Five agtech stumbles to avoid when approaching farmers

The only thing evolving as rapidly as the pace and platforms for communications targeting farmers is the pace and platforms supporting new agtech applications. The agtech environment is exciting and demanding.

The promise is everywhere. Last year we helped a client evaluate the potential value of, and promote acceptance of, promising new agtech approaches – everything from blockchain to labor to microgenomes to AI. We heard multiple presentations from agtech innovators about how their idea would change the face of agriculture. A common unmet need? Access to farmers. All they needed to help accelerate the acceptance of their agtech was access.

Why was access to farmers such a challenge? Much of it was the approach agtech start-ups were taking with farmers. The entrepreneurs have often already sold their vision into incubators and VCs by outlining a concept that, by the model, should generate value. Now they just need the farmers to validate their model.

Farmers we worked with said, unfortunately, some agtech companies that approached them were already convinced of the value of their platforms, and treated farmers as test beds/companies rather than ongoing business enterprises. Common missteps from the ag tech entrepreneurs when approaching farmers included:

1. Expecting farmers to be readily available, forgetting they’re business people with schedules.
2. Telling farmers what they’re doing is wrong.
3. No onboarding model to show how new agtech will fit into an existing farming operation.
4. No understanding of the current business environment by commodity of the farmers being approached.
5. No completed business case for the new technology, just a promise of making or saving dollars in raising or marketing crops.

The larger and more progressive farmers we talked with welcome agtech discussions if approached as equals in the exploration and adoption of the technology. Many agtech companies will benefit from a review of how they have been approaching the key farmers in the marketplace and how they’ve been presenting their value proposition.

MorganMyers can help. We understand how to position new technologies with farmers. We have been involved in some of the biggest agtech advances in the U.S. We helped introduce the first biotech soybean (weed control was nice but survey work showed what really motivated farmer adoption was the time savings); were early to the game of promoting consumer traits for fruits and vegetables; helped introduce Bt corn; and have introduced novel products and practices to the animal health industry.

It helps that we’re good with technical topics, able to translate complex subjects into easily digestible information for target audiences. It also helps that we have real farmers on staff. Contact us today if you’re looking to introduce or create share for agtech at the farmer level.

The pace of information is instantaneous and the pace of agtech advancement is accelerating. We’re  looking forward to seeing the benefits brought to agriculture in 2020.