Coding for a Greener Future – Meet Andres Täht, CTO at eAgronom

When you think of agriculture, you might picture tractors, fields, muddy boots, and tired hands shaped by years of hard work. But at the heart of technology-driven modern farming is a completely different world. Behind our farming management software are lines of code, data pipelines, and smart systems that help to make more sustainable decisions. And at the center of it all is Andres Täht, our Chief Technology Wizard.

With a background in engineering leadership, a knack for solving complex problems, and scaling products in the fast-paced startup environments, Andres brings a sharp mind, a practical vision in the agri-tech space, and a future-focused mindset to everything he does. Whether it’s supporting his team building products that make life easier for farmers or exploring how AI might reshape the agri-industry, he’s someone who’s always thinking two steps ahead — often with dry humor, a coffee mug in one hand and a drumstick in another.

We met Andres to talk about his hobbies, his journey into the agritech world, and the challenges of building tech in such a complex domain.

Hi Andres! To start us off, could you introduce yourself and share a bit about your background? How did your tech journey begin?

I have always been interested in puzzles and problem-solving. My brother was a big inspiration growing up — he started teaching me some coding basics early on. After finishing high school, I decided to study informatics and began working as a software developer.

What first attracted you to eAgronom? Was it the mission, the tech challenge, or something else entirely?

It is hard to say, as it was not a single thing. I had some friends working at eAgronom, and one of them reached out and suggested I join the team. It was a completely new domain for me, which I was not familiar with. I liked the team, the mission, and saw that there was a lot of potential to tackle cool technical challenges and try to improve the life of farmers and the environment with it.

As CTO, you're at the heart of how eAgronom builds solutions for farmers. How would you describe your role?

At eAgronom, I’d say my role is a mix of Chief Technical Officer and Head of Engineering. I work closely with the engineering team to set our technical direction, identify bottlenecks and/or tech debt that’s slowing us down, and plan how to address it. There are always new things in progress, so I stay in the loop and regularly discuss technical aspects and issues with the project’s technical leads. I also work closely with the product team on the roadmap and with the leadership team on the company’s vision, goals, and direction.

What does a "typical" day look like for you, if such a thing exists? Are you more of a stand-up-meeting guy or a deep-code-dive kind of person?

My days vary quite a bit, but lately they've been more on the meeting-heavy side — discussing project progress, resolving blockers, and helping with technical decisions. I also have one-on-one conversations to check in with people, make sure they're doing well, and offer support where I can. There's often a lot to write down and share with the team so they can improve something or take an idea, flesh it out, and build something meaningful from it. I still like to stay involved in the codebase — reviewing code, fixing small issues I come across, creating proof of concepts, or gathering input and context for new ideas.

What’s the biggest challenge when building tech for such a unique industry like agriculture?

Farmers have to think about and manage a lot when it comes to farming. There’s financial planning and budgeting, warehouse and task management, and of course, agronomical decisions. It’s a lot to handle, and all of it needs to be carefully considered and made simple to do and understand. We want our software to be easy and convenient to use — and that’s quite a challenge when the domain is so complex and interconnected.

eAgronom is working on major projects like Carbon and Scope 3 programs. How does the tech team contribute to making a company's vision real?

Well, the product and engineering teams work together to build the tools. We need to understand what needs to be built and why it matters. Then we analyze the proposed solutions, provide feedback or alternative ideas, and finally, execute on them.

AI is rapidly transforming many industries — how do you see it shaping the future of agriculture and eAgronom's tech stack?

We have used AI in the past and are continuing to expand its use. Ideally, we could use it to predict what farmers are doing, making data entry much easier — farmers would just need to confirm or correct the information if needed. It could also be a valuable tool for providing quality advice to a large number of farmers, which is difficult to scale with a limited team of agronomists.

You've seen eAgronom grow in people, features, and scale. What’s been the most exciting project or milestone from your perspective so far?

Over the past 6 years at eAgronom, I’ve been involved in a lot. The tasks have varied, and because of that, the experiences have been different as well. In recent years, one major milestone was getting the carbon program fields modelled. It took much longer than expected and turned out to be far more complicated and challenging, but we managed to get it done. I’m very proud of the team and everyone who contributed along the way. You need people working together to achieve great things.

Let’s talk about the dev team. How would you describe the culture on the tech side of eAgronom? Chaotic geniuses or structured Zen monks?

We have a very open culture. People are friendly and helpful, and we stick together to help the company tackle technical challenges. We have weekly dev meetups to share our learnings and ideas on how to improve the way we work. There’s also some chaos — we’re building the parachute while falling.

How do you stay up to date and inspired in such a fast-moving field like tech?

I try to read articles, newsletters, and sites like daily.dev. I also watch YouTube videos about new technologies. It’s helpful to connect with developers from other companies as well, to hear how similar problems are solved differently across teams.

Is there a moment when you felt especially proud of the tech team — maybe a tight deadline, a clever solution, or a feature that just clicked?

We’ve achieved a lot with the small development team we have at eAgronom. There have been many interesting and clever solutions to technical challenges, including tight-deadline situations. I’m happy and proud to work with my team — we stick together and help each other solve problems every day.

You've been at eAgronom for quite a while — what's your favorite memory from your time here?

There isn’t one favorite memory — there are many, and they’re all connected to the people and teams we’ve had. You meet a lot of great people in startups, and it’s a lot of fun doing things together. We used to have company trips, and I think those were cool experiences. For example, we visited Odessa in 2018 and stayed there for a week. The engineering team had a hackathon, and in the evenings, we’d go out and party. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it. That’s just one example, though.

What’s something non-technical that helps you be a better CTO? 

Communication is very important, and I think it’s needed in every role. The better we communicate, share ideas, and surface problems, the easier it is to take action and make an impact. If you can’t explain why something matters and needs to be solved, it likely won’t get the attention or resolution it deserves.

Any fun facts your colleagues might not know about you? Secret hobbies, hidden talents, or past lives you'd want to reveal?

I have a hobby, though unfortunately it's not a secret, but my colleagues haven’t seen me perform, so in that sense, it’s still unrevealed. I’m a drummer and play in a band called “Bloodfeather”. I’ve been playing drums for over 15 years, and music has become a very big part of my life.

Looking ahead, what’s something you're excited about — whether it’s a feature, team goal, or personal project?

I’m very excited to see where we’re heading. There’s still so much to do and improve. We’re doing another round of soil modelling on the carbon program fields. We’ve discovered some technical aspects that are adding a lot of complexity, so we’ll be tackling those to ensure we can scale the program more easily with better data quality. In general, we’re putting more emphasis on data collection — how to build better tools, detect anomalies earlier, and improve data quality so we can work with it more effectively and develop even better tools in the future.

Finally, for someone hoping to become a CTO one day, what advice would you give them? Anything you wish someone had told you earlier?

To be honest, I didn’t set out to become a CTO — it just kind of happened. Along the way, you’ll gain a lot of different experiences. Be open-minded, try new things, learn new skills, and when opportunities come up to take on more ownership and responsibility — go for it. Push yourself to grow, and little by little, you’ll discover what you enjoy and what you don’t. Focus on doing more of what you enjoy, and if possible, reduce the rest. That’s more important than just aiming to be a CTO.