3 Digital Collaboration Trends That Are Changing the Way Ag Retailers Do Business
As a Senior Account Executive for Agworld, talking with growers as well as ag retailers about data collection, data sharing, digital collaboration, and information visualization is something I do every day, writes Ryan Humpert at CropLife. In the last 18 months, however, I have noticed some significant changes in both mindset and methodology among ag retailers and I’d like to share this as it’s an interesting topic for many in our industry, in my opinion. I should note when I refer to “data” this includes machinery data, agronomy data, but also all field-based jobs, records, and other expenses that contribute to field-level ROI.
The Role of Ag Retail Is Changing
For many years already, digital technology has been playing an increasingly important role in the relationship between ag retailers and their grower clients. From just performing agronomy tasks and selling inputs, ag retailers that want to stay ahead of the competition and/or industry disruptors now feel the need to focus more on being their growers’ trusted advisor in regard to data collection and utilization of it for decisions.
In recent research by The Sustainability Consortium, 71% of growers interviewed said that their ag advisor or consultant has never suggested increasing farm data collection or sharing. Furthermore, 62% of growers surveyed do not use any farm-level data software.
While not disputing these numbers, I do genuinely feel that ag retail’s mindset is changing and the majority do want to be that “trusted data advisor” for their growers and recognize the importance for their growers to collect and share more data through adopting a collaborative software solution that starts with the grower.
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Something I’m noticing is the difference in what ag retailers are looking for when aiming to adopt a software solution. Where historically ag retailers might have been looking to adopt software that would serve their organization and its back office function, such as accounting, agronomy, retail, stock, and other modules, the focus has now definitely shifted to adopting software that puts the connection with grower clients first.
Surprisingly, there are still ag retailers out there that don’t create full crop production plans for their growers’ season together with them on a collaborative digital platform. So, these growers have no visibility into their advisor’s expectations throughout the season and the advisor/ag retailer has no visibility into what is happening in each field throughout the season and how each recommendation affects profitability. Although this lack of sharing critical data is still happening in 2020, trends suggest that the industry is changing rapidly.
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