Creativity and experimentation are two things that Mohammad Asefi, founder and CEO of TerraWave Technologies, has valued his entire life. That drive to create new things led Asefi first to biomedical imaging research, and then to grain monitoring technology. Here Asefi discusses his journey into digital agriculture and his experience as a startup founder.
Describe your job or product in one sentence.
We turn radio wave imaging into a practical tool for real-time stored grain monitoring and inventory control.
Where did you grow up? Was it an agriculture or urban environment?
I spent my childhood in Tehran, moved to Dubai in 2005, and settled in Winnipeg in 2012. Despite the urban backdrops, I was happiest around plants, so my wife and I bought a two acre place in Grande Pointe where we keep a small orchard and garden.
What was your dream job when you were a kid?
I never had a tidy job title in mind. From cooking to electronic boards, I just wanted to experiment and create new things and see what might emerge. Electronics kits were my Lego.
What was your first job in the agriculture or agri-food sector?
My PhD at the University of Manitoba was the first real plunge – using microwave sensing to monitor grain quality in storage. It introduced me to prairie agriculture and the scale of post-harvest losses.
What brought you to your current role?
I started in biomedical imaging research, developing microwave scanners for breast cancer detection. When an opportunity appeared to adapt that technology to grain bins, I jumped. The prototype grew into 151 Research Inc., a Winnipeg-based startup, later acquired by AGCO Corporation. After leading the technology to market readiness at AGCO, I left to found TerraWave, first aiming at soil analysis but ultimately pivoting back to grain monitoring when farmers told us that was their biggest pain point.
How does digital agriculture or agtech play a role in your current job?
Our sensors lift grain quality data off clipboards and into the cloud automatically, giving producers live dashboards instead of monthly guesswork. It’s a small but concrete step toward fully digital grain handling.
What advice would you give someone considering a career in digital agriculture?
There are a lot of opportunities in digital agriculture. However, understanding the problem you are solving is critical. Farmers have been presented with a lot of expensive, and sometimes non-functional digital ag solutions. Ensure that you understand what they are looking for, solve a problem that really exists, and make sure there is a return on investment for farmers within the first couple of seasons.
What first piqued your interest in agriculture and agri-food?
As a kid I was fascinated by how a seed becomes lunch. Later I learned how fragile that path is – droughts, pests, spoilage, and how much food never makes it to a plate. That waste problem hooked me.
What’s your favourite part about working in digital agriculture and agri-food?
Seeing a flawless hardware to software pipeline. Spreadsheet numbers translate into a real-world decision, a farmer skips an unnecessary grain turn which saves fuel, and they thank you at the elevator. It is immensely satisfying.
What’s the most interesting thing you see happening in digital agriculture right now?
Low-power, low-cost edge sensors paired with satellite connectivity are finally making full farm visibility affordable for even small and mid-size operations. That democratization of data will change everything from crop insurance to carbon markets.
This profile is part of EMILI’s This is Agriculture series, highlighting talented and diverse individuals across the digital agriculture sector. While individuals working in agriculture come from a variety of backgrounds, they share a common interest in growing and strengthening Canadian agriculture to ensure an environmentally and economically sustainable future for generations to come.