Using their unique Yokit app, this Scottish farming duo have vowed to revolutionise the industry . . . and promise their tech is a small taster of what’s yet to come

WHEN cousins John and James Fairlie were boys, they were given the menial tasks on the family’s farms.

“Our dads were partners, and we were just the loons on the farms,” said John, recalling their low-rung start in the industry on the family’s fields outside Carnoustie, Angus.

“We were the muckers, doing all the fun jobs like sweeping up and generally trying to get involved in as much as we could. We did laborious work like picking the oats that shouldn’t be among the barley. 

“We did the potato grading lines, pick out green potatoes and stones from the conveyor belt so they don’t go to the customer. Hard jobs. We were only allowed to do certain things.”

These days, they are allowed to do much more. The cousins went their separate ways in business once they came of age. James stayed with the family concern, eventually taking over from his father running their potato, cereals and biogas farm, while John headed for a career in accountancy and high-end banking in London.

The 35-year-old won UK Young Farmer of the year in 2017. 

Cousin John, 36, runs Balmirmer Farm, after his first career in finance in London.

Now they’re joining forces in the fields and byres again, coalescing behind the development and launch of an app they hope will revolutionise agri-industry.

The tech is a response to what the cousins’ research revealed to be a slow-adoption of digital processes around certain areas of farming, covering everything from staffing numbers, payroll, workflow and land covered. 

They have dubbed the app Yokit, its meaning an acknowledgment of the north east dialect of their home.

James said: “Back in the day when they used horses, they’d saddle them up in the morning and the main holster going round the horse’s head for the plough to attach to was called the yoke. When they put the yoke on the horse in the morning  that’s the time when everything gets started. 

“The slang goes down through the generations and people say, ‘let’s get yoked’, which means ‘let’s get going’. We were planting potatoes one night and John came up with the name. It has great connotations, too, of trying to get industry moving.

“We first spoke about this three years ago and I was very much wanting to work with John again because we work well together. We both have different skill sets that can add a lot to business. I always felt there was an opportunity within the digital market in agriculture because it’s sleeping.”

The Herald:

The pair’s market research revealed a desire, especially among younger generations of farmers, to simplify and streamline processes.

James said: “We spoke to a lot of people. There was a clear demand that Yokit’s work was in a direction that was an answer to a problem that had been around for quite a long time. Everything’s very analogue at the moment, even some of the most advanced agricultural businesses still have guys taking photos of job sheets and sending them on Whatsapp. We knew we had to develop our idea.”

“At harvest time you might have 10 guys all in trailers in an average day,” said John. “James and I will be working 14 hour days for two months solid. 

“We have guys in trailers, guys out picking, guys in the yard. All sorts of labour, bringing in seasonal workers.

“Often they submit their invoices after harvest and it’s hard to keep tabs on whether things are accurate or not.  There’s a lot of trust in farming, there aren’t many sharks in the industry. But even then, getting invoices after the fact, when you’ve been working flat out and are completely knackered, well, it’s not always something you prioritise. The app enables everyone to log what they’re doing and when. It makes it all easier to track. It’s a  more user-friendly way to keep an eye on what people are doing.”

The app has also been designed to help assess lifespan of equipment by allowing workers to record how many acres have been covered by a certain tractor or plough. Pins can be dropped to indicate areas where work has been carried out.

“If you know a plough has 1000 acres on it then it helps guide your thinking about when it needs changed,” said John.

“Things like this help people calculate their costs very easily, and can help with their decision making. It takes on some of financial burden of the work, too.”

While James worked to advance his family business, expanding their potato production and developing into biogas production, John headed to London to work in an industry he knew would one day equip him with the skills to return to his first job.

An honours degree in economics from Glasgow University was followed by a job with Ernst & Young where he served his time as a chartered accountant. On qualifying, he left for London and a career in acquisitions and mergers in investment banking with boutique financial firm Evercore, eventually becoming Vice President.

“Then Covid hit,” said John. “Myself and my wife were in London with our 18-month-old son. We moved back to Scotland and I worked from home for two years doing banking. Then I’d had enough. 

“My thinking about doing other things was always to prepare me for running my own business. The degree, the accountancy, the banking – which was a totally different ball game of strategic analysis and working with top class business leaders – even then my ambition was always to be an entrepreneur and come back to farming. It’s in my DNA. 

“So I’m back in the family business and work with my dad, brother and mother, developing the business further and also adding new and developing projects like Yokit.”

The pair have plans beyond the first phase of Yokit, with a “backlog of ideas and functionality”. James said: “This is just a taster of what’s to come. John and I will probably never be content. We want to strive to make a change in the industry. There’s a lot of talk about environmental sustainability in farming, but businesses have to be financially sustainable to achieve that, and to do that they need transparency in their process to see what their costs are.”

It’s all a long way from picking the green totties out of the conveyor belt.

“My thinking about doing other things was always to prepare me for running my own business,” said John. 

“The degree, the accountancy, banking, strategic analysis and working with top class business leaders – my ambition was always to be an entrepreneur. This is where I always wanted to be and everything else would prepare me for it. The exciting thing about trying to create businesses is who knows where it will take you? That’s what I always wanted: this adventure. 
yokit.co.uk