Waikato agritech firm takes AI pasture tool to Britain

Tuesday, 21 July 2026

‘I thought, ‘well everyone’s got a smartphone, why can’t we just measure using that?’’ Aimer founder Jeremy Bryant says.

Jeremy Bryant has combined his passion for farming and analytics to make pasture management as simple as taking a quick video.

The Waikato business he founded, Aimer Farming, has taken off in the past year and is bringing its AI pasture management to the UK.

“I dairy farmed when I left school, so I knew the challenges of time management,” Bryant said. “You’re trying to juggle looking after the cows and pasture, and measuring it was always a struggle.

The Aimer app uses smartphone location technology to map the farm and keep track of which paddock farmers are walking in.

“For many, the idea is to plunk a plate meter in a paddock 50 times and then walk to the next one, which can take three or four hours … Fast forward and I thought, ‘well everyone’s got a smartphone, why can’t we just measure using that?’.”

The idea is simple: walk or drive into a paddock and take a video scan of the paddock. The AI and data-driven software will do the rest, measuring grass growth, creating forecasts and suggesting tailored grazing rotations as well as supplement use to optimise productivity.

Founder Jeremy Bryant says his technology helps farmers be more time-efficient.

Alongside measuring dry matter per hectare, it gives optimum grazing scores, allows farmers to predict 14 days of growth and lets them play out test scenarios of different supplement rates or setting paddocks aside for silage.

“The more grass you can get the cows to eat, the more they can produce milk. The better you manage this process, the better quality feed you’ll produce and that’s increased milk production. You can be saving on supplement use as well with how it recommends times when you don’t need to feed it.”

Jeremy Bryant says his system helps farmers save on time they would otherwise spend manually measuring with a plate meter.

Over the last month, they have also launched a satellite capability to sit alongside the phone app and live modelling web app. On clear days, farmers can skip a scan and simply let the satellite image estimate grass growth.

While AI is fundamental for the scanning function, Bryant said their accuracy came down to putting time into developing real models based on testing results and creating a hybrid model with AI.

Bryant founded Aimer Farming in 2021 and officially launched the business in 2023 after months of data collection across Waikato farms. What started as just Bryant working on it alone a couple of days a week has grown into a business with 20 employees, and Bryant expects to hire another 10 to 15 people over the next year.

A comparison of the traditional plate meter reading of dry matter per hectare versus the app.

The technology is now used by over 650 farms across New Zealand and Chile, and this month, they have also launched in the United Kingdom with their partner Precision Grazing.

“In terms of revenue, over the last year we’ve grown six-fold. The accuracy has really improved. This is our third generation of this model and we’ve developed this easy to use automated version, where farmers don’t have to go back to their computer to see results.”

Aimer can help farmers predict grass growth and manage supplement use.

The next milestones Bryant has his eyes set on would be rolling out a beef model and adding more in-depth insights around different pasture types and fertiliser use.

Bryant grew up on the family farm and went sharemilking after school before deciding to study animal science and eventually getting his PhD in genetics and farm system modelling. Developing the business is a happy medium between his passion for the farm and data analysis.

“The thing that I enjoy is that I still come out, walk the farm and interact with farmers and they’re just so direct and open, it’s great and fundamentally my core is wanting to help them.

“I have no regrets but it is a lot. There are times when you’re thinking, ‘what have I done to myself’ … The Waikato is a great place to do business though, especially as an agritech centre, and the feedback we’ve had from farmers here has hugely shaped what the technology is like.”

They secured MPI backing this year, receiving $600,000 in funding to continue developing their AI tool. In the past, they have also received a $750,000 capital investment from Cultivate Ventures and around $1.4 million raised in 2024 and 2025 from various agricultural businesses.