Growers walking into 2027 early-order meetings will be asking whether each input pays for itself. Joe Lopp says that is a healthy question, and a risky one for yield.
“Margins are under pressure from both sides,” says Lopp, vice president of sales at Grower’s Edge. “Commodity prices have softened, while many input costs, especially fertilizers, remain elevated.” Growers, he says, are “asking tougher questions before every purchase. Does this input truly generate a return? Can I afford the risk?”
Retailers and manufacturers are telling Lopp they’re concerned when a defensive grower cuts rates or delays purchases and gives up yield potential.
“Today’s environment isn’t just about expensive fertilizer, it’s also about confidence,” he says, “and when confidence disappears, investments usually follow.”
Put the risk somewhere other than the grower’s balance sheet
Grower’s Edge, a fintech company, sells two tools to retailers, manufacturers and lenders: performance warranties and input financing.
Lopp says, “If a farmer believes a product can improve profitability, the financial risk shouldn’t rest entirely on the farmer.”
A warranty can guarantee a yield improvement, a return on investment, or whole-field performance. Lopp says growers prefer the ROI version. The seller sets the terms. A sample from Lopp: guaranteeing a $20 ROI if the grower uses a fungicide-and-nutrition treatment. If there’s a shortfall, the warranty pays the difference.
But he draws a line where people miss: “This is not an insurance program, this is an assurance program.”
Input financing works differently. It gives growers “additional flexibility to manage cash flow while preserving working capital during periods of tight margins.”
A better trial than 40 acres
Lopp says the hardest sell for retailers hasn’t changed.
“Retailers have had a hard time getting farmers to try new products, we know that,” he says.
Growers usually agree to a small trial.
Grower’s Edge’s side-by-side program tries to change that. The example he gives is an alternating strip trial on three fields, four replicates per field, for 12 replicates of treated and untreated. That trial becomes the measurement. The grower then applies the products across all fields, which can include an insecticide, fungicide, herbicide or seed treatment, under a guarantee. Lopp’s example is a $25 ROI uplift.
Lopp says one of the company’s largest customers ran total-acre programs like this for the first time this year and that it “went really, really well.” He also says seed treatment programs are moving with independent retailers.
Lopp cites a case study of a top-five retailer using the program for more than five years. He says its enrolled acres doubled each year from 2022 to 2025, and that 78% of enrolled acres re-enroll annually.
Programs that fit an early-order conversation
- Cover crops. Lopp describes an APH-style warranty guaranteeing “no yield drag over the next 3 years.” Terms can run three or four years and sometimes five.
- Winter wheat. A program to reduce the risk of adopting a new product on fall crops.
- Products the grower already knows, or doesn’t. A warranty can cover a product the grower has used or one they’ve never tried, such as an emerging biological. “You can use it on any product,” Lopp says.
- Inventory. Lopp says warranties can help retailers move product left on shelves after an off year. The pitch to the grower is that prior years showed it works and this year was an anomaly. For example, he says,“We’re willing to guarantee that this will work in 2027. And if it doesn’t, you’re covered.” The retailer shares product data under an NDA and, Lopp says, the manufacturer doesn’t have to be involved. Grower’s Edge requires an expected uplift so it doesn’t underprice the program.
