If you lease land for your farming operation, you know that managing those landowner relationships can be time-consuming. That’s why a new Indiana-based company has created a lease and land management platform that helps you stay organized.
“Oaken.Ag is a software platform that helps you consolidate all information as it relates to landowners,” says Shashi Raghunandan, the Founder and CEO of Oaken.Ag. He started the company last July with Anwar Parvez, the Chief Technology Officer, on his team. The platform officially launched in January 2024.
He says the company’s software can help landowners save time, reduce hassle, and strengthen their connections with their leasing partners. The ultimate goal is to streamline communications, document management, and payments between landowners and growers.
“When we spoke to farmers today, the way they managed their landowner relationships was complex and time-consuming,” he says. “It was also being managed in manual folders, in Google spreadsheets, and in the worst-case situation, it was being managed in someone’s head.”
“Not only was it time-consuming, when it came time to pass that information on to the next generation that was taking on the farming operation, it became problematic and cumbersome to kind of pass that information on because there was no single way or a place where it all got consolidated.”
He says that Oaken.Ag also helps track of the landowner’s family members so that the hand-off during a farm-succession plan is smoother during that transition.
“We know how critical it is for farmers today to connect not just with the landowner, but somebody who is going to start inheriting that land down the road,” he says. “We help you understand what that structure would look like and help you keep in touch with not just the primary decision maker, but all of the family members, so when that time comes, you’re in touch with all of them and you’re able to convince them to keep the land holding within the farming operation and it remains whole.”
Raghunandan says Oaken.Ag is a cloud-based program that you can use from any computer with a username and password. He adds that the company will work with you to make sure you’re set up and getting the most out of the program to help you manage your landowner agreements and finances.
“You can just log in and you don’t need to download any software,” he says. “Once you get in touch with us, we will set you up on the platform. You’ll get a login ID and password—and then once you’re set up, all of the information resides in a single place. You’re organized and can keep updating data on it. We also help you for the first two months hand as you work through the software and learn the process because we really want you to enjoy using the platform.”
Among the first to use Oaken.Ag is Kassi Rowland with Tom Farms, which is based in Kosciusko County, Indiana. Raghunandan says that Rowland worked with him and his team to ensure that the software platform was simple to use and met the needs of farmland owners and managers.
Oaken.Ag is brand-new ag business that was established with funding from Purdue DIAL Ventures.
“I never would have been able to get our start-up going without Purdue. That connection is dear to me and I’m grateful to Purdue DIAL,” says Raghunandan.
“The two ways that [Purdue DIAL Ventures] supports companies that are coming out of their ag entrepreneurship program—number one: they provide the funding. That’s really critical for any startup to launch themselves and to have a good shot at being able to solve a real challenge in the industry. But also, as you come up with ideas, they help you validate that for the industry and help set you up with the first set of customers who are going to use your platform, so we’ve been grateful for all that Purdue has brought to us.”
For more information, visit Oaken.Ag.
Click BELOW to hear C.J. Miller’s radio news story about Oaken.Ag for Hoosier Ag Today:
