Influence Erosion in Ag Retail
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Historically, farmers relied on a pretty small circle of trusted voices including extension, local advisors, maybe the occasional sales rep. But Shane Thomas of Upstream Ag Insights is seeing signs that may be starting to change, and it’s reshaping how ag retailers connect with their farmers.
Thomas… “You now have a proliferation of ag tech startups, of independent consultants. You have the internet, so you have social media, YouTube, where you can get answers now, LLMs. And so there's all these different tools and people and companies out there that are really trying to influence that farmer. If you're a retail and your whole business is around trying to be that trusted advisor on a daily basis, you're now competing for the trust of that farmer.”
With more competition for attention than ever, Thomas says ag retailers need to rethink how they earn their trust.
Thomas… “How do I make sure I'm investing in my staff and my team to make sure that they're more capable of influencing? And again, it's not about manipulation. It's about being able to build those relationships up, being able to have a value added conversation. How do you think about investing in the knowledge infrastructure at your retail location? How do you make sure that you're investing in the right assets that are going to be able to deliver products to the farmer that they need, that they can't get anywhere else, or that you make it more simple to obtain?”
Influence erosion is one of the concepts discussed by Thomas in his post titled “33 Mental Models for the Modern Agribusiness Leader”.
