Yara Farmweather

Designing a global agtech product used by farmers across diverse and challenging environments

Inclusive Design UX Strategy User Journeys UX Research End-to-end
Project Duration
November 2019
1 and a half years
Team Involved
  • 2 UX designers
  • 1 UX Researcher
Scope
Define, design, and launch a new digital product to support farmers in managing daily agricultural activities.
Build a core experience that works globally, while allowing adaptation to local contexts and specific needs across different countries.
My role
As a new member of the Smallholders digital team, I led UX across the project and helped establish it as a key driver of product value from the early idea stage through launch and further evolution.
I defined the right UX strategy and resources for each phase of the product lifecycle, ensuring that user needs remained central to how the product evolved and built long-term engagement.
Outcome
A global product launched and adopted by millions of users across multiple countries.
The solution was highly rated by users and became a key tool in supporting farmers’ daily work and decision-making.

User research as a core

We conducted research across multiple countries, working directly smallholders farmers operating in hard to access environments where access to technology is limited. To ensure success in such challenging conditions, we partnered with local researchers and field agents to bridge cultural gaps. This collaboration resulted in deeper insights and genuine openness, allowing us to truly understand pain points and opportunities.

The rapid iterative design process that followed helped our team test solutions and better understand how real-world needs and constraints were being addressed. This ensured the product remained grounded in how users actually work, rather than in office-based assumptions.

This deep user research plan demonstrated clear business value, proving to stakeholders how UX research can be a driver in the early stages of a project and guide key strategic decisions.

Designing for real world journeys

Farming workflows vary significantly depending on location, infrastructure, and access to technology.

We mapped detailed user journeys to understand how decisions are made in different contexts, including low connectivity environments and the use of basic devices.

Properly understanding the interactions between real world situations and a new digital product was key to understand how it was best to design so what we showed the user mattered at the right moment.

These journeys became the foundation for defining the product experience, ensuring that key interactions supported real tasks and decision points.

Evolving the product through user feedback

After the initial launch, user feedback became a key driver for product evolution. Because the UX team was fully integrated within the product team and working in an agile setup, we were able to iterate quickly and continuously.

This allowed us to leverage integrated analytics and feedback channels to observe real user behaviour as it emerged. By understanding how needs shifted as users matured with the product, we were able to introduce new capabilities that addressed their evolving requirements.

This ensured the platform grew in line with validated needs rather than initial assumptions and gave clarity to the business on how to add new functionalities to the app in a way that it would not break the positive experience of users.

An Agtech success story

The product was adopted by millions of users across different countries and became a trusted tool for farmers.

It demonstrated how a collaborative, user-centered approach can bring real value to an underserved community, turning complex needs into a solution that users actively rely on.

A global Agtech product that turned deep user understanding into a solution adopted and valued by farmers across multiple countries.

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Building a global UX team