The team at Growers Edge aims to de-risk a farmer from adopting new practices or new products. They have financial technology tools, offered commonly via ag retailers, which can be used to strengthen their relationships with customers and lead to faster adoption of those products and services.
Todd Robran, Chief Commercial Officer at Growers Edge says fintech, such as Growers Edge tools, can be used to help retailers interact with their farmer customers.
“We’ve seen how we can help farmers to adopt new products, new technology, new practices and be able to do that while removing some of the risk from farmers who are willing to step out and and try new things,” Robran says. “This is while equipping ag retailers to better deliver those new products, new services to their farmer customers. And it continues to strengthen the relationship that retailers have with those farmer customers.”
One example is the Crop Plan Warranty, which has been on the market for four years. Using this product, retailers can put a warranty on their recommendation of a set of practices or products.
“It’s like wrapping a warranty around those recommendations so a retailer can say they believe a farmer will be more successful if they plant this seed, use this seed treatment and apply this biological in such a fashion,” Robran says.
This warranty can help farmers consider a set of practices as well as adopt them on a higher number of acres.
“This de-risks the farmer from adopting some of those new products and new practices they might not otherwise be interested in,” he says. “We understand they may be risk adverse, and thereby may not jump in and try it on a significant number of acres. So we are trying to help equip retailers to drive faster adoption of new products and practices.”
Crop plan warranties are available for agronomic programs—looking to push yields higher—and for sustainability practices—such as reducing tillage, going to no-till, nitrogen reduction programs.
Robran says offering these fintech products relies on a respectable data set.
“We use data from multiple sources: private data from administrating these products for five years and public data such as crop insurance, geographical data, and more,” he says.
Another product Robran highlights as being a tool for ag retailers is the Growers Edge input financing product.
“Growers Edge offers input financing that is married up with the warranty,” he says. “So a farmer can use the warranty with an agronomic recommendation and then take advantage of input financing as well. We know what has happened to interest rates, so being able to offer competitive input financing white labeled by the retailer benefits their business.”
