VIEWPOINT
When the Internet meets tradition, innovation happens
By Don Copenhaver, MFA Incorporated President and CEO
We are living in a time when the seismic forces of technology are rumbling throughout agriculture. Some say computerization and the Internet will be powerful forces that will forever change the face of agriculture. That's overstated. Technology will continue to improve and streamline agriculture as it has for the past generation. Technology will also offer us previously nonexistent alternatives and show us new paths to achieve even greater efficiencies. Many farmers and many cooperatives are afraid the technology explosion will make their operations obsolete. We aren't. If anything, the Internet will underscore the importance of a cooperative like MFA, and it will underscore the importance of independent farmers who are free to make decisions based on economics rather than political will. When it's all said and done, we at MFA will still be helping you take advantage of the latest developments in agriculture as we have for almost 90 years.
However, we must respond to the opportunities available. Right now we have a team of individuals helping us make good use of the technology made possible by the Internet. By late fall or early winter we will replace our current website with an interactive one. Our current website offers information about MFA plus our livestock marketing efforts and employment opportunities. We have three goals for our development efforts:
- We want to create an information-rich site structured to benefit our farmer/owners.
- We want to enhance our own internal support services and efficiencies.
- We need to lay the groundwork so we can take advantage of future developments in technology.
In our initial meetings, we discussed the multitude of possibilities posed by the Internet; we decided what we were able to accomplish and what we were unable to do. As a cooperative, we do not have the financial resources to compete with the venture capitalists trying to buy agricultural business. We do not have the literally hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on Internet technology.
For the last two or so years, venture capitalists have seen agriculture as a fertile field. They were anxious to back the one or two big winners they were sure would emerge from the pack of competing dot-com startups. What so entranced the venture capitalists are the two million farmers, the 150,000 producers who control 70 percent of the inputs, the hundreds of dealers and the large market with very few long-term contracts. They see an industry with regional distributors, excessive returns, a commodity nature and vast quantities of unused inventory.
Add to those facts, the farmer of today must manage a large number of different business relationships, several of them financial. Even more important, farmers have a long-standing market familiarity with auctions and exchanges. Farmers also have a very well-established adoption rate for new technologies from products to machinery to tillage practices. The time is ripe for dot-com growth, said the venture capitalists who subsequently poured in unimaginable sums.
By now the venture capitalists are reining in the flow of money as the Nasdaq so dramatically showed this past spring. Dot-coms that raised millions in initial public offerings just last year are nose diving and in many cases flaming out altogether. Very few that are structured for agriculture will survive. That was expected from the beginning; however, the remaining dot-coms will be forces to be reckoned with.
Still, unlike these Internet startups, MFA does not simply have a virtual presence. We have a physical presence. Throughout the years, we have invested heavily in bricks, bins and equipment. We have done so to serve the needs and interests of our farmer/owners. In the meantime, as a result of our investment in these types of facilities and services, we have also built a substantial knowledge base and employee force. We are here for the long term.
From your perspective, by offering access to information (whether product, performance or practice) 24 hours a day, seven days a week, our web-development efforts will be structured to make your life easier. By using this technology, you will be able to communicate with your nearest MFA when it is most convenient for you. Simultaneously, as a company, we will be able to more efficiently communicate with our MFA Agri Services Centers as well. From employee manuals to government-mandated forms, we will be able to streamline our communications process. That will bring us immediate savings on paper and postage. We will also be building a communication vehicle for our stores and technical staff, which will allow them to filter information for you.
As you might expect, one of our first steps is to bring each and every MFA Agri Services Center online. The process is very expensive, but it is necessary to allow you to more effectively communicate with those who serve you. We should have the system in place and functioning for all our stores by December of this year in conjunction with our new website.
I ask for your help in making sure we construct an Internet presence that meets your needs. We welcome input you have on how we can better serve you. E-mail us with your suggestions.