Aiming to help farmers increase output to meet future population projections and make money doing it, Growers Edge Financial launched a series of new fintech products.
Based on the Growers Analytic Prediction System, the Johnston, Iowa-based financial technology company rolled out digital products for growers, agribusiness distribution partners, and institutions. The idea is to speed up the adoption of agtech and at the same time mitigate the risks to the industry.
As it stands, Growers Edge Financial, formerly named Crop Pro Insurance, said farmers need to increase their output by 70 percent if they want to have enough food for the population in 2050. Doing that has been out of the reach of many farmers because of depressed pricing and a trade war with China. According to Growers Edge Financial half of farm households are losing money from their farming businesses every year. It's an industry that has long been skeptical of new technology, relying on historical data when trying to assess risk. Growers Edge wants to demystify farm profitability with its new products, enabling farmers and growers to create what-if models so they can assess risk in real-time.
“Adopting a new technology exposes the farm to financial and operational risk,” said Joe Young, president and COO of Growers Edge when announcing the new fintech products. “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.”
Growers Edge Financial is among the fintech companies going after the agriculture market, which is in need of some innovation. Last year AgTech startups raised nearly $17 billion across 1,450 deals. They are bringing different solutions to the market to help farmers increase output, predict pricing, and streamline operations. Despite the investments, many farmers and growers are reluctant to make the leap. They are notorious for being slow to adopt new technology, even if it has the potential to increase profits. Growers Edge is betting its platform will change that.
Growers Edge’s proprietary data platform analyzes the data from local growers and combines it with information from agtech vendors, lenders, and insurance partners to provide actionable ways for farmers to price their crops, grow and predict upcoming business needs. Armed with that information the fintech company said it can help growers and farmers get access to new technology and products, intuitive comparison pricing tools, and farm-specific agronomic prescriptions. Agribusiness and agtech companies get access to private labeled products, predictive analytics and an AgTech Validation Index that includes efficacy ratings. The company said distributors can better take on rivals with new software tools while financial services companies can gauge risk with its analytics platform and grower risk scoring system that provides a predictive benchmark of farmer behavior.
“Historically, innovation has taken over a decade to deploy on the farm; we need to break down the adoption barriers so farmers can readily embrace ag innovations,” added Sanjeev Krishnan, CIO, and managing director, Seed2Growth (S2G) Ventures said in Growers Edge’s press release. “Growers Edge delivers the bottom-line protection and income assurance farmers need to take the leap.”
