In Warren Buffet’s biography, The Snowball, it reads: “No one goes to the supermarket to buy Howie Buffett’s corn.” He was alluding to the reason why the farm he purchased for his son was a poor investment.
If you are +40 years old and have had a fair share of a Food & Ag corporate career, you probably lived through the most significant consumer transformation in history. A once supply-driven market has slowly moved into the consumer’s hands. The issue is that the Agriculture supply-chain has never been so unprepared for the shift.
Consumers are exercising their newly acquired rights by increasingly asking the supply chain for faster, cheaper, better, and sustainable products. Our default answer has been: “Something has to give.” That is not the best and quite frankly the most appropriate response.
The issue is that a de-commoditization path, which should translate into premium prices associated with improved quality and sustainable products, has not worked as well as expected. Premiums, in general, favor producers already capitalized, and as the supply imbalances disappear with more producers joining the band, so is the expected premium margins. As the saying goes: “the first cow always drinks clean water.”
We need to change the way we address de-commoditization. At the pace that we are moving with this open Chinese menu, We are not far from the consumer dictating price, quality, shipment schedules, and all attributes related to their newly craving desires. Producers need to quickly buy a chair and effectively have a voice at the table by bringing reality into this open buffet.
HOW?
By developing the process, the menu, and the product WITH the consumers.
The concept has already been tested and it can scale and, the results thus far are promising. A project of this caliber has the potential to transform an organization’s path towards a customer journey and along the way, give small and medium-size producers a megaphone.
CALL TO ACTION
Target: This is an excellent project for an Agriculture Cooperative, Farmers association, or any organization where the mission is to help farmers by connecting both ends of the value chain.
The project can resolve some of the frustrations faced by small and medium farmers and effectively bring a prosperous, sustainable, and equitable path to the Agriculture chain while offering all the desired product specifications expected by the rapidly evolving consumer class.
Let’s bring economic balances by effectively raising the farmer’s voice. Connect if you are interested to learn more.
Thiago Terzi specializes in helping Ag & Food organizations bridge their technology gaps by bringing an Agriculture reality conversation towards improving the bottom line and the customer journey through data and technology innovation.