Key Roles: Trusted Advisors and Technology Vendors


As we mentioned in  🚜⁠⁠Module 2: Data in Agriculture⁠ , farmers play a central role in the agriculture data ecosystem. This is because growers are the key originators, or creators, of agriculture data. Other than satellite imagery, farmers are intimately involved in almost all other forms of data collection related to their farm operations and farm business. As a result, the decisions that you make as a farmer regarding data collection are critical to creating high quality datasets that can support data-driven or data-informed decision making. Similarly, your data practices will also go a long way to determining whether your farm data is valuable to other players in the agri-food value chain, notably your downstream customers, financial partners (e.g. lenders, insurance companies) and input suppliers. 

The responsibility for implementing strong data collection and data management practices should not fall on growers alone. Farmers will often work with a team of trusted advisors to leverage the tools they have purchased from agricultural machinery and agtech vendors. This section explores the pivotal roles that trusted advisors and technology vendors play in supporting farmers working with agriculture data.  



Trusted Advisors

Trusted advisors with agriculture data expertise can play an important role in supporting data-driven decision making on your farm. Putting data to work with the support of a trusted advisor can help you harness the full potential of your agriculture data to improve productivity, profitability and sustainability.

Some potential roles that a trusted advisor might play in connection with farm data include:
  • Helping to develop and implement a data collection and management plan that delivers high quality, accurate data through the use of best practices.
  • Assisting with the selection of appropriate digital tools and technologies.
  • Helping to interpret your agricultural data using advanced visualization tools to support decision making on the farm.
  • Working directly with farm data to support regular farm operations including processing yield data, creating variable rate prescriptions, and more.

At the same time, a  2021 report from the Farm Journal  found that only 52% of American growers surveyed worked with a trusted advisor who could answer their questions related to farm management software and digital agriculture tools. In the same survey, 48% of respondents said that they didn’t have access to an expert to help with farm data collection issues if they had problems or questions. These statistics illustrate that there is an opportunity for additional support to be provided to farmers from trusted advisors with experience in data management and digital agriculture technology. 


Types of Trusted Advisors 

Many of the advisors you may already work with can provide advice and support for your farm data collection and management practices. In fact, in many cases the traditional services provided by these trusted advisors can be enhanced by the increased use of agricultural data.   

Some examples of these existing service providers are:

  • Seedling Agronomists: Agronomists are experts in the science and practice of crop production, soil management, and field husbandry. Agronomists utilize farm data to drive the agronomic recommendations they provide (planting schedule, nutrient and pest management strategies, etc.). 

  • Ear of Corn Crop Consultants: Crop consultants are experts in a specific area of crop production, such as plant pathology, entomology, or weed science. Crop consultants may also help with  crop scouting , monitoring, and diagnostics.

  • Dollar Banknote Financial Advisors: This is a broad category that can include financial planners, accountants, marketing  and risk management consultants. Financial advisors may work with your farm’s financial data, as well as operational and cost of production data.

Due to the increasing digitization of the agriculture industry and the increasing use of digital and precision agriculture equipment on-farm, specialized advisors that provide services to directly support these digital tools and related software have also emerged:

  • Tractor Precision Agriculture Specialists: Precision agriculture specialists have expertise in geospatial technologies (e.g.  remote sensing , GPS, and  GIS ), as well as precision farming equipment, like drones, sensors, and  variable-rate technology . Their ultimate goal is to help farmers maximize productivity and efficiency with the least amount of inputs possible.

  • Chart Increasing Data Analysts: Data analysts work with weather, soil, and crop yield data to help farmers make informed decisions about their operations.  Data analysts use statistical, mathematical, and visualization techniques to help identify patterns, trends, and relationships in complex datasets.  Data analysis will also work in collaboration with other trusted advisors like agronomists. 

  • Globe with Meridians IT and Network Consultants: Modern farm businesses rely on their computer and network infrastructure. As a result, IT and network consultants can be an important addition to your roster of trusted advisors. In addition to designing and maintaining your IT infrastructure, they may also provide cybersecurity services. On-farm cybersecurity is discussed in more detail in Module 6[link].

Think about how you might go about pulling together the advice you receive from these different types of advisors into an overall picture of how you will use agriculture data to strengthen your ability to manage your farm business. Might one, or more, of these advisors be in a position to help you create a plan of action that makes sense for your particular operation?


Technology Vendors


Technology vendors provide the tools that farmers use for data collection and data management. This can include farm machinery, software and everything in between, including weather stations and other in-field or in-barn sensors. As a result, agtech vendors have an important role to play in supporting the work that you do with your agricultural data.  

In  FCC’s 2022 survey of Canadian farmers , farmers were asked about their experiences with agtech companies that work with their farm data. The percentage of farmers who felt agtech companies were doing an excellent job has doubled (13%) since 2018. There was also a positive shift in sentiment, with 53% of respondents reporting a good relationship with their agtech vendors. Although it was not an exhaustive survey, the top rated companies were John Deere, Farm Credit Canada - Ag Expert, and Bayer Climate FieldView.

That said, all agtech vendors are not created equal. As a result, when you are considering purchasing a new piece of equipment, or a signing up for a new software service, there are a number of key questions you should keep in mind:

  • What level of support do they provide after the sale of the product or service? Is that support included in the original purchase?
  • What kind of training is offered for their product or service? How is the training provided?
  • Does the vendor provide their customers with data analysis services or analytical products?  
  • How does the provider manage data ownership, privacy and cybersecurity? Are you able to obtain a copy of the relevant data use agreements, end-user license agreements and privacy policy? Is the agtech company certified  Ag Data Transparent ?
  • What is the level of interoperability and integration their equipment, software or devices provide with the other digital agriculture tools you are already using on your farm?



Next:  ✅⁠⁠Data Quality⁠