The Next Big Thing: Convergence of Technology Products and Risk Tools
On The Scoop podcast, Joel Wipperfurth the Director of Business Operations and Retail Execution at Winfield United, shares the biggest vulnerability in agriculture is stranded data. He says the big trend in technology is enabling data to work together and elevate insights. And he details one example as the Advanced Acre Prescription Program, which gives farmers a warranty on their data-based decisions and product performance.
He provides an analogy of having multiple single use tools which are then combined into one—for ex-ample a Palm Pilot, a pager, and a camera—which had all of their functionalities combined and im-proved with the arrival of the iPhone.
“What was what was so impressive about that is all of those technologies existed before, but it was the convergence of those technologies,” he says. And he says Winfield United is putting a keen eye on how technology applies to five fundamental decisions farmers make:
- the best seed and trait placement
- achieve strong stands--mitigate early season plant stress
- target spray applications and having clean fields
- optimize plant nutrition
- maximize plant health
“One of the things that farmers have asked a lot about is, ‘there's a lot of risk when making decisions on multiple inputs, can you help me make that complex decision?’ he says.”
As such, Winfield United is in its second year of piloting Advanced Acre and the Advanced Acre Prescription program, which offers a warranty on the performance of the prescription of products made by Winfield United.
“The convergence of technology products and risk tools into warranties is one of the technologies that we're tracking really closely,” he says.
Wipperfurth explains the program is powered by data, which he sees as an increasingly important tool for retailers to be aware of its full potential.
“With ag retailers, specifically, there is a lot of stranded data. There's stranded data that sits in different systems that customers want to see that upstream and downstream from basic manufacturers that lots of people want to see and can help us be more efficient. And I think that's one of the places that some of our best retailers are digging into the efficiency of their businesses,” he says.
You can hear more from Wipperfurth in The Scoop podcast:
