FoA 269: [Tech-Enabled Advisor Series] Cooperatives Embrace Digital Tools with KC Graner of Central Farm Service

Future of Agriculture

This episode is brought to you by AgVend (www.AgVend.com)

Today’s installment of our Tech-Enabled Advisor series is really an insightful look at how a farmer-owned cooperative is leaning into the digital changes that are happening in our industry to remain relevant and provide value to their farmer shareholders. KC Graner is the senior vice president of agronomy at Central Farm Service, a co-op in southern Minnesota. As an advocate of the cooperative system, KC has spent his career embedded in member-owned organizations. Prior to taking on his role at Central Farm Service, KC worked at WinField United, serving over two dozen different retail cooperatives across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

For today’s episode, we are partnering with AgVend. You may remember AgVend from Episode 125 back in 2018 with CEO Alexander Reichert. AgVend is the leading provider of digital tools to serve the producer of tomorrow. Their suite of products is designed to strengthen the relationship between manufacturers, retailers, and growers by providing the agricultural distribution channel with white-labeled information, engagement, and commerce portals. They make it easier to do business with ag retailers, help them unlock profitability for their growers, and make more time for high-value touchpoints.

“What we've seen is the outperformance of growers who do leverage data and do look to it first in making their decisions. Those are the ones that are outperforming the rest…. Those are the growers that are picking up acres more rapidly.” - KC Graner

KC shares what offering an AgVend portal has done for Central Farm Service’s business. Central Farm Service has grown their locally-powered precision agriculture platform, which is called Central Advantage, to a 300,000 acre footprint that cooperates with two neighboring retailers. He sees their operation as a “B.S. meter” for the farmer and a way to trial and troubleshoot new technology to present the best options to producers.

“When I look at the adoption rate for use in our portal, there's a high correlation to those that are selling the most revenue and the most margin for the cooperative and using the portal. It's because they already naturally are the types of people that find ways to save time so they can do more.” - KC Graner

This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast:

• Meet KC Graner, the vice president of agronomy at Central Farm Service, a coop in southern Minnesota
• Explore the use of data by the coop and how it has impacted their business
• Discover the advantages and benefits of the AgVend platform he uses to support his producers

Thanks to AgVend for sponsoring this episode. Make sure you go learn more about them at www.AgVend.com

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