“We've been growing at 40% quarterly since COVID-19, a number of our customers have expanded locations, and we've increased usage in the platform tremendously. Artemis is critical infrastructure, especially in times of crisis or uncertainty,” Allison Kopf, Founder & CEO of Artemis says.
Knowledge gap
“We've seen an intense focus on the generational and institutional knowledge gap on the farm. Because agriculture is still so analog, so much of the information related to best practices exists only in someone's head,” Kopf notes. During COVID-19, it became painfully clear to the Artemis team that this is a major disadvantage to businesses. “If someone gets sick and they are the keeper of key information, what happens when they aren't working?” Now more than ever, the company sees an interest in documenting these processes and adding training across the organization so that if someone leaves, retires, or gets sick, the business can keep thriving.
Artemis Founder and CEO, Allison Kopf
“I'm excited to see how many of these models become more commonplace. Because Artemis was already operating fully remote and providing digital services, we were at a unique advantage.” The company was able to continue servicing its customers without any hiccups, and actually the number of trainings has increased over the last few months. When the pandemic started, Artemis adjusted its goals. Kopf continues, “We focused on three major initiatives: grow revenue, maintain active accounts with little turnover, and expand usage of the platform. We've been able to really excel in all three areas.”
CMP improvements
Artemis has made a lot of improvements to its CMP (Cultivation Management Platform) this year. They launched a few new features, such as advanced reporting and raw materials tracking. One of the major focus areas during the pandemic is to increase usage of the platform and part of this is to continue making it really easy to use. “We've focused a lot on usability and making it even easier to achieve your goals in Artemis over the past few months. We also have a lot of exciting things coming in the near future,” Kopf says. The company is going to be releasing a new multi-start modal for starting batches in a few weeks, making it easier for growers to start hundreds or thousands of batches at once. Next to that, they’re continuing to release and expand integrations, such as Artemis’ integration with METRC. The primary focus is on North America and the company is currently expanding into LATAM. “We have some coverage outside of these areas as well. Interestingly, since COVID-19, Canada has become our fastest-growing market.”
Keeping track of all cultivation with the CMP
“One of the best things about software is that you can learn remotely. If your irrigation system breaks, you probably need to have someone come onsite to fix it. With software, you can get exceptional service and support remotely, if your vendor offers it. This has always been a core component of our business at Artemis. We want to help everyone at your organization become an expert, so we offer ongoing training sessions. We want to make sure the platform grows with you, so as things change in your operation, we're right there with you.” When the pandemic began, travel halted. This drew a clear divide for growers as to what technologies are core to the business and which aren't. Kopf adds: “Those that can support you well remotely are going to keep growing in market share.”
Managing all processes
Most of our growers have complex planting processes that involve many stages, locations, and varieties. You might be growing 20 varieties of lettuce in 3 or 4 locations for example. When processes are complex, they involve a lot of planning and re-evaluating on a regular basis. On top of that, these processes have to be compliant with facility requirements, and potentially state requirements. This is a lot of work on the growing team. Artemis is the best tool for helping the growing team manage these processes. We help you automate the work that goes into planning and executing your processes on a regular basis, and we give you the documentation you need to maintain compliance. Any growing team who is still running these processes on clipboards or in lots of spreadsheets might want to consider software as a replacement.
The Cultivation Management Platform
Data collection
Artemis collects both analog and digital data. The majority of optimization data still exists on clipboards and in spreadsheets. Information like yield, growth time, and quality are stuck in analog. Artemis is the only system designed to focus on collecting this information. Kopf adds: “We also have an open architecture which is designed to collect data from sensors, if a grower has them, and other systems. This way, we can help growers unlock value from the complete picture.”
Adopted business models
Things are going well for Artemis right now. “There seems to be a renewed sense of confidence in our customers toward their own operations. It's naive to believe we're headed toward normal, or whatever normal was, in any immediate term. Instead, we're seeing growers adjust and keep moving forward”, Kopf notes. Many of Artemis’ growers adopted new business models, such as direct to consumer, or have shifted more toward long-term contracts as a result of the pandemic.
For more information:
Artemis
Nathalia Delima, Marketing Associate
ndelima@artemisag.com
www.artemisag.com