ABE is an AI-powered farm business expert built for beginning Iowa farmers. Real Iowa data. Verified sources. Plain language. No consultant required.
Most chatbots wait to be asked. ABE works in the background — monitoring prices, screening programs, and surfacing what matters before you even know to ask.
Every number ABE cites comes from Iowa data: ISU Extension, USDA NASS, Iowa Finance Authority. No misleading national averages.
All financial calculations run on deterministic Python code — never the AI. Every recommendation traces back to a citable source.
ABE lives in Telegram. No app to install, no dashboard to learn. Open a chat, describe your situation, get a sourced answer.
A beginning farmer in Story County, Iowa should not need a consultant, a $2,500/year subscription, or a computer science degree to answer a straightforward question about their operation. ABE makes expert-level guidance as accessible as a text message.
Each skill does one thing well. Together, they cover the full scope of decisions a beginning Iowa farmer faces in their first years.
Have a set amount to invest in farmland but not sure where to put it? Tell ABE your budget and your situation — rent vs. buy, county preferences, soil quality — and ABE maps out your best path forward. It's not about what inputs to buy; it's about making the smartest land strategy decision with what you have.
Try it on Telegram ✈Not sure if a lease offer is fair? Give ABE the price and county and it benchmarks it against the latest ISU Extension survey data — telling you exactly where you stand and whether there's room to negotiate.
ISU Extension AgDM C2-10 · 2025 SurveyThere are more programs available to beginning farmers than most people realize. ABE screens your profile against FSA loans, EQIP, ARC/PLC, Iowa tax credits, and more — surfacing the ones you actually qualify for with clear next steps.
FSA · EQIP · IFA BFLP · Iowa Tax CreditWondering if the numbers pencil out? ABE estimates your net margin per acre using live Iowa prices and ISU cost benchmarks. Give it your rent, yield expectations, and crop — it gives you profitability, break-even price, and a clear picture of your risk.
ISU Extension AgDM A1-20 · USDA NASS liveKnow exactly what it costs you to grow a bushel. ABE builds a full line-by-line cost breakdown — fixed vs. variable, per acre and per bushel — using ISU AgDM 2026 benchmarks as defaults, with room to plug in your own real numbers wherever they differ.
ISU Extension AgDM A1-20 · 2026 BenchmarksSomething look off in your field? Snap a photo and send it to ABE. The CornCNN2 classifier identifies the disease, assesses severity, and recommends a course of action — all before you've left the field.
CornCNN2 · SAU-validated model · Corn onlyGet a 16-day Iowa county forecast alongside historical conditions — tied directly into disease risk, frost alerts, and crop stress signals. ABE flags what to watch for this week so you can plan ahead, not react after.
Open-Meteo · No API key · All Iowa countiesABE uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation — connecting a language model to a curated library of verified Iowa documents instead of relying on its internal memory. Guidance you can cite, check, and trust.
Talk to ABE in plain language via Telegram — a lease price, a crop plan, a program question, or a photo of a sick plant.
Any phone · No setupA hybrid search pulls the most relevant Iowa-specific data from the knowledge base — ISU guides, USDA data, IFA program docs.
Verified sources onlyAny financial calculation — margins, benchmarks, savings estimates — is executed by Python, not the AI. Results are accurate and traceable.
No AI hallucinations on numbersEvery response includes citations. If ABE isn't confident, it says so. No guessing on six-figure farm decisions.
Always cites its sourcesFarm decisions carry real financial weight. ABE is designed from the ground up to be trustworthy, fair, and protective of the farmers who use it.
ABE never sells farmer data to third parties. Profile information used for program screening is stored only to improve the relevance of your alerts — and only with your knowledge. Iowa farmers already distrust data-hungry platforms; ABE is designed to earn trust, not exploit it.
Every financial output is calculated by deterministic Python code, not the AI. This is a non-negotiable design choice — research shows language models fail financial questions 81% of the time. No beginning farmer should make a six-figure leasing decision based on a hallucinated number.
Every recommendation ABE makes includes citations to the source documents it used. If confidence falls below a threshold, ABE says so explicitly. Farmers can verify every answer themselves — ABE is a guide, not an oracle.
ABE runs on Telegram — a free app available on any smartphone. No subscription, no rural broadband requirement, no technical knowledge needed. The system is also designed for offline resilience, so farmers in low-signal areas aren't excluded from the guidance they need.
ABE is not designed to replace ISU Extension agents, farm consultants, or lenders — it's designed to make their relationships with farmers more productive. When a situation requires human judgment, ABE says so and helps farmers find the right person to talk to.
Because ABE retrieves from a curated document library rather than a trained model, knowledge stays current. When ISU updates its cost-of-production tables or the IFA changes program criteria, the knowledge base updates — no retraining, no risk of outdated answers baked into model weights.
Five students from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa — bringing together agricultural economics, computer science, and business to build the advisor Iowa's beginning farmers deserve.
"The resources needed to help beginning farmers already exist. What's missing is access."— SAU Hive Mind, ABE Phase 1 Proposal
Everything you need to know before your first conversation with ABE.
Whether you're a beginning Iowa farmer wanting early access, an extension agent interested in partnering, or a judge with questions — reach out.
ABE won't replace your judgment — it will make sure your judgment is informed. Start your first conversation today.
Available via Telegram · Free for beginning Iowa farmers · Backed by Iowa-specific data