Award-winning device to enable farmers to only dose their animals when necessary
The first ever Munster Agri-Innovation Awards took place last Saturday in conjunction with the Cork Summer Show.
The awards, sponsored by the Munster Dairy School and Agricultural Institute, concluded with the judging of the 15 finalists at the Curraheen show grounds.
The expert judging panel included Alan Kingston (Glenilen Farm); Caroline Farrell (IFA Farm Family Chair); Julie Roche (JR Agri Consulting); Billy Nicholson (farmer, and Munster Agricultural Society member); and myself, Jason Webb.
Micron Agritech, a group of four students from Technological University Dublin who are revolutionising parasite testing, was named the overall winner.
After the awards, I asked the winners what made their product, Tástáil, stand out from the competition.
We describe ourselves as an industry shifting start-up, whose goal it is to bring technology to the agriculture sector.
Our mission is to provide a product that empowers farmers through quick and easy testing of animals for parasites, through the use of technology, saving farmers money and time, whilst also allowing for the reduction of animal dosing, which will reduce the risk posed by antimicrobial resistance to the global human and animal population.
The Micron Agritech team is currently comprised of four students from Ireland’s newest university, Technological University Dublin.
The team is Sean Smith (CEO), Daniel Izquierdo Hijazi (CMO), Tara McElligott (CDO), and Jose Lopez Escobar (COO)
Sean comes from Kill, Co Kildare, having grown up around farms and farmers. He is in charge of the day-to-day running of Micron Agritech.
Daniel is in charge of the business strategy of the company, as well as its public relations.
Tara is in charge of product development and all other design aspects of the business, while Jose is in charge of manufacturing and logistics.
The idea for Tástáil came as Jose, our COO, talked to one of his friends, who happened to be a student vet.
The vet owns a horse, and she told Jose that, although she knew how to perform the parasite test, she chose to just blindly dose the horse regularly because, she said, the test would take too long to run.
She told Jose that if he could make a product that made this easier, it would be revolutionary for vets and animal owners.
We took this challenge on, and created Tástáil.
We have designed Tástáil so that it is extremely easy to use.
A farmer just has to collect a faecal sample, and then after a few preparation steps, he or she inserts it into our analysis device.
Once the button is pressed, the device begins analysing the sample and, within minutes you receive a text message with the fluke and worm health status of your animal.
This entire process is done in less than five minutes.
You can find a full product demo video on our website.
We are planning to begin taking pre-orders at the 2019 National Ploughing Championships.
Although we don’t have a price ready to be announced yet, we have been working very closely with farmers in order to find a price that is attainable for everyone.
There will be a subscription to go with the product that will pay for the text messages as well as for the replenishable items of the kit.
We see two main huge benefits.
The first one is that farmers will be able to save money on medication, as they will be able to only spend on medication that they know is absolutely necessary.
The second is that the EU is currently looking at bringing legislation that will prohibit the use of blanket dosing, and will require testing.
This will leave farmers only one option for testing — labs that take a minimum of three to five working days to test.
With Tástáil, we are giving farmers a second, faster and more practical option.
A key part of our product development was looking at the agriculture industry as a whole.
We found that with Brexit, Irish beef exports to the UK could be seriously threatened, as the flood gates into the UK may be opened to countries such as Brazil.
Now, more than ever, we have to set the Irish beef industry apart, we need to show the world that we don’t just produce any beef, we produce high-quality Irish beef.
This, combined with the global trend towards more organic food, means that being able to say and prove that Irish farmers only dose their animals when necessary, thanks to Tástáil, an Irish-made device, puts our agriculture industry in a very good and unique place.
At the moment, the company is putting all its resources and focus into Tástáil, as we want it to be as perfect as it can be.
But, with a highly driven and creative team such as the one we have, this can only be the beginning.
We look forward to placing the Irish agriculture and agritech industry at the global forefront.
