoices to analyze expenses.
TerraGrow also designs financial management applications to forecast cash flow over several months or even years. “The goal is for farmers to know six to twelve months in advance where they are headed and what decisions to make.”
Officially launched in 2024, the company already has around 15 employees and offices in Paris and near Reims. Initial feedback has been encouraging: “We work very closely with users, and the feedback has been extremely positive. We make adjustments quickly, with them.”
Born out of a student project supported during their studies, TerraGrow embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of UniLaSalle. “There's a world of difference between what we learn in class and the reality in the field... but it's precisely this transition to action that's so exciting,” smiles Charles.
It's a wonderful adventure with major projects on the horizon, working towards a more peaceful and efficient agriculture.
