Ag Data Transparent Profiles CattleOS: A Cattle Business Built on Data
Ag Data Transparent sat down with CattleOS co-founder and CEO Pavan Balani to talk about the record-keeping gap in cattle, why we embed technology into the way farmers already work, and what ADT Certification means for how we handle producer data.
Ag Data Transparent — the organization behind the ADT Certification that verifies how ag tech companies handle farmer data — has published a profile of CattleOS co-founder and CEO Pavan Balani.
Read the full article on Ag Data Transparent →
The short version
The piece traces how CattleOS started: a chance conversation at a pitch competition in Western Canada, followed by discovery calls with 200 farmers. Those calls surfaced a consistent gap — grain and dairy operations had mature software, while cattle producers were still running on notebooks, whiteboards, and memory.
It also gets at the design principle that has shaped the product ever since:
"Farmers don't want to change the way they work, so we had to figure out a way to embed technology into their workflow."
That's why CattleOS attaches to routines that already exist — like the morning meeting where the day's work gets discussed and assigned — instead of asking a crew to adopt new ones. Tasks are captured as they're spoken, assigned in real time, and visible to everyone through the day, so inefficiencies show up while they can still be fixed.
On data transparency
The conversation also covers why we pursued ADT Certification early, while CattleOS is still a young company:
"As a startup company, we stand alongside much bigger tech providers in supporting the ADT Core Principles."
Certification means our data terms have been independently reviewed: producers own their records, and their data is used exactly the way the agreement says — nothing more. For an industry that has been rightly skeptical of where its data goes, we think that verification matters more than any promise we could make ourselves.
The article closes with the First Farms Program — $500 per year, transparent terms — and Pavan's take on the reality of building something new: "often there are six iterations of Step 1."
Read the full profile at agdatatransparent.com, and see our certification listing on the Ag Data Transparent site.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ag Data Transparent certification?
Ag Data Transparent (ADT) is an independent organization that certifies agricultural technology companies whose data contracts meet its Core Principles for transparency. Certification means a company's terms plainly state what data it collects, who owns it, and how it can be used — verified by ADT, not just claimed by the company.
Is CattleOS ADT Certified?
Yes. CattleOS is Ag Data Transparent Certified, which means our data agreements have been independently reviewed against the ADT Core Principles. Producers own their records, and their data is used only the way our terms say it will be.
Who owns the data recorded in CattleOS?
The producer does. Records captured in CattleOS — animals, treatments, feed, tasks — belong to the operation that created them. ADT Certification is our independent, verifiable commitment to that.
CattleOS Team
Author