Digital tool boosts farmer buying power

She says as farmers and growers adapt to digital technology, the farmer-owned co-operative is also evolving to meet customer expectations.

Houghton made the comments at the launch of the co-op’s new online and app-based tool, FarmslandsPRO at the Fieldays last week.

“We’re acutely aware of the challenges the rural sector is facing and the need for us to be more responsive and available,” says Houghton.

“Farming is an increasingly digital and data-driven business and FarmlandsPRO supports this by giving customers better access to their rural supplies information.

“Everything we do is about increasing productivity and profitability for New Zealand farmers and growers. That means making use of the collective buying power of our customers and we’ve already completed a significant product and supply- chain transformation as part of that.”

FarmlandsPRO is a bespoke online and app-based tool that allows customers to place, track and manage their rural supplies orders themselves.

Houghton was at the co-op’s Fieldays site and helped Farmlands customers log onto FarmlandsPRO. She told Rural News that the response from shareholders has been fantastic.

“Farmers are happy with the product, and I couldn’t be happier,” she says.

Houghton says developing FarmlandsPRO has been taken around 18 months and a significant investment from the co-op.

“It’s personalised to every farmer and remains a work in progress as we bring new functions to life,” she says.

Several hundred farmers and growers who have started using the pre-launch version of FarmlandsPRO are already benefiting from gaining greater control of their essential rural supplies. Of Farmland’s 82,000 shareholders, about half are farmers. Houghton expects about 95% of farmer customers to be using the online tool over time.

Farmlands chief executive Tanya Houghton was at the Fieldays last week helping customers try out the co-op's latest offering, FarmlandsPRO, a bespoke online and app-based tool.

“We know that farming doesn’t line up with normal business hours – and our customers need to be able to order rural supplies at a time that meets their business needs, not ours,” says Houghton.

“This was the starting point for developing our new FarmlandPRO tool that will support our customers in owning and controlling their relationship with Farmlands.”

FarmlandsPRO offers a personalised experience for our farmer and grower customers – and includes everything from full order histories, through to existing contracts and farmer-specific discounted rural supplies prices.