By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

A Texas agricultural startup placed in the top 10 semi-finalists of the 2025 Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge.

The company’s autonomous feral hog trap helped the entrepreneurs place in the top 10 of the national contest.

Just-In Traps, founded by David Wessels and Justin Wells, is an autonomous feral hog trapping system created to safely and efficiently help farmers, ranchers and property owners manage feral hog populations.

“We have witnessed the invasion of the wild hogs on properties,” Wessels said. “We learned how to hunt and control them, but we needed something that could keep up with the hogs. We created the trap to help farmers safely trap the hog to help prevent destruction to land.”

Wessels noted the trap provides precise management of the invasive hogs in both rural and suburban environments.

Feral hogs cause $2.5 billion in damages the U.S. each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“The trap offers a unique feature of autonomous dropping. The app has a layer of object detection. You can set the number of pigs that you want to track, and the device will autonomously decide on its own whether it should set the trap or not,” Wells said. “It’s kind of a hands-off, Wi-Fi free, cell signal free device.”

As animals enter this confinement region, they are monitored by a camera, which identifies their species with over 99% accuracy, the entrepreneurs said. If the animal is a hog, the computer will set off the trap if set count is met, causing the elevated encasement to slide down the rails and confine the hogs.

If the animal is a non-swine species, the camera will  monitor activity but will not trigger the trap.

The Just-In trap can also be set to Monitor Only mode, in which the trap will never go off, allowing the farmer to study activity and adjust the trap to what fits their land best.

The software is solar powered and does not require Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity.

As one of the 10 semi-finalist teams in the Ag Innovation Challenge, Just-In Traps was awarded $10,000 in start-up funds.

“The future of agriculture will rely on innovative solutions to the challenges we face,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said. “The Ag Innovation Challenge helps entrepreneurs grow their ideas into products that support farmers and ranchers in their mission to provide the food, fuel and fiber we all rely on.”

The competition provides an opportunity for Farm Bureau members to showcase ideas and business innovations in agriculture. AFBF is offering $165,000 in start-up funds throughout the course of the competition.

More information about the contest is available at fb.org/challenge.