A few weeks ago, Farmers Business Network (FBN) raised $50 million in new capital, investing in new products and AI, among other things, for its customers.
“Artificial intelligence allows farmers to provide more personalized and relevant insights,” explained CEO Diego Casanero. “At the same time, we will provide new tools to automate market operations, reduce costs and improve customer experience.”
To date, Farmer-to-Farmer Digital Network FBN has over 117,000 farms with access to over 7,000 products, including crop input, livestock supplies, and seeds, through the e-commerce marketplace.
In 2023, we launched Norm, an AI advisor who can answer agriculture questions, and this year we have expanded our platform to include more private label portfolios and products from third-party sellers.
Like most other AGTECH companies, FBN had to retard economic headwinds, investor interest in the sector and compete with general uncertainty in US agriculture.
Below, Casanello describes the future plans for last year's Norm, its AI strategy, and other important milestones.
Agfundernews (afn): What will FBN do in the new capital?
Diego Casanero (DC): The initial focus of this fundraiser is to continue to acquire customers. Looking at the growth of FBN membership over the past few years, there has been a consistent CAGR of 40% to 50% for members.
We activate our members and come for data insights as well as buy input, apply for loans and get services from FBN.
We have done a lot over the last few years to reduce the costs of attracting customers. And we are at a point where we are expanding our highly attractive unit economics.
At the same time, we are expanding our platform from a more product category perspective, opening a platform that brings more and more third parties to deliver products through FBN, as well as FBN private labels.
It also needs some [changes to] Technology-like workflows allow these product categories to be onboarded on the platform.
afn: What opportunities can FBN see for AI in agriculture?
DC: Certainly, AI is a great opportunity. I think about the fact that agriculture data is very unstructured and highly distributed. FBN is very focused on trying to bring orders into that data chaos, and with AI, it can take this to the next level and deliver it in a very natural way.
For example, speaking English in North America, but considering AI in developing countries, it can provide data insights in local languages, providing the opportunity to create an interface between farmers and the ecosystem of businesses, institutions and other stakeholders.
Perhaps the largest agricultural dataset on FBN's planet, and is very well positioned to actually lead the AI deployment of AG.
I see [AI working] In two areas [on the FBN platform]. One is efficiency. AI can automate several workflows to make your platform even more cost-effective.
At the same time, we are in a network of farmers, sharing data with each other and providing insights. AI can take this to the next level and provide a new set of insights that will bring even more value in the future.
afn: What is available for the norm?
DC: Today you can ask normative agronomic questions, and for most questions, you will get the answer. But we are training norms, such as grain marketing. This is the next offer through the norm, supporting grain marketing questions.
There is a roadmap to train norms on questions about sustainability, finance and markets, and there is even development of farm maintenance plans.
afn: What other notable milestones on FBN last year or so?
DC: We have focused on three areas.
One is in [delivering] The most cost-effective way to bring capital, input and services to your farm. That's absolutely important because of how inefficient we are as an industry. Everyone is adding costs, and it's very capital-risky. So, a large part of our mission is to create value by reducing the costs of serving farms.
The second point is convenience. In reality, it makes it easier for farmers to trade a few clicks, get loan approval, and essentially get everything they need for the farm.
And the third thing is personalization. This is essentially about leveraging all these datasets on agriculture to bring about more specific and customized offers.
For everything we do and every milestone, we focus on these three areas.
I think we have made a significant effort to help reduce costs to our services. [farmers]. From technology, we are wasting ourselves.
At the same time, we are adding national seed offers to bring livestock supplies, making it a real option for North American ranchers.
It also brings more fintech solutions, sustainable financing, and interest-only loans.
The major milestone is also a joint venture that announced its partnership between ADM and the Bio-Ethanol industry, helping farmers qualify for low carbon strength programs. Use satellite imagery and algorithms to validate claims and help you sell and pay grain through the platform [farmers] Premium. We have already paid farmers more than $30 million in premiums.
afn: What about the decision to open the platform to third-party sellers?
DC: The idea is to expand, but we cannot do everything ourselves. Many companies do an incredible job of accelerating innovation and bringing more innovation to North America. For example, many companies are developing new biological crop protection products.
They all struggle with the same problem. Farmer access, sometimes convincing very large organizations to put their products on the shelf.
What we're doing is to provide innovators with the tools to reach farmers more efficiently and accelerate the pace of launching new products in the North American market.
afn: How has FBN navigated the challenges over the past few years?
DC: We are fortunate to have a really strong investor over the years. They are close to what we do and understand our strategy.
The capital market has changed dramatically over the past three years. Like other industries, [agtech is] Double your operational discipline with a focus on profitability.
Companies here after this period will be a major outlet for many of these VC investors leading the space. We are very focused on being one of the best examples of high-tech investors and are on a good path to that.
Yes, the number of startups is now smaller, but what remains is stronger.
