Farmers’ Trusted Partners And Their Roles

For farmers to successfully adopt technology, their trusted advisers must serve key functions in the crop production process. AGCO Corp.’s Darren Goebel provided some thoughts on the roles of trusted partners:

Retailers/Cooperatives. “As precision agriculture evolves, the ag retailer could become the major driving force in this segment. Because retailers have access to crop protection products, seed, fertilizer, and application equipment, they may be in the best place to provide start to finish service. In other words, to ‘just make it work.’”

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Consultants. “Their value proposition remains as an unbiased provider of information. I believe consultants can bring together equipment providers, agronomic insights, and the best seed and crop protection options for growers. Consultants may be able to specialize in precision agriculture by carving out an important niche in this space.”

Equipment dealers. “I believe the equipment companies and dealers that are most successful in the precision agriculture space will be the ones that can provide the best service. Uptime is extremely important to growers, especially with the pressure to have timely planting, fertilizing, and pest control. Dealers that have precision agriculture departments that proactively work with ag retailers, consultants, and growers will be held in high regard among farmers, leading to higher sales. It will likely be difficult for equipment dealers to provide the same quality of prescriptions and agronomic advice as ag retailers, consultants, and seed dealers without significant investment in people resources.”

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Seed dealers. “Seed dealers have more information about genetics than any of their cohorts, and they have the information much earlier in the hybrid’s or variety’s lifecycle than anyone else. As variable-rate, multi-hybrid, and multi-variety become the norm, the seed dealer will play a more and more important role in data-driven decision-making to ensure accurate placement by soil texture, drainage class, and productivity level.”

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