How Three Students Built Agrivanna, an AI Startup to Help Ranchers Find and Move Cattle Faster

Finding and moving cattle across large ranches is not as simple as it sounds. It can take days or even weeks for many ranchers to locate animals spread across thousands of acres. The process is often expensive, time-consuming, and physically demanding. Three students at the University of Calgary saw this challenge and decided to build a solution. Their startup, Agrivanna, uses artificial intelligence, drones, and GPS technology to help ranchers track cattle and manage grazing areas more efficiently.

How Agrivanna Came About

The idea for Agrivanna began with founder and CEO Amirhossein Foroughi. Growing up on his father’s dairy farm in Iran, he saw firsthand some of the challenges farmers face. Although he was more interested in technology than farming, those early experiences stayed with him.

At university, he teamed up with computer science student Aminreza Abbasi and business student Haden Harrison. Together, they began exploring ways technology could solve real problems in agriculture.

The team quickly discovered that one of the biggest challenges for ranchers was moving and monitoring cattle. Traditional fencing is expensive, and tracking animals across large areas requires significant time and labour. To understand the problem better, the founders spoke with more than 50 farmers. Their solution became Agrivanna.

How Agrivanna Works

The system uses special GPS-enabled collars that help guide cattle within digital boundaries created on a map. As an animal approaches the edge of its designated area, the collar provides signals that encourage it to turn back.

The platform also uses drone and satellite data to help ranchers monitor land conditions and make better grazing decisions. For ranchers, the goal is to spend less time searching for cattle and more time managing their operations.

What is Next for Agrivanna?

The startup has already gained attention. Earlier this year, Agrivanna won first place in The Arena pitch competition and finished second in Launchpad’s Liftoff competition.

Now, the team is preparing for field tests on ranches in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where they will see how the technology performs in real-world conditions.

Agrivanna is proof that some of the best startup ideas come from everyday problems. The journey of the founders highlights an important lesson for student entrepreneurs: before building a solution, understand the problem deeply. By listening to farmers and learning from their experiences, the team was able to create a product people actually need. Sometimes innovation starts with technology. Other times, it starts with paying attention.