In agriculture retail, customer loyalty isn’t just important — it’s existential. The number of farmers in the U.S. is shrinking every year, which means ag retailers can’t rely on expansion to drive growth. You grow by holding on to what you have, gaining more insight as you strengthen every customer relationship.
At GROWERS, we don’t build technology in a vacuum. That’s why we host the GROWERS Strategic Advisory Group—a gathering of top ag retail executives from across the country who share a common goal: serving their customers better and staying ahead of what’s next.
We don’t run this as a product showcase. This is a working session. It’s where we pressure-test our strategy, take feedback, and get challenged — hard — on our assumptions, our model, and our execution. It’s also where we take time to focus on the big trends shaping the industry, and how to turn them into practical advantages for our retail partners.
What makes these meetings different is the level of candor and collaboration. Retailers aren’t holding back. They ask tough questions. They push us to explain the “why” behind our decisions and challenge us to deliver tools that actually move the needle — not just check a box. Some of our biggest product breakthroughs have come directly from feedback in these rooms.
This year, one theme stood out above the rest: customer churn.
The retailers in the room know the math. On average, retailers lose 7.2% of their revenue and 11% of their customer base each year. That’s not just a missed opportunity — it’s a leak in the bucket. And in a world with fewer farmers, that kind of leakage gets harder and more expensive to fix with every passing season.
Losing a farmer in this market is not like losing a line item on a spreadsheet. It often means losing years of trust, product knowledge, and relationship equity — all of which are nearly impossible to rebuild once gone. In many cases, the farmer doesn’t just stop buying one product; they move their entire business to another retailer.
We’ve analyzed millions of farmer transactions and buying behaviors across segments, products, and geographies. What we found was both troubling and hopeful. Farmers give off signals as they begin to leave. There are patterns. Behavior changes. Subtle shifts that, if noticed early, can be addressed.
Executives from ag retail businesses that have built loyalty programs with GROWERS talk about the data analysis process that GROWERS performs to define the structure, tiers, and incentives based on customer purchasing behaviors.
And here’s the most critical stat we uncovered: 72% of farmers who churn from a product, service, or a retailer never come back.
That’s why we’ve doubled down on solving churn — not with theory, but with data and action.
At GROWERS, we’ve built the most advanced churn prediction model in ag retail. Our AI model can now forecast customer churn 90 days before it happens, with 88% accuracy. We’ve identified 38 behavioral signals that farmers exhibit before they leave — and more importantly, we’ve turned those insights into specific, retailer-branded loyalty strategies to stop churn before it starts.
But prediction alone isn’t enough — it has to lead to action. That’s why we don’t just tell retailers which customers are likely to churn. We tell them why. We show which products, services, or segments are falling off. We give them ready-to-use strategies that can be deployed by their sales teams immediately — whether it’s targeted offers, proactive outreach, or segment-specific rewards that re-engage the customer. It’s insight tied directly to execution.
Here’s the big takeaway we shared during this year’s session: churn is predictable, which means it’s preventable.
And if it’s preventable, it’s manageable.
We’re now equipping retailers with the insights and tools to stop revenue loss before it happens — helping them turn loyalty programs into retention engines that protect their business, improve margins, and deepen their customer relationships.
The Strategic Advisory Group isn’t just a once-a-year touchpoint. It’s part of our process. A core principle of how we operate: we listen to our customers, we build with them, and we never lose sight of what matters most — helping retailers grow their business by keeping the farmers they’ve earned and giving them more reasons to stay.
As loyalty becomes a key growth lever in ag retail, we’re not just reacting to the trend — we’re helping shape it. One retailer at a time, one decision at a time, we’re proving that smarter loyalty isn’t just possible — it’s essential.
Ready to dig into your data and build a loyalty program that predicts and prevents customer churn in your ag retail business? Get in contact – www.growers.ag/prevent-churn
GROWERS Strategic Advisory Group (GSAG) was created to leverage ag retail leader’s deep industry expertise to navigate the unique challenges of the agriculture sector. Their insights are invaluable in guiding GROWERS’ strategic business objectives and ensuring we stay laser-focused on solving the most critical and pressing issues in agriculture.
