CALGARY⁠ — When it debuted on the Toronto Stock Exchange in early 2021, Farmers Edge seemed rooted in fertile ground. Canada’s preeminent precision-farming company, which sells software to help farmers better run their operations, surged 18 per cent after the IPO, rising beyond their $17 offer price on the promise of cutting-edge technology and ambitious growth plans. 

But just 18 months later, the Winnipeg-based company is floundering. It has burned through the entire $125 million it raised from the IPO, and continues to hemorrhage cash at an alarming rate. Despite a series of acquisitions, analysts are now questioning whether the company will ever turn a profit. A former insider suggests the company has suffered from losing focus on the farmers it’s supposed to serve. Investor doubts have sent its stock plummeting to around $0.70 per share today, evaporating hundreds of millions in market capitalization and leaving observers to question its long-term survival.