3 Common Communication Gaps Between Marketing Advisors and Farmers

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Grain marketing advisors and farmers work together to ensure farmers have sound marketing strategies in place each crop year to manage price risk and hit revenue goals. However, even though you’re on the same team as your clients and are working in their best interests, sometimes mistakes get made. Many times this is because you’re working off one set of numbers for their farm, which turn out to be old numbers they gave you from three months ago! Combyne has spoken to dozens of marketing advisors about this topic, and here are three major obstacles we’ve heard that are common across the industry:

Don’t know about their client’s cash sales as soon as they happen

Several advisors have told us they’ve spent time worrying about a particular client whose priced positions were down at 20% too late in the crop year, only to finally get them on the phone and be told “we priced everything 2 months ago!” This not only is a time sink, but also potentially a missed opportunity where you could’ve helped them to re-own their grain if the market had rallied. 

Aren’t kept in the loop about changes in yield projections

As the production season chugs along, farmers are focused on growing their crop. If something happens that significantly impacts yield projections, they may not have time to give you an update. This of course impacts strategies if yields are suddenly much lower and the farmer may have to divert cash to contract buyouts, or if yields are much higher and the farmer now has more grain exposed to market risk than previously thought.

Aren’t told in advance about upcoming big expenses

Many advisors have told us that one of the most valuable pieces of guidance they give their clients is when to time sales. However, clients often are not able to realize that benefit because they don’t mention their cash flow needs to their advisor, and end up having to make a last minute sale to get cash on hand when market prices are depressed. If farmers aren’t telling you about upcoming expenses, it prevents them from seeing the maximum value of your service.

Copilot has really helped streamline my business by having all of my customers’ data in one place. It’s a one-stop-shop for the information that I need the most, which makes me be able to focus on the bigger picture issues in grain marketing for my clients. – Sarah, Limit Up Grain Marketing

So how can you avoid the above? A lot of this comes down to your clients keeping you in the loop, but one thing you can do is make sure you are providing them an easy way to get you this information. In the past, we’ve seen some tools like Grainbridge try to help solve this. With Grainbridge going away, tools like Combyne Copilot thankfully bridge the gap. Combyne Copilot is a collaboration tool designed to support grain marketing advisor and farmer relationships. It acts as a shared system of record to ensure you are always on the same page as your clients on grain inventories, cash sales, and hedging strategies. Farmer clients can easily import cash sale and grain inventory data via Combyne’s AI-parsing tools and integrations, all from a mobile phone. It’s a simple and easy way for clients to get you the information you need, so you can avoid these common communication gaps!