A Profitable Tool With a Side of Sustainability

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Yara’s Adapt-N software is a field-proven innovation for measuring nitrogen uptake in corn.

By Douglas J. Guth

PrecisionAg Alliance Contributor

Precision agriculture is sustainable agriculture, particularly when harnessing the high-tech tools currently transforming that ideal into reality, says Yara International Digital Sales and Business Development Advisor Bret Shaw.

To that end, Yara is boldly guiding precision into the hotly competitive agtech sector. Via the multinational chemical company’s Adapt-N software, farmers now have a field-proven innovation that actively monitors nitrogen uptake in corn. Through its precise measurement capabilities, the solution recommends nitrogen use efficiency rates to ensure maximum return on investment.

cornfield

“Adapt-N is unique in the sense that it brings both profitability and sustainability into the marketplace through nitrogen-use efficiency,” says Shaw. “Yara is going through a digital transformation, which is bringing new and improved precision tools to the market.”

Developed at Cornell University, the technology was initially commercialized by agricultural field modeling company Agronomic Technology Corp (ATC). Yara acquired ATC in 2017 with an eye on new nitrogen management solutions for farmers, agricultural retailers and technology firms.

Adapt¬-N combines soil, weather and field specific data with meticulous crop modeling and field management. Yara, a Norwegian chemical producer dealing in fertilizers, animal nutrition and industrial biologicals, views the technology as a means for detailed fertilizer treatments that avoid environment-damaging nitrogen losses, such as those that occur from nitrogen leaching.

“We like to say Adapt-N was science-created, field-tested and grower-approved,” Shaw says. “This model is not a flash in the pan – it’s been around for a long time. This is a tool that has created its own baseline of nitrogen management. We’ve got hundreds of thousands of acres per season running through this system, and millions of acres over the span of its lifetime.”

The right technology for the right time

Though Yara caters to multiple markets and a varied grower portfolio, for now the company is offering its Adapt-N technology to North American-based corn producers only. Hyper-focusing on a niche market will help scale up the technology for use in additional crops and geographies, remarks Shaw. Although Adapt-N is focused on corn, other crops such as wheat are actively being explored and will someday be available for nitrogen modeling as well.

Adapt-N’s web-based system and integrations into popular farm management information systems gives operators complete control in how they configure individual fields. Growers simply plug in vital data like variable yield zones, while key details such as soil type, slope and weather are already factored in by the software.

Shaw says, “You can utilize previous nitrogen and manure applications, or enhance efficiency products. It goes through the whole gamut of anything that integrates into the nitrogen equation. The tool then feeds 13 different models that work together to create a nitrogen recommendation you can then take to your field. We say it’s a nitrogen recommendation ‘when you need it, where you need it.’”

Recommendations are created every 24 hours, meaning farmers can let the software run by itself over an entire season. Although Yara has a full suite of nitrogen containing products, Adapt-N does not tout any particular product to use for nitrogen. That decision is left to the producer.

Adapt-N instead provides a nutrient recommendation based on nitrogen deficit, giving farmers freedom on what product they will ultimately employ. Shaw says the company is a committed partner of the 4R nutrient stewardship program, promoting fertilizer use through the framework of “the right source, right rate, right time and right place.”

“Adapt-N is a profitable tool with a side of sustainability—that’s the way it’s always been put into the market,” says Shaw. “When you optimize the use of nitrogen, you’re reducing the amount of loss going into the watershed or into the air. As you get more precise with those four Rs, you’re ensuring that nitrogen is being utilized by the plant in the most efficient way possible.

“The opportunities are endless when it comes to any crop that uses nitrogen—we don’t see any change from that,” Shaw says. “The four Rs are scalable, meaning you can get more specific with the management practices of each one. Adapt-N allows us to manage nitrogen in season, or pre-season, based off the information actively happening given the field specific conditions.”

Shaw has been working to integrate with other farming software systems, bolstered by a technology poised to change the industry’s nitrogen management practices now and into the future.

“My goal is to make Adapt-N the traditional nitrogen management practice—to take those growers from where they are now and help them to understand their nitrogen better, ultimately increasing their profitability through that process.” Shaw says. “At the end of the day whenever they get a nitrogen recommendation, our goal is to have it coming from the Adapt-N model.”

Preparing for an Autonomous Future

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Agtegra harnesses Raven’s OMNiPOWER technology as driverless equipment becomes reality

By Doug Guth

PrecisionAg Alliance Contributor

Mainstream agriculture may conjure images of a farmer-piloted tractor trundling among the cornstalks as the first light of sunrise illuminates the plain. While hands-on farming remains part of the American fabric, the move to precision technology and automation continues to grow.

GPS-guided applications, automatic adjustable spray systems, and automated steering are among the new technologies the industry is learning to love. Full-service agricultural cooperative Agtegra recently embraced such bleeding-edge innovation through adoption of Raven’s OMNiPOWER system.

The cooperative is utilizing Raven’s driverless system for its own processes, along with a portion of its 6,300 member-growers in North and South Dakota. Using the innovation, Agtegra hopes to streamline operations through a high-tech platform that transforms existing equipment – whether a spreader, sprayer or spinner – into an autonomous machine.

“We’re hoping for more automation and technology that would allow us to not replace our workforce, but offset it and specialize it, and utilize that to expand our services,” says Kaleb Bowman, director of agronomy operations at Agtegra.

In the field, OMNiPOWER is interchangeable among multiple machines and controlled via tablet by an operator. The platform can also send driverless equipment on autonomous tasks, ideally servicing more acres and giving growers the option to automate processes through connected workflow.

“You can file-share without having to pass a jump drive back and forth between drivers,” says Bowman. “And you can visualize your acres rather than having paper copies that you have to find an FSA map for. Raven has the ability to visualize those work orders and filter them based on crop and product. It makes you more efficient in the office before it gets to the applicator, so our applicators can be efficient as possible going from field to field.”

Agtegra officials are excited to harness a system allowing our operators to command, supervise and monitor equipment anywhere in the field, or even from another machine. OMNiPOWER lets operators plan path alterations to satisfy changing field conditions, with short- and long-range sensors detecting obstacles that could damage equipment.

However, enthusiasm around new technology still requires buy¬-in on the grower side, notes Agtegra director of technology services Brent Wiesenburger.

“ We need to prove to our member owners that this technology is as accurate or more accurate than what we currently offer today,” Wiesenburger says. “That’s education that we as retailers will need to consider to help make autonomy widely adopted. The more our technology team can be involved in the implementation for our needs, the more we can assist our producers to help them with their needs as well”

Wide-ranging benefits

Agtegra implemented OMNiPOWER in early November, in the time since determining exactly how the platform can be a value-add to farmers. Although driverless technology may not be of immediate importance, growers must start preparing for an at least partially autonomous future.

Bowman says, “It’s going to be about working with another machine in the field. Currently, it’s a cabless design where you have to transport (the machine) via detached trailer, get it to another field, and then click on the runs you want it to make. It’s going to have to work in tandem with another piece of application equipment in the field. It will take a knowledgeable applicator to monitor and set that up.”

Growers can skill up current employees on the cutting-edge platform, saving on labor costs, says Wiesenburger. Agtegra itself is using Raven’s Slingshot application for nearly 200 pieces of equipment that tend about 3.5 million acres annually.

Industry-wide labor shortages – combined with expanding farm operations – has left growers little choice but to consider automation, says Ben Voss, Raven’s director of sales for North America and Australia.

“Everyone believes that without some automation and autonomy, we won’t be able to grow the crops at the levels we have been,” says Voss. “We’re running out of workers, and farms need to cover more acres and introduce people into the workforce who don’t have natural farming backgrounds.”

Paul Bruns, business development manager at Raven, says some operations start with lower levels of automation – like autosteering – before investing further in the technology.

“Where autonomy is really going to start is with those mundane jobs, like pulling a land roller across a field, or tasks where there’s little thinking involved,” says Bruns. “Those mundane tasks are going to get tackled first, because there’s not highly valuable agronomic decisions that need to be made.”

Wiesenburger doesn’t expect his customer base to adopt all aspects of OMNiPOWER immediately. Growers desiring a hands-on farming experience won’t have to give up their tractor or sprayer seat, as the technology is years away from being perfected. In the early-going, clients may simply have an applicator in the field, with a piece of equipment connected to another human-operated machine.

“Our customers will adapt to this technology the same way we are adapting to it, and will slowly incorporate autonomy into their fleets as well,” Wiesenburger says. “That producer who likes working the land is still going to play a major role in the execution of farming activities for quite a few years. It’ll be a ways down the road before this farming system is 100% autonomous.”

Agtegra agronomy director Bowman admits some reluctance upon first learning about OMNiPOWER, a viewpoint that rapidly changed when understanding the innovation’s wide-ranging benefits.

“There’s less skepticism working with Raven, because they won’t put forward a product that hasn’t been thought through,” says Bowman. “We then went into the mindset of how are we going to utilize this technology? What are the benefits it will provide, not only to us as a company, but to our producer base as well?”

As autonomous agriculture continues to be fine-tuned, growers and retailers alike must make room in their operational domain for this technology, says Voss of Raven.

“I’m working here because I believe it’s going to change agriculture,” Voss says. “We’re facing an apex in the industry which we’ve never faced before. The only way that we’re going to maintain productivity is through advancements in automation.”

About the PrecisionAg Alliance

PrecisionAg® Alliance, administered by Meister Media Worldwide in cooperation with its Alliance Partners – topflight agricultural organizations committed to advancing modern crop production agriculture through wider use of technologies and data-driven solutions. At its core, the PrecisionAg Alliance’s mission is to help move the needle to more widespread use of digital technologies though the agricultural distribution and food chain.

A ‘Smart’ System for Future-Forward Farmers

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NEVONEX links machinery and workflows through new digital services to increase yields, save time and reduce costs.

By Doug Guth

PrecisionAg Alliance Contributor

When NEVONEX founder Micha Muenzenmay talks to growers about utilizing technology to help run their enterprises, he often hears the same story. While farmers are open to high-tech investment, the wealth of individual options makes choosing a system somewhat intimidating.

“It’s a little like a smartphone – there are so many coming out, and if you wait for a little longer, then a better one comes out,” says Muenzenmay, who developed the NEVONEX digital ecosystem under the umbrella of Germany-headquartered engineering and technology firm Bosch. “The question is, is there a multi-functional ‘Swiss Army knife’ in which I can decide on what tools I put in? From the grower side, you say ‘All right, I should invest my money in a tool, so what digital services are on the platform?”’

NEVONEX powered by Bosch styles itself as a joint partner solution for “smart” digital agriculture. As an independent, manufacturer-agnostic platform, the system links machinery and workflows through software applications to increase yields, save time and reduce costs.

Farmers select individual packages of digital services, while resource or service suppliers along the retail chain add their own functions and tools to the online infrastructure, allowing end users to more easily automate complicated machinery and work processes.

“Retailers know their growers’ pains and they know their market,” says Muenzenmay. “I encourage retailers to align with ecosystems, and on these ecosystems produce content that makes a difference to the growers.”

A collaborative technology

Once a NEVONEX-enabled control unit is installed, the Digital Service can run directly on connected manufacturer’s agricultural machines. Integrating the unit into electronic architecture facilitates automation and thorough documentation of work processes.

Muenzenmay says, “Once the function is there, the back end is connected. Everything is about collaboration, because we learned that many of our partners require help in marketing and making a business model based on digital services. Usually, they come out of the traditional industry of seeds, fertilizer, crop protection, or machines, and now they’re in the digital space of services. In this space, the value proposition needs to be worked out for the grower, because the grower wants to know what’s in it for them and why they should use it.”

Muenzenmay again compares this dilemma to smartphone functionality, where browsing through applications leads to questions about what actual benefits they deliver. In the agtech space, growers need similar convincing on the value proposition of digital adoption.

Luckily, NEVONEX partners have come on board to ease the technological transition for farmers and suppliers alike. These important players provide a suite of online offerings, from machinery interfaces to compatible sensors to NEVONEX-enabled control units and installation services. For example, AGCO joined the partner network earlier this year as a continuation of their objectives to make data management easier for farmers, ultimately unlocking more value for their operations. NEVONEX enables AGCO’s client growers to deploy the technology’s enhanced functions on AGCO farm equipment.

Taking data from machine-fitted sensors gives growers the ability to adjust, for instance, their seed and fertilizer distribution. Farmers can also run several machine-based digital services simultaneously – thanks to automatic data transfer, users no longer need flash drives to store information. When the system is utilized offline, data can be updated in the farmyard via Wi-Fi.

“When you invest in an open ecosystem like NEVONEX, you are future-proofing your organization,” says Maximilian Treiber, NEVONEX research lead from the Technical University of Munich. “It doesn’t matter what kind of machinery fleet you have, the technology with its architecture and functionality has already taken care of you, because you’ll be able to use all the digital services that come to this platform in the future.”

Nor do adopters need to worry about security, as meticulous safety standards protect data from unauthorized access. What’s more, agricultural businesses can develop a “smart” equipment fleet that benefits from the smooth interaction between connected devices.

An increasingly tech-reliant industry will require the type of inventive freedom NEVONEX provides – what Muenzenmay calls a “democratization” for growers.

“The farmer has the ability to make a free choice in the stuff that he consumes,” Muenzenmay says. “Again, like in smartphones, whether you use WhatsApp or WeChat or whatever, it’s just a tap away from you as a user. It’s you that makes the decision, and you can change from one service to another. This is what we believe is the value of NEVONEX as an enabler technology.”

The Rise of Real-Time Data

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New precision technologies, techniques, and tools are shifting farmers’ agronomic expectations from year-over-year improvement toward an in-season, just-in-time approach.

By Karli Petrovic

For the majority of the agriculture industry’s storied history, farmers have focused on slow, methodical adjustments that improve marketable yield from one season to the next. This approach is rapidly becoming obsolete. With the adoption of sensors, weather stations, satellite imagery, drones, and other precision tools, today’s producers expect to be able to make decisive improvements in real time.

Erich Eller, a long-time industry veteran and the owner of independent crop consulting business ForeFront Ag Solutions, has experienced the shift to a just-in-time agronomic approach firsthand. It’s his job to help customers use the latest technologies to improve production and the bottom line.

“I started working in ag retail when ‘precision ag’ was just called ‘GPS,’” Eller says. “Nobody knew what it was back then. Now, there are multiple platforms that we can use to move data through cell signals and pretty much have instant information.”

The Transition to In-Season Gratification

A lot of what ForeFront Ag focuses on is making fertility recommendations based on what Eller calls “soil personalities.” The process begins with mapping the topography of the customer’s field and layering it with yield data to create production zones. The company then takes soil samples from the production zones and using nitrogen models, sets goals for different areas. Ultimately, everything from scouting to weather monitoring comes back to maximizing a production zone’s potential.

“We started calling them soil personalities because if you’ve ever taken a Myers-Briggs test, you know that everybody’s personality comes out just a little bit different,” Eller says. “Well, it’s the same with soil. We’re basically finding the strengths and the weaknesses of the soil, and figuring out how to manage the weaknesses while pushing the strengths.”

ForeFront Ag has been doing this work for the past seven years, but things are certainly moving a little faster than they used to. The company uses soil moisture probes, a network of weather stations, and smart insect traps to foster a just-in-time approach. These tools empower faster, more precise decisions because these days, no one has the patience for year-over-year improvements. Times have changed.

“Growing up, my generation would sit down with a big atlas book and plan out a road trip,” Eller says. “Now, you just say, ‘hey Siri, how do I get there?’ It’s that whole thing of instant gratification, and I think that’s moved into the agricultural space, too. We all want that instant gratification, and by doing some in-season management, we can save money, improve our ROI, and use things like satellite imagery to pull together the essential information that will give us that real-time gratification.”

In the fall, for example, Eller can access nearly instantaneous information from the combine as it’s being used. The information comes directly to his laptop, enabling him to start prescribing fertility recommendations right away. He can accomplish something similar at the beginning of the season during corn and soybean planting.

“If the weather has changed, we can actually reduce some of our prescriptions and send that information up to the cloud, so that a tractor sitting in the field can grab it within minutes,” Eller says. “If I have to take a thumb drive out of the tractor, I’m not even in the office. Now, I have to drive from the field where I’m working to the office. You don’t have that kind of time during the season. When we’re talking hours of downtime, we’re also talking about thousands of dollars.”

The Future of Just-in-Time Agriculture

As the industry continues to invest in the tools and technologies that deliver real-time information, everyone will reap the benefits of being able to make effective real-time decisions. This, however, requires a great deal of understanding. A failure to analyze and use the data will render it meaningless.

“One of the key components of a just-in-time approach is understanding what the sensors and smart devices in the field are telling us, so we can document what’s happening and ensure we’re making the right decision about how to address what we’re seeing,” Eller says. “In the spots where the plant health is declining, for instance, we need to be able to put eyes on that area. We need to be able to make precise applications and do whatever we need to in order to increase crop health.”

Things are already moving fast, but there’s a lot more potential coming down the pike. Increased adoption of the current technologies will lead to smarter, faster machines. Eller says patience will be key.

“Last year, we started working with drones that are using artificial intelligence to find crop disease and identify nutrient deficiencies; I was really impressed with what we were able to do,” he says, noting that he’s also particularly excited about how this information can be used with autonomous sprayers and tillage equipment.

“I’m already looking ahead and starting to work toward those goals today,” Eller says. “Patience isn’t my big thing, but I’m trying to do it patiently because those things will be coming out in the near future.”

Sustainability Goals are Powered by Valid Field Data

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Armed with the right tools and information, growers have the confidence to change their operations for the better.

Those who work in agriculture understand an essential fact: Farming is a delicate mix of art and science. There are the complex application schedules that ensure optimum plant nutrition and the precise calculations that inform irrigation timings. But there are also the tricks of the trade, the family secrets, the practices that positively impact crops in the absence of rhyme or reason.

Since the first fields were sown using horse-drawn plows and hand hoes, growers have used this combination of institutional knowledge and crop whispering to support their families and sustain the increasing population. This has created a certain comfort level among producers. If the system isn’t broken, most farmers aren’t keen to try to fix it. As the industry moves toward changes that center sustainability, however, maintaining this mindset can be a costly mistake.

“In agriculture, the status quo is so comfortable,” says Jim Hedges, vice president of seed marketing at WinField United and a farmer himself. “I honestly believe that the seven most expensive words in farming are ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it.’”

The solution lies in effective data collection. Growers know the ins and outs of their fields, but having access to detailed information about crop yield, growth models, plant nutrient levels, and more is essential for making the right decision at the right time.

“If you have the right type of field data and the right type of digital tools,” Hedges says, “it gives you the confidence to change the way you’ve always done it into a different way—one that not only drives productivity and drives efficiency, but that also makes a lot of sense.”

Getting Started with Valid Field Data

With the abundance of data collection, storage, and analysis tools on the market today, it’s understandable that growers starting out with data management may feel overwhelmed by the options. Hedges suggests starting small.

“The first thing I would do is go find a grower who is doing this successfully and ask them what they find valuable and beneficial,” he says. “Most growers have a couple of folks they work with that they would consider to be trusted advisors. That’s where I would begin.”

Hedges also cautions growers against going “full bore” right away. It can be tempting to dive in and do everything at once, but a slow, gradual approach is best for implementing data collection strategies with staying power. Hedges often sees growers use variable-rate fertilizer applications as a starting point because the science and reasoning behind this process makes sense.

“Then, you can go from there,” he says. “It might be variable-rate seeding. Then, you start to get into in-season type projects where you use satellite imagery or field forecasting tools. Start out with the basics that have the biggest impact and go from there.”

From there, Hedges says, a trusted advisor can take the data, analyze it, and transform it into decisions that are specific to a grower’s unique operation and production methodologies. This is the sweet spot—collecting and understanding data that empowers informed decision making.

“Some of the most expensive decisions I’ve made over the years have been the ones I did or didn’t make because I either didn’t have the data or I didn’t have the confidence to make the decision,” Hedges says. “I honestly believe that data without action is irrelevant. Making decisions based on the data is critical. Otherwise, it’s just noise.”

Using Data to Achieve Sustainability Goals

From soil types and fertility to pest management, generations of farmers have grown used to making decisions based on the average. This often means that crop inputs are applied evenly across a field, even if some areas would benefit from higher or lower concentrations. With valid field data, Hedges explains, growers are able to make more predictable, probable decisions that lead to improved outcomes.

“If I ensure that the decisions I make as a farmer are having that predictable, probable impact, it’s going to effect my ROI,” he says, adding that it’s imperative that growers understand the data that’s available to them, whether from universities, private sources such as the WinField United Answer Plot® program, or their own fields. “When I understand the data, all of a sudden, I can make those predictable probable decisions while also optimizing yield—getting the most bushels per acre possible with the most efficient use of inputs.”

Optimizing yield is particularly important for sustainability because in a carbon market like the one that exists today, growers can produce additional yield and more biomass. The additional biomass can go back into the soil. When growers are more profitable per acre due to optimized production, there’s also the potential for them to be growing and reducing carbon at the same time.

“Now, growers potentially have a new revenue stream along with the probability they’re gaining from the crop,” Hedges says. “That all has environmental impact from a sustainability perspective.”

There are other benefits, too. Using nitrogen as an example, growers that can effectively lower the amount of nitrogen it takes to produce a bushel of corn while maximizing yield have a positive impact on the environment. Hedges has experienced this firsthand on his farm. The university standards for average nitrogen applied is 1.1-1.2 pounds per bushel. On Hedges’ farm, he’s been able to reduce that to .65-.8 pounds per bushel. Basically using the same amount of N, just driving more bushels of production with timing and placement.

“We’re driving higher yields with lower nitrogen NUE’s, and what that equates to from an environmental standpoint is time,” he says. “I’m releasing less nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, and nitrous oxide is 288 times more harmful from a greenhouse-gas standpoint than carbon dioxide. I’m also leaching less nitrogen into the groundwater.”

Making Sustainable Changes

Hedges has been experimenting with using valid field data to make informed decisions for many years, but growers who are less experienced at working with data have an abundance of helpful tools at their disposal. The Truterra™ Insights Engine, for example, is a user-friendly interactive platform that makes the work of advancing a farm’s sustainability goals a whole lot easier. Created by a farmer-owned collective, the platform helps growers make decisions that will have the greatest impact.

This is one tool among many that already exist within the ag industry. There are even more in the pipeline. All the tools in the world, however, won’t make a bit of difference if growers resist change.

“We try to change one to two things on our farm every single year, and it’s not all just technology and digital. I remember the year that we switched to strip till,” Hedges says, laughing. He’d sworn never to strip till. The farm implemented the practice four years later.

“I think that that embracing change and trying to change something every year is pretty critical,” Hedges says. “And once you see success with any of these steps, it is a catalyst to doing more.”

 

Ryan Risdal: Precision Ag Helps Retailers Maximize their Impact

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Leader in Precision

The latest generation of digital farming tools provide value, drive revenue, foster connection, and help users maintain their competitive edge.

Over the course of his 20-plus years in the agriculture industry, Ryan Risdal has seen a lot of change. Many of the technological transformations have been for the better. User-friendly tools have eliminated the need for intense, rigorous trainings. Similarly, mass adoption of certain technologies, such as smartphones and tablets, have made it easier for everyone to benefit from them.

“Most times, precision ag today is done automatically and more seamlessly than it used to be,” says Risdal, ‎Vice President, Product and Strategy, Ag Solutions at Proagrica. “It’s amazing to me some of the throughput that we can do today versus what we could do in the past.”

How Retailers Approach Precision Ag

While precision technologies are used across the ag supply chain, each organization has different priorities and needs. Proagrica’s focus on ag retailers has allowed for detailed insights on what these organizations need most from their precision solutions. According to Risdal, there are three primary things retailers consider with respect to ag tech and how they plan to adopt it.

  1. Collaboration

“The first one concerns a generational shift, as there is still a tremendous amount of Baby Boomers in the in the workforce right now, and most of them are eligible to retire and will do very soon,” he says. “This is a big deal. The knowledge and experience of those individuals is really amazing, and with those relationships on the brink of retirement, retailers need to find solutions that can be maintained and used by the young people who need to absorb the institutional knowledge of the older generation to stay relevant with the customers they serve.”

Collaborative tools increase engagement between businesses and their customers, as well as foster connections with new parties. Both aspects are important for maintaining these relationships. It also helps retailers to be more agile in meeting their customers’ needs.

  1. Operational Efficiencies

The second concern is with respect to something all ag professionals fight against: time. With today’s ag retailers operating within a hyper-competitive marketplace where margins are tight, Risdal believes that those who can find ways to maximize operational efficiency will come out ahead.

“Given shrinking margins and hyper-competitiveness and team on the brink of retirement, what tools and resources do you use to multiply your current and new staff’s time?” he says. “They’re going to have to do twice the amount of work with the same number of hours in the work week. At Proagrica, we focus on ways to help the retail organization scale up the work done without burning out employees. Time is a precious resource, so if our tools and resources aren’t scaling a person’s ability to do the work, create efficiencies or influence their customers or add value to their customers, then it’s not going to be a fit.”

  1. Business Visibility

In addition to increasing collaboration and maximizing operational efficiencies, ag retailers also remain focused on leveraging their business visibility. Risdal says the tools and solutions retailers implement must be able to multiply their influence in the marketplace and drive local revenue. He met with a farmer recently who exemplified the need for retailers to understand nuance around how to effectively help their customers further the objectives that are most important to them.

“He told me that he has eight apps on his phone and uses all of them to enter data at the beginning of the season, but at the end of the season, he would only use the finance one because he wants to know how to sell his crop and make money,” Risdal says. “From a true value perspective, the products we deliver have to be seamless and integrated. Otherwise, we are providing something really shiny and exciting when the seeds go in the ground, but that loses relevance and creates more work at harvest. Those are the products that won’t get used.”

Using Data to Provide Value

One of the best ways retailers can provide value to their customers is to pay attention to data stewardship. It begs the question, “Who owns and is accountable for the data users create?” In order for retailers to best assist their customers, those customers need to feel safe sharing their data with outside parties. At Progagrica, the question of ownership and accountability has led to a long history of developing data ethics.

“Data integrity, data standardization, and data quality—all those things are extremely important if you’re going to be an organization that provides value in the industry,” Risdal says. “By connecting multiple platforms and making the experience as seamless as possible and being flexible to meet the customer where they’re at, we can ensure our products are relevant and help our customers meet the complexities and challenges they face every day.”