Farmer-Facing Rebates: Threads In The Sweater
The process of selling crop protection products is layered. And in our cover story, the editorial team chose to take a deeper dive in one of those layers: farmer-facing programs. Most suppliers make changes to these marketing programs once a year, but the past few years have ushered in a new era. The accompanying table provides a look at the landscape of leading row crop programs in crop protection.
Can’t Pull On Just One Thread
What do we call this group of initiatives? Each supplier has a unique approach to incentivize its products and best place its agronomic tools in the marketplace. They aren’t all rebates, but they are adjacent in the discussion about rebates. The one common thread—suppliers say they still rely on and appreciate ag retailers as the local trusted adviser.
As you look at what makes each program unique, you pick up on the trend that more changes are coming. You can see how financing, early order, product pairing and more are being woven tighter together with product performance, data and weather.
Beyond Product Volume
Is the future more and more rebates? There are already players indicating the future will be some kind of departure from traditional multiproduct- or volume-centered programs. One clear takeaway—the future will involve more data-driven decisions.
Bob Reiter, head of R&D, crop science division at Bayer, says the company wants its business to evolve from volume-based to outcome-based. For three years, the company has piloted programs looking at outcome-based business models. Reiter expects a significant expansion of offerings to growers in the latter part of this decade.
