To talk about how data creates a system of record for ag retailers, Bradford Warner, vice president of business development, sustainability at Farmobile joined us on The Scoop podcast. You can listen to the full episode below and here’s a recap of the Q&A.
How are you working to bring forward that data that really matters to ag retailers and their farmer customers?
You know it’s not a situation that maybe has received as much attention as it needed last couple years. And not to say that there aren’t really well intentioned efforts going on in terms of data interoperability, or better data standardization. But, you know, necessity is the mother of invention and I think some of the stuff that Farmobile has spent a lot of money investing in over the last couple of years is now being looked at in a totally new light. Not because of the data itself, but as it’s being used.
What are three ways you are seeing data being used?
Data does not have any value unless it’s providing insights.
- Specifically we know people want to manage fleet operations for ag retailers, and that’s a massive opportunity in itself.
- People can use sub acre resolution to manage their fields into a P&L system, particularly if they’re then using that data inside an FMS that there’s a lot of upside to that, even in the US, like the most technologically developed market in the world.
- And then thirdly, wow, now there’s a whole new conversation around what is a carbon asset, what is a water asset–what is it worth, what does it mean, how do you verify it? And guess what that all seems to be coming back into the system of record playbook that obviously, Farmobile teams have been working on for the past four or five years so it’s kind of exciting to see it come full circle.
What would you share about quality and completeness of data layers?
There’s always a three legged stool to make good information exist in the process and its technology, and all three of those have kind of been gaps within ag as you’d expect within any other industry. The good news is I think you see more minds, and we’ve had for example a really productive relationship with the Agricultural Retailers Association to say “Let’s make sure the right people are at the table.”
Talking about sustainable outcomes without retailers, which is what’s happened unfortunately more often than not, you got to fix it if the people level, and make sure people understand what their value is in the equation that their voice is being heard. From a process standpoint, there’s a lot we can unpack about why fundamentally data it’s usually been fractured and incomplete, and of course the technology itself seems to be the thing everyone focuses on in many industries. And in some ways that’s the most easiest to solve for because people are much harder to work with culturally than getting two machines to talk to each other at a fundamental level.
So why do we have this problem? we have massive OEMs who work in the space and have huge budgets. Why should that be a problem. Well, I don’t know about you but it’s pretty rare I’ve ever been on a farmstead or with an ag retailer, where all the machines were one color. It just doesn’t happen and it probably shouldn’t happen for good competitive reasons. So I think when you look at why data often fracture fundamentally, it’s coming off one type of a machine, and that’s not getting shared with the data that comes off another color machine, and it’s not enough that you get both. What’s important is that you get both. And then you’re able to stitch those together, and ensure the same level of data quality between the both so your apples to apples to apples, no matter where it came from, and not just by color but by type, a huge amount of variation that can come in based on speed and swath width, etc.
And you have to be able to look at the data in a very fundamental level to make sure you keep it a high level of integrity in it.
What does ag retail have to do with these emerging markets such as carbon and water quality and sustainability?
That’s the question of the hour or the year, or maybe the decade. When I started working in sustainable sourcing programs probably seven years ago, people weren’t even talking about the retailer.
Fundamentally the retailer should be part of every one of these conversations. Not only do they have the best relationships, most consistent ships with those growers, but by golly, they represent some of the biggest carbon and environmental impact to what goes on that field.
There’s a huge benefit to getting them in a conversation, as early as possible now going forward, because not only do you need that data, the farmer needs that data as part of the equation, but they represent a big opportunity to improve total yield productivity. And when I say that I don’t just mean trying to raise yields right that was a goal that I’ve seen many people chase in this industry. But what good is a higher yield if you lose more money doing it. So when I say total deal productivity I’m talking about the cost of all the inputs, versus the value you get out of it, and the output that you take off that field.
