12 months of Ag Chem Price Check

In November 2017, we launched our new analysis service for farms, Ag Chem Price Check.

12 months on, we take a look back on how the service has helped farms trim 14% off their ag chem costs on average.

500’000 acres and counting

Over the past year, we have analysed over 500’000 acres of ag chem purchasing. That’s 4% of UK arable land in only 12 months, which highlights how eager today’s farms are to get more clarity on the agrochemical supply chain.

We’ve processed tens of thousands of data points, over 1’200 chemical brands, adding up to £40m of ag chem. That’s a lot of data. More importantly, that’s a lot of insight we can generate, which has revealed total savings of £6m for our customers.

See our Hard Truth about Ag Chem Pricing in the UK article for more insight on price discrepancies.

Send your prices, we’ll do the rest

We’ve made the service as simple as possible:

1. Send us your ag chem prices

2. Sit back. Get on with farming. We do the rest

We upload your data into our online tool, which processes your results against our national database to give you a Buying Score out of 10. Think of this as our ‘health check’ of your business’ buying performance.

You also get to see all market price ranges for your ag chem brands, as well as the full range of alternative brands with the same active chemistry, so you can dive into the detail of those savings opportunities.

Why wouldn’t you?

While the process is very simple, you wouldn’t be alone in asking some questions before taking part. Here are the most common we’ve come across:

“I think I’m already buying the best”

That’s where hard verified data comes into it. The service is intended to give you absolute certainty on where you stand – some are overpaying by 30%, while we’ve not yet met a business who can’t save at least 5%. The average buying score is 6/10.

“I’m not meant to share my prices”

This is YOUR business information, no-one else’s. AHDB research shows that sharing such information for benchmarking is a feature of top performing farms. Only our team of experts at Yagro will see your raw information. All data is verified, then anonymised into the Yagro database, so there is no way for anyone to link data to individual farms.

“AHDB research shows that sharing such information for benchmarking is a feature of top performing farms”

“I don’t want to upset my current supplier”

Whether you just want to get a view of current performance, or to drive major decisions in your setup, it is entirely up to you how you use this information. At the heart of any strong relationship should be trust and transparency. Any reasonable supplier acting in your best interests should be happy to listen, and work hard to deliver to your expectations – just as you would for your customers.

“I’m too busy to dig out invoices”

We sympathise with that! We’ve made the process as easy as possible for you, and understand the pressure on time. We are happy to accept a download from your Farm Management Software to give you an initial analysis, and will check invoices as a second step for full verification.

Check our Frequently Asked Questions for more.

Turning your Health Check into Cash

So how are farms using this information? Users of Price Check have taken a range of steps to secure those savings:

1. Get, or improve, your rebate

Rebates are an industry-standard way of ‘reconciling’ your chem bill at the end of the year, and is the main incentive mechanism between manufacturers and your distributor. Your supplier should offer you cash back on products where you have overspent compared to the market.

We have been surprised to see only half of farmers currently get rebates on their Ag Chem. Given that every farm is overspending compared to the market, this leaves a lot of farms with a lot of opportunity.

Armed with our detailed market information, farmers are able to drive a more thorough review of their spend with suppliers, and secure the full rebate owed to them.

“We have been surprised to see only half of farmers currently get rebates on their Ag Chem”

2. Change your strategy

There are lots of ways to procure your ag chem, whether it’s through a full serviced agronomy relationship, a preferred supplier, shopping around, or with a buying group. It is likely that your approach has been used on farm for many years, and changing your setup might seem daunting. But don’t take our word for it:

“Shop around for inputs. Do not stick with the same supplier just because you know them, it might not be the best deal” ~ AHDB Horizon paper, September 2018

3. Switch your products

There are over 4000 registered products in the UK, which creates a huge amount of complexity for farmers. Part of the information we provide through Price Check is full visibility on alternative brands in the market, which contain the same active chemistry and concentration.

Armed with this information, many farms have reviewed their spray programmes and made the very sensible decision of switching brands, saving an average of 23% per product, with the same quality of product still applied to the farm.

“Saving an average of 23% per product”

4. Question, and improve, your prices

Live access to our database allows a farmer to question quoted prices at the point of purchase, rather than months later in a rebate discussion. You wouldn’t buy fertiliser or fuel without a good understanding of market prices up front – why should Ag Chem be different?

Beyond our Price Check service, our team can support you through such strategic decisions and rebate discussions. Get in touch today to arrange a free consultation.