FBN Makes Acquisition to Provide Access to Crop Protection Products, Rolls Out Crop Marketing in Canada to Meet Increasing Demand

HIGH RIVER, ALBERTA – October 8, 2019 – Farmers Business Network^SM, the largest independent farmer-to-farmer network, today announced the launch of its industry-leading Crop Marketing offering in Canada, FBN Market Advisory, and the acquisition of Canadian distributor Great Northern Growers, Inc. (GNG), both to position Farmers Business Network (FBN) to help Canadian farmers become more profitable.

 

FBN Market Advisory has been one of FBN’s most popular and fastest-growing services in the United States. FBN Market Advisory combines a network of local advisors and economists with FBN’s hallmark data science and market intelligence to advise farmers on grain marketing strategies. Now Canadian farmers have access to better marketing, tailored to meet the unique needs of Canadian growers. And through its acquisition of GNG, Farmers Business Network now has its own line of crop protection products including Smoke®, Foax® and Clever® in addition to another 16 actives in the product development pipeline that will be brought to market over the next couple of years.

 

“Canadian farmers are some of the most forward-thinking and innovative growers in the world. They want transparency and competition for their business. This acquisition of GNG and the launch of FBN Market Advisory in Canada provides more options to manage costs while optimizing their revenue,” said Tom Staples, General Manager of FBN Canada. “We’re proud to bring GNG into the FBN family and launch our leading FBN Market Advisory program to deliver the most value for Canadian farmers.”

 

 

In less than 18 months since Farmers Business Network expanded into Canada, FBN Canada has exploded. The network is already used by more than 1,100 Canadian members representing 6 million acres of farmland in the country – further establishing the company as the leading ag tech player in North America. Available in all four western provinces, FBN recently opened three warehouses across the country to provide members with fast, seamless input delivery. To service its rapid expansion, the FBN Canada team has grown to 50 full-time employees. 

 

 

FBN Market Advisory has been one of FBN’s most popular and fastest-growing services in the U.S. Now, Canadian farmers will have access to the company’s renowned data insights and market intelligence. 

 

FBN Market Advisory is powered by local knowledge and strong relationships with local buyers to ensure transparency with cash bids, offers and specials, doing the heavy lifting to look at prices, terms, and do the negotiations on farmers' behalf. Backed by FBN data scientists and economists, the service provides unbiased, data-driven marketing recommendations. With flat, annual pricing and no-acreage fees, FBN Market Advisory customers can select between Basic and Premium programs.

 

The rollout of FBN Market Advisory follows FBN’s recent acquisition of Full Acre Consulting in Alberta. Full Acre’s Founder & CEO Ryan Denis, will lead FBN Market Advisory in Canada.

 

“"We’ve grown Full Acre over the past four years to serve 100 farms representing 400,000 acres in Alberta and Saskatchawan, said Ryan Denis. “When the opportunity to build FBN Market Advisory across Canada presented itself, I knew it would allow us to expand our work on a larger scale and help farmers across Western Canada maximize on their opportunities. And the strong Farmers First mentality at FBN aligned really well with what we were doing at Full Acre."

 

The future of FBN Crop Marketing in Canada includes yield and basis prediction modeling, and rapid planting and harvest progress polls that are unique in the industry. FBN Market Advisory members get access to FBN’s app to track sales, and the company is developing a new technology product for growers to view and manage their entire risk exposure, making it easy to model the impact of crop sales, futures and options, and crop insurance on their bottom line.

 

 

Through its acquisition of Great Northern Growers, FBN can now bring Canadian farmers more transparency, competition and input savings for their businesses. The acquisition will enable FBN to increase the number and range of inputs available to its members through FBN Direct. GNG distributes a range of herbicides, insecticides, seed treatments and fertilizers through its famer-dealer network. Already active locally in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, GNG products will now be available to FBN members across the prairie provinces.  

 

Now with its own crop protection line, Farmers Business Network is expanding Community Builders, a farmer-dealer model, to provide farmers with choice and competition for their business across Western Canada.  

 

 

The idea for the FBN network originated from farmers who wanted to create an independent, farmer-driven information and commerce network.

 

Through FBN, farmers are one step closer to having a totally independent full-farm profit system: from FBN Direct’s input ecommerce platform; to FBN Analytics comprehensive agronomic-network data analytics & decision support; to the most recent rollout of FBN Crop Marketing’s advisory & risk management.

 

FBN now serves more than 33 million acres of farmland across the U.S. and Canada, an area nearly the size of the state of Pennsylvania.