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Welcome to Inside KisanHub, a selection of interviews with the talented people behind the KisanHub tech. This month we caught up with Jonny Kerley, a Product Manager at KisanHub.
Hello! To kick things off please can you each tell us a little bit about yourself and explain your role at KisanHub?
Hi everyone, I’m a Product Manager at KisanHub, a role I began just over 3 years ago. I am responsible for developing products and solutions that meet our customer and industry needs, in line with KisanHub's objectives. Having grown up in the Ag industry in Cambridgeshire - from lambing sheep to operating half million-pound machinery - I have a great network in the farming community. I love all things farming (especially tractors and big kit) and in my spare time, I like to continue the building of my house, a project started from scratch 7 years ago.
What are you working on right now and what will this mean for the industry?
A Product Managers’ role always involves juggling multiple deliverables, but ultimately we want to enable our customers to make more robust and informed decisions by providing the data they need in one place, thus building business resilience. There are many ways to contribute to this, but we are currently working on how we provide earlier insight into a crop’s quantity and quality, for example through weather and satellite data and building out our crop quality tools.
What do you most enjoy about being part of the KisanHub team?
I am fired up by the challenges that present themselves on a daily basis, which provoke industry-leading thinking, especially when ideating with some of my brilliant colleagues. I love being in a position to motivate and inspire a team to work together and deliver solutions to these challenges. The opportunities and ideas are endless which makes it very exciting, but also presents the challenge of selection and prioritisation.
What three words would you use to describe KisanHub?
Thought-provoking, exciting and dynamic.
You previously worked in Crop Research Trials, what motivated you to move to a tech startup?
Well, I was actually headhunted for my trials experience, at that time KisanHub was working on a crop trials management product. Coming from a 70-year-old well-established research company, KisanHub was a young, dynamic and exciting company to work for, with opportunities to have a real impact.
You studied Environmental Science, how does this help your projects?
I consider my industry hands-on experience and pragmatic problem solving gained from the farm as more important to my day job than my education. Having said that, I do believe that university drove my analytical and inquisitive nature which is useful every day.
What sources do you look for inspiration?
People that work hard are my inspiration, regardless of the industry they are in or the level at which they work.
Do you have a work mantra that you go by?
I have two. Firstly, work hard and reap the rewards; if you don’t plant, you can’t harvest. The second one is short term pain, long term gain.
Finally, as a tech startup working in the agri-food industry, do you have a favourite vegetable/fruit?
I have always loved growing vegetables at home, cultivating a quarter-acre veg patch since I was 10years old. Consequently, I hate food waste and will always eat a broccoli stalk or cauliflower leaves, which are as delicious as the other parts. However, my all-time favourite is freshly picked runner beans drowned in vinegar and a good meat gravy!
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