Like Soil Scout, Agdir once developed sensors to give farmers and turf managers clear insights for enhanced productivity and quality production. But they found that selling value-adding services alongside Soil Scout products that delivered data was a more effective way of adding value to their business model.
This is an exciting time for both companies, as climatic fluctuations have prompted agricultural professionals to digitalise. Today, over 80 farmers have benefited from deeper insights from Soil Scout’s sensor and the value-adding services provided by Agdir.
Farmers can now get a complete overview of production on their mobile phones, as sensors send updated measurements around the clock. Hanne Fyrde, Chief Customer Officer at Agdir, said of the partnership:
“Being a sustainable partner by using data is really important to us. It’s not about simply pushing hardware to the market. We want our products to offer value to farmers and anyone else working with soil.”
In Norway and many other parts of Europe, farmers face increasing demands for food growth, and many recognise the value of switching to new routines based on data-driven insights. But a significant number of farmers don’t want to give up traditional and time-tested practices for complicated technology. Learning new technology generally takes longer in agriculture, too. Farmers must work with the software throughout different growing seasons to understand its potential.
Building lasting relationships with farmers
These are but a few reasons why farmers may not be so keen to Implement new technology. The perceived risk may divert focus from the many benefits on offer.
The team at Agdir has understood this issue from the beginning. After all, the company was conceived during a conversation between CEO Andrá© Skoog Bondevik and a local farmer. They both wanted to figure out how to control the critical factors affecting Norwegian agriculture and were sure they could find the solution with digital technology.
The relationship between technology specialists and agriculture experts remains just as strong today. To improve work-flows and profits with digital tools, it’s essential to build bridges between educational contributors and adopters.
“We need to create solutions that inspire farmers to adopt new processes. Many farmers using Agdir now know that their experience and skills remain essential. Combining skill and technology is what brings farmers the benefits.”
Combing data to enhance understanding
By becoming a reseller for Soil Scout, the company can offer customers more value. For example, combining rainfall and evaporation data from Soil Scout with Agdir’s data can improve irrigation projects by indicating the best time to start the project. What’s more, mixing relationships and expertise helps create solutions that inspire early adoption amongst farmers for quicker benefits.
Soil Scout equips farmers with a deeper understanding of their fields to enhance conditions, boost production, and even reduce cost and water consumption. By checking an app on their mobile phone, farmers can retrieve statistics, see fluctuations and trends in humidity and temperature, and compare data over time to gain complete project control and understanding.
For more information on Agdir, please visit www.agdir.no or email salg@agdir.no. To contact Soil Scout and find out more about our wireless soil sensor system, please email; sales@soilscout.com.