March 21, 2019

The agricultural production system is under pressure to increase output by 70 percent by 2050 to meet the food demands from a growing population. Billions of dollars and monumental innovations have been expended to develop and commercialize agtech solutions, however, adoption among farmers has been slow due to the risks associated with integrating these new technologies into production systems.

To help mitigate these risks, Growers Edge now provides a solutions platform based on the Growers Analytic Prediction System (GAPS) that offers an extensive suite of solutions with the power to strengthen the entire agricultural production model.

“Growers Edge has created an unmatched network of technology, insurance and farm partners to help improve farmers’ appetite for novel digital ag technologies,” noted Arama Kukutai, co-founder and partner, Finistere Ventures. “Using fintech to accelerate farm adoption, Growers Edge will empower farmers to embrace a more profitable ag era, while helping technology players and farm insurers/lenders drive more value—all with less risk.”

Serving more than 50,000 U.S.-based farmers, Growers Edge’s proprietary, AI-driven platform combines data from growers, agtech vendors, lending, and insurance partners, and then analyzes grower-level soil, seed, weather, and financial data, together with agtech field-generated data, insurance data including yield history, field-level loss causation, and lending data including credit behavioral history.

“Adopting a new technology exposes the farm to financial and operational risk, but Growers Edge is changing that,” said Joe Young, president and COO of Growers Edge. “Our proprietary system brings together the most powerful and comprehensive array of data and allows us to design better solutions and tools for all ag ecosystem players to increase their profits in a time when market growth is increasingly difficult.”  

Through this advanced and comprehensive platform, analysis can go beyond typical farm-level information to predict “what if” scenarios that clarify farm profitability, and enable farmers to generate more value in the face of suppressed commodity prices. Growers Edge’s GAPS goes beyond surface analysis to drill down to insights into farmer behavior, and the effectiveness of agtech to generate accurate Grower Score and Agtech Indices, allowing farmers to leverage its custom Agronomic Prescription Products (APP).

“While disruptive banking technologies excite and scare central bankers and industry players alike, these innovations will integrate into the agricultural sector faster than many realize,” said Greg Mellinger, CEO, HighQuest Group.

By doing so, Growers Edge can help players along the entire ag supply chain:

• Farmers: get income assurance through guaranteed farming results, risk-free access to novel technology and products, an intuitive comparison-pricing tool, and farm-specific agronomic prescriptions.

• Agribusiness and agtech players: achieve market share growth and pricing integrity through private-labeled products, predictive analytics such as marquee grower identification, and a comprehensive AgTech Validation Index with efficacy ratings.

• Distribution channels: enhance their competitive advantage with software tools such as the Growers Edge Agency Advisor, Portfolio Analyzer, and Coverage Price Discovery.

• Financial services: get a deeper understanding of potential risk through the Growers Edge advanced ag analytics platform and grower risk scoring, which provides a predictive benchmark of farmer behavior.

-Lynda Kiernan