With consolidation, mergers, and change at the agri-business level comes adaptation and change at the grower level, too. For BASF, a company that has taken on major brands, such as Invigor and Liberty, stemming from the Bayer/Monsanto deal, sorting out the logistics of getting an expanded product portfolio to growers has been a significant undertaking.
Howie Zander, director of national sales for BASF, explains that the company’s solution to this logistics challenge is Retail Connect, a direct-to-retail model that was trialed in 2019 and will hit full roll out in 2020 for Western Canada.
Zander says that the company has a formulation plant in Regina, an inoculant production facility in Saskatoon, and seed production in Alberta — coordinating what goes where, when, and how much is what the Retail Connect platform will address.
The vision is to work directly with independent retailers to coordinate, anticipated the needs of farmers for each area, and offer the right product, at the right place, at the right time.
Retail Connect will be for Western Canada only, with a full retail offering available for 2020.
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