Farmer’s Business Network, an American data aggregation company and online supplier of seed, generic farm chemicals and marketing services, has decided to waive membership fees for its members in Canada, the United States and Australia.
The decision was announced Sept. 15.
The company, which had about 14,000 farmer members before the Sept. 15 announcement, used to charge its members up to $700 per year in the U.S. and $800 per year in Canada.
The decision to waive membership fees will eliminate an important revenue stream for the company but is expected to result in a larger farmer membership base and increased sales of generic farm chemicals, seed and other farm inputs through the company’s direct-to-farm ag supply platform.
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“For the first time, we’ve decided to make FBN membership costs free,” said Charles Baron, the company’s co-founder and chief innovations officer.
“It’s been another very, very tough year in the farming belt. Farmers have been battling trade wars. They’ve been battling low prices and consolidation. We wanted to make the savings and potential of FBN available to all farmers.”
“We view this as an investment in our customers,” added chief executive officer Amol Deshpande.
FBN is a leading online supplier of generic farm input products.
The company’s efforts to expand its product offerings to include patented farm chemistries has led to a legal dispute involving a number of large multinational crop input manufacturers over alleged anti-competitive behaviour.
According to the company, FBN’s farmer members around the world manage an estimated 45 million acres of farmland.
In addition to sourcing farm inputs through the FBN farm direct platform, members also have access to crop marketing services, advanced agronomic and decision making software, and a variety of other services.
Baron declined to say how much revenue the company would forfeit by waiving annual membership fees. Annual fees had previously been waived for members who purchased farm inputs through the FBN direct platform.
He said farmer response to the decision had exceeded all expectations.
Within 72 hours of announcing the decision to go membership-free, FBN had signed up nearly 1,200 new members in North America and Australia, he said.
“There’s clearly a lot of growers that have been interested in trying out FBN and getting into it, but the membership fees have been a barrier,” he said.
“What we saw even in the first day after our announcement was in excess of any of our expectations. We had hundreds — several hundred — new members in the first day alone so it has really furthered the mission of FBN.”
“We want to be a network of all farmers large and small, and this is a step forward on the past to be able to do that.”
FBN is hoping that a larger international membership will lead to a more robust farmer network that generates more data and more farm input sales through the company’s online sales platform.
Among the company’s most popular online tools is a farm input price transparency platform that allows growers to see what other farmers are paying for common chemical and seed inputs.
That optional platform requires members to enter farm input invoice information in exchange for viewing invoice information entered by other farmer members.
The company contends that greater market transparency results in lower farm prices for FBN members and non-members.
Other online FBN services allow farmers to compare seed prices and yield information and shop for insurance, financing and brokering services.
The company also offers free satellite imagery services that can be used to increase farm productivity, Baron said.
In 2018, FBN started its own seed line called F2F Genetics Network.
Baron said FBN’s Canadian membership included 2,456 members.
The company has American offices in San Carlos, California, Chicago, Illinois, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The company also has offices at High River, Alta., and Perth, Australia.
