Wind of Change: Buying Inputs Online

Am I quoting a power rock ballad by Scorpions? Yes, and I’ll expand beyond just the song title with these lyrics: “The future’s in the air/ Can feel it everywhere/ Blowing with the wind of change.” 

This is referring to the digitization of the ag retail business—specifically, farmers using tools online to procure more of the needed inputs for their farms. Find the full report from the Farm Journal Crop Input Purchase Behavior Study here, and you’ll see the five years of data our team has collected to demonstrate the drumbeat of growth. 

With last year’s report, I used the word “flatline” in the headline at TheDailyScoop.com and got some feedback. It was referencing that the share of farmers who purchased any crop inputs online went from 15% in 2020 to 14% in 2021. And the percent who said they’d purchase online in 2022 was lower. 

If we snap back to a year ago, then the clouds of the COVID-19 pandemic were still lifting. Looking at the responses then, farmers seemed to be expressing an urge to get “back to normal.” 

But success has fueled growth. Now, we are bumping against one in five farmers buying some inputs online. This is looking like the new normal. 

Ag retailers have found best practices in using their online tools to enter orders—only digitally—to avoid costly errors. As one ag retailer told me, one fertilizer order that sat on a desk cost the business $200,000 to honor the quoted price by the time the order was entered. Now, that sales team has a workflow mandating all orders be put in digitally. 
Five years ago, e-commerce was seen as a disrupter, but dozens of ag retail businesses have since invested in grower portals and online ordering. At the same time, farmers are ready and willing to do business in new ways.