Terva founder, Steven Brockshus
An Iowa State University Research Park-based startup that aggregates available farmland for sale launched for public use Tuesday.
Terva uses publicly available farmland data such as aerial maps, recent sales and corn suitability ratings in one interface to help farmers make decisions when buying land and alerts them when new plots become available. It also works to connect potential buyers or renters with agricultural realtors.
The company was part of last year’s CyStarters program, a 10-week program for ISU students looking to launch a startup. The company was also a finalist for best student innovation award at the Technology Association of Iowa’s Prometheus Awards earlier this year.
Terva founder Steven Brockshus said the company launched the site to the public after a private beta period with farmers and agricultural real estate groups. He said the site got a few hundred hits.
“It’s been fun to watch users come onto the site,” he said.
Brockshus said the next step is to add other states in the Midwest as currently the site only gathers data for land in Iowa. He is also planning to roll out features to share data on Realtor websites, and to eventually establish Terva as an appraisal company so it can provide certified land values upon request.
Terva will continue to work out of the research park in the foreseeable future, and is looking to add data scientists to the current team of five employees. In the meantime, Brockshus said he’ll continue to use the resources available at the research park and across the state to advance his company.
“I can thank all the resources out here in Ames, but also in the Iowa startup ecosystem,” he said. “Just being around good folks here in Iowa helps make good things.”
Read at amestrib.com
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