SCIENCE SUPPORTS ECONOMICS
BY IAN DOIG • PHOTO COURTESY OF ABACUSBIO
Launched in 2001 by three ambitious New Zealand scientists, AbacusBio is an agricultural science and tech consultancy whose sole purpose is to help ag businesses and farmer organizations maximize their research investments. The company creates custom strategies, systems and platforms built on genomic and genetic data to optimize crop and livestock breeding, business operations and value chain performance. It helps clients make sense of massive, complex data sets across multiple interconnected facets of agricultural business and production. “There is often a gap between the academic and the business sides of agriculture,” said John Crowley, managing director of AbacusBio Canada. “We can walk between the two.
“We attempt to let the whole value chain influence how breeding and genetics is done. This requires collecting data involved in the creation of new germplasm plus a whole bunch of downstream data from vendor, farmer, processor and consumer. We marry that data, so germplasm is created for acceptance by the end market or consumer. There’s science, economics and social science aspects.”
The company expanded internationally in 2017 with the launch of its EU office in Edinburgh, Scotland, followed by its Edmonton office in 2023 and one on Australia’s Sunshine Coast in 2025. Prior to these expansions, its focus was livestock and aquaculture, but its expertise has greatly expanded. It has worked with most of the world’s main cattle breeds and row crops, wheat and barley included. It also works within the fruit, vegetables and forestry industries.
AT THE CUTTING EDGE
Because it works with emerging technologies, AbacusBio attracts employees who possess cutting-edge technical skills and crave innovation. “We’re scientists that ran away to the circus,” said Crowley with a laugh. These high-flying performers derive job satisfaction in novel solutions to agricultural data puzzles. Crowley emphasized the work is collaborative and makes use of the client’s own expertise and knowledge.
“It’s often filling the skills gap or the capability gaps of a business, institute or organization,” added AbacusBio consultant Martin Howes. A calf-rearing specialist, he has worked in ag business development in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
The company employs geneticists, bio-informaticians, economic strategists and data scientists who convert science into action. Projects may involve organizations that work with computer vision, genotyping, genomic analysis or data collection software. “Our own cutting-edge contribution is putting all those jigsaw pieces together,”
said Crowley.
In 2025, Alberta Pulse hired AbacusBio to analyze its research investments in breeding, particularly in peas. The task was to determine which traits provide the best value to the farmer and identify the best ROI in future investments. This included a deep dive into 30-plus years of Commission investments and the output of the public breeding system with emphasis on disease resistance, protein and yield.
“Part of our research strategy is due diligence in investing in breeding programs on behalf of farmers,” said Jenn Walker, Alberta Pulse’s research and extension manager. “AbacusBio has breadth and depth of experience in building models and doing economic analyses of traits. That gives us confidence in the paths forward they’ve identified.”
Grace Ehoche is a breeding software professional with Agronomix, a plant breeding software company based in Winnipeg, MB. Its products include Genovix, a platform that tracks complex genetic data and breeding activities. Agronomix partnered with AbacusBio to create predictive breeding capabilities for software that models genetic data. It assesses which parent plants will produce offspring with desired characteristics. This genomic evaluation pipeline can help breeders accelerate the breeding cycle and improve results. “The goal was to improve our software to deliver more to breeders and researchers,” said Ehoche. “Sometimes it’s a rush to the finish line with a new product, and whoever gets there first controls the whole market.”
Often, we find that compromise to ensure the consumer gets what they want and the farmer remains profitable.—Martin Howes
INSIGHT AND DIRECTION
As theoretical possibilities open, AbacusBio clients wish to leverage AI. “Some of them simply ask, ‘Is this the direction we want to go?’ We try to help them answer that question,” said Howes. Streams of image and sensor data potentially give companies insight they can act upon to deliver profit. In crop breeding, this may include creation of new germplasm and the assignment of new varieties to geographic environments. “We’re also learning as we go,” said Howes. “It’s safe to say no one’s really the expert in applying it in agriculture yet.”
An example of machine learning and AI in action, Crowley noted CT scans are used in New Zealand to analyze the body composition of livestock for economically relevant traits. This data on physical characteristics is lined up against genetic information without having to slaughter the animal.
While the company’s central service is the design of breeding programs, it also does custom app design. DTreo is its customizable platform for farmers and breeders. It manages breeding data and operations. Initially created for an agricultural development project, it has been used around the world to assist smallholder farmers with limited connectivity and access to technology. With it, they can use a smart device to track on-farm metrics such as animal growth, vaccinations and pedigree and contribute to strengthening the supply chain. “It can support decision-making in the supply chain, having that flow of data where data never existed before,” said Howes. Though it was created for use in developing nations, it is also used in large, advanced farm systems.
An app developed for JBS Foods, a large Australian meat products manufacturer, allows that company to make decisions about livestock genetics within its supply chain. In co-operation with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Impact Canada, AbacusBio is also developing an app to rank beef sires based on their carbon mitigation potential. It has additionally developed many apps for its internal use to build breeding programs and evaluate genetics.
The company also assesses emerging technologies for clients looking to fund the development of a product, commercialize an existing one or develop one from scratch. For example, AbacusBio worked with Olds College to assess the use of floating “islands” of vegetation to treat feedlot wastewater.
Often, technology developers struggle with farmer adoption. Analysis can also determine how and why a farmer might use the technology and whether it will produce profit or make their work easier. In other instances, organizations require independent appraisal of their investment in technologies, systems and strategies. Especially in the realm of genetics, said Howes, ROI can be tricky to quantify. A tangible benefit such as time saved or an intangible positive such as reduction of a farmer’s stress can juice the bottom line more than is expected. On the other hand, the numbers may suggest a change of processes.
“It’s often about what the consumer wants, then also what’s possible on the farm,” said Howes. He noted, for instance, consumer preference as relates to meat quality. “How can we breed that within the confines of the farming system? Often, we find that compromise to ensure the consumer gets what they want and the farmer remains profitable.”
The Alberta Pulse project, in part, dealt with this. “Protein in that commodity is fiercely important to its marketability, yet farmers don’t get paid for it,” said Crowley. Yield shrinks when the breeder selects for higher protein. “When there’s no dollar signal to the farmer and the breeder, how do you incentivize increased protein in genetic improvement?” Trade-offs must be made.
Agriculture has much to gain in such data-driven refinement, and AbacusBio will continue to lead this cutting-edge circus.
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