Agritech Jobs and Career Opportunities 

In India, agritech enterprises have grabbed the attention of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and governments alike. Many of these ventures seem to have caught the pulse of the Indian economic demand. As a result, they have generated great business and employment scope. 

In this blog, we discuss opportunities for scaling startups and skilled talent that you must know if you are looking to work in the Agriculture sector. 

We discuss: 

• Agritech job Landscape
• Tech trends making up Agritech 
• Top job profiles in demand

Agritech job Landscape

We have been tracking the growth and workforce trends in booming sectors like Fintech, Edtech, Agritech, Logistics and D2C ventures in India (we call it the FEALD cohort). With over 450 active ventures, the Agritech space has shown the potential of a 30Bn$ market even at a conservative 2-3% penetration.  

The growth of the sector, from tech developments to headcounts, is going fast-paced. Therefore, the agritech enterprises are going high on active jobs with the strong demand for specialized technology talent as well as for an extended workforce for operations and fieldwork.

This is because the Agritech ventures are not just organizing Agri assets on a digital footprint but also extending services across finance, machinery, supply chain efficiency, and asset management. 

Logi-agritech ventures like Pashupalan are helping reduce costs involved in storage, packing, inventory, and supplychain for poultry, fisheries, and dairy space. 

This is also in line with the changing choices of the urban consumer, who is interested in knowing the product journey to get the best price. In the wake of ever-increasing carbon emissions, technology-enabled smart techniques also offer long-term benefits for the ecosystem.

Meanwhile, agri corporates and SMEs are building captive centers for innovations to create better digital models of agriculture. With technology at the core of their business, the agritech startup space is making processes efficient and accessible.

Technology developments in Agritech

If you are looking to be a part of an industry where innovations are happening at every given moment, agritech might be the choice for you. Here go some of the noteworthy technology trends in Agritech:

Smart agriculture:

Smart agriculture is helping to optimize the farming process to improve yield, mitigate risks and reduce costs. Agritech companies are developing tools to enable precision farming with the help of a proper inspection of the environmental and land conditions. These companies are building sensors, drones, and software solutions to capture data related to soil conditions, weather, and nutrient uptake. The data is then used to make predictions of pest attacks, monitor gas emissions, and opt for efficient practices. For instance, there are tools that utilize data and analytics to locate specific areas of land that need fertilizers and pest control, which results in reducing the costs and preserving the soil quality.

Automation

The labor and time-intensive processes of farming are ridden with challenges. However, reducing dependency on manual labor can help ensure speed and consistent quality. Therefore, agritech companies are building tools to automate these processes. These software and hardware solutions utilize robotics, big data, and biotechnology to change the modes of agricultural processes.

To enable automation and precision in agriculture, agritech tools are employing drones, satellites, and IoT sensors. These tools can measure and monitor at every stage and generate terrain maps. These in turn get used to easing the processes like planting seeds, pollination, and irrigation. 

Lending and transaction technology:

Limited access to credit, loans, and trading options has inhibited farmers from meeting consumers. Since fintech has transformed transactions, agri-fintech technologies are helping farmers get the best price for their produce. From getting better quality seeds to selling the products beyond local aggregators, technology is improving the value and supply chain of Indian agricultural ventures. 

Moreover, IoT and blockchain technologies preserve farmer data to provide price transparency and enable better prices for farmers and consumers. This digital transaction data then allows farmers to access traditional loans at standard rates. Hence, technology-enabled digital banking options are helping to protect farmers from informal loans with high-interest rates. Read more about how lending tech, with its digital credit and Buy now pay later apps, is helping to make credit accessible to the underserved.

However, that doesn’t mean that technology professionals are the only ones to reap the benefits. With processes and touch points getting automated, the focus has shifted towards hiring people with people skills like critical thinking, creativity, and communication. Here goes a rundown of some of the most in-demand jobs in Agritech.

Top job profiles in demand:

Agritech enterprises are building sensory gadgets to collect ground-level information. Using this information, they offer improved crop growth models and better choices for storage and transportation. The results are improved product quality and decreased costs.

 Therefore, the infrastructure of almost every business in the agritech space is the tech talent of the company. Those who engineer dynamic hardware and software solutions with easy user experience. 

However, as more Indians become a part of the digital space with accessible smartphones and the Internet, businesses also need the resources to rapidly penetrate the market and enroll these people to get their products and services. 

For that, they require non-tech roles, people who can help with smooth onboarding and perform various operational tasks. Let’s discuss all the different tech and non-tech job roles that are sought after by agritech businesses.

Sales and Business Development: 

As new agritech models emerge and evolve, it becomes equally important to onboard farmers, businesses, and consumers with the new solutions. People, in general, are hesitant to accept new technologies and change the traditional ways of doing things. 

Therefore, it requires a competent sales team with a strong sales pitch to convince potential clients to adopt new technologies. Sales and business development professionals communicate with clients to help them understand the requirement and benefits of their agritech service or product. Therefore, companies are looking to hire business development executives who can help discover new business opportunities for the company and build business relationships with prospective clients. Also, to set up a sales team that ensures that the customers or investors get on board with the new agritech solution. 

Operations and Assistance:

As said before, even when agritech ventures manage to have a solid marketable product or service to offer, that won’t ensure it reaches the consumers. Companies penetrating new markets in the expansion phase require a lot of hands and minds to efficiently put the processes on track. 

Logistics operations in warehouses, from packing to delivery are carried out by field workers. Moreover, providing support to farmers and retailers to apply the new gadgets and technologies in their routine is a crucial part of customer relations in Agritech. Therefore, well-trained operations and assistance workers are key infrastructural elements of a successful Agritech business. 

Software Engineer:

Agritech businesses build hardware as well as software operations to develop and deliver successful business solutions. Various B2B and D2C enterprises in agriculture are leveraging technology to offer digital solutions. Therefore, skilled IT and software teams become critical for an organization. Companies are on the lookout for IT partners who can offer a variety of agritech software development services and solutions.

For instance, IoT applications for plant and soil monitoring can help prevent the spread of disease by locating the target area of disease spread. Cloud computing and data collection technologies are also proving to be useful in pisciculture, apiculture, and livestock management practices. They help reduce labor costs and improve efficiency by locating the livestock in real time. 

UX/UI Specialist:

As enterprises create data-driven software solutions, there is a need to make them accessible to farmers, retailers, and customers. In comes the UX/UI designer. UX/UI specialists in Agritech have knowledge of the agriculture domain and possess user empathy to design apps, sites, and devices that appeal to and engage the users. 

As IT professionals develop software to collect sensory data through AI  and ML technologies, UI/UX designer helps to make key information accessible to enable smart decisions. They also make interfaces that facilitate controlling and directing autonomous machinery to automate routine tasks. 

Data Analyst:

Since agritech solutions involve creating technology-enabled and data-backed operations, it’s crucial to collect, store and analyze the masses of sensory and logistics data. The job of a data analyst in the agritech sector is to find opportunities to improve the efficiency of supply chains-

production, processing, and distribution. Moreover, they can analyze and visualize data on the crop failure and other risks to support precision farming practices. 

Information also helps predict and prevent issues at the right time, such as an indication of disease outbreaks, ready to harvest alerts. Data visualization helps in identifying the optimum solutions and allocating tasks that can best be carried out by automated machinery and vehicles. 

AI Specialist: 

Big Data, AI, and Machine learning are more than just buzzwords when it comes to improving crop productivity. Since creating data-driven operations has become the basis of smart agriculture, AI specialists process data coming from drones and IoT devices through deep learning algorithms. Then use that to present soil analysis, smart irrigation practices, and seed planting through robots. Therefore, AI specialists use AI and ML technologies to develop solutions that automate operations and ensure crop sustainability.

Marketing Manager:

It goes without saying that effectively marketing the technology products and services is crucial to having success as an agritech business. Enterprises are on the lookout for tech-savvy marketing specialists who can develop and execute marketing strategies and campaigns. These campaigns appeal to the target customers- whether it be rural farmers or urban consumers or both. The marketing channels can vary from video, radio, and D2C apps, as well as other digital channels such as social media, e-mail newsletters, press releases, and websites. 

Besides advertising the products, they focus on managing the brand’s image through all the communication channels and harvesting relationships with potential investors and clients. 

Visit Xpheno, our website, to find job opportunities in agritech. We are a staffing firm that aims to organize opportunities for skilled and unskilled Indian talent. We have been aiding the scaling journey of high-growth sectors like Fintech, Agritech, Edtech, Logistics, Pharma and D2C in India.