Could some anons tell me what they think of an idea I have. I'm from a farming town and currently in school but I realized as there are start ups and tech taking over and making everything easier for essentially every field, but most agriculture biz is still all pen and paper or hard to find info on. Basically I've been working on creating a website where users(farmers) can submit how much they're getting per pound for cattle/grain/etc from the auction houses. And then you have a bunch of listings and prices where you get the best price per pound. Not sure if this would even particularly useful. Or if hardheaded farmers would even want to use the internet.
>Shoot it down or give me some advice
>>1173578
Does this really not exist?
>>1173578
Sounds like a solid idea. Do you have good CS & Commodities knowledge?
Seems like you'll need to proficient in these fields before taking on this task.
>>1173583
CS major about to graduate, lot of good friends in finance, I've dabbled a bit myself. More friends/family back home who make a living going to these things.
>>1173581
Nah, information is hard to get unless you're physically there or live around. But once you can get the info online I think you could shake up the game a bit.
>>1173591
If this shit doesn't exist, and i want you to double verify that, you are going to kill it, if you can talk these farm folk's language.
>>1173578
good idea, just remember, advertisement is the essence of your kind of business, you need to take notice on the target group, how old are the farmers, where they hang out etc so that the advertisements would be noticed and they would like it.
Use a lot of green and make it more of a cosy type website, farmers wouldn't like an official or fancy company, but I think you already know this kind of deal.
Fliers around bars or some companies use vocal advertisement, you have a solid firm and people will like it and become loyal, they will tell everyone about it.
make the website as easy as it can be, so that some of the old farmers could easily access it and use.
Don't forget to make it modern, so that you could download an app or access it through phone.
Make the website with a map, where the best prices are marked with locations, if phone is used then make it locate the position of the phone and the route to the nearest and best prices.
godspeed and good luck anon, hope it works out.
>>1173595
Thanks man. I've always been in a weird spot, from a small farm town, but good tech skills.
Only thing I can find are various reports from the USDA or chicago's prices. Which no farmer gives a fuck what is trading on the floor in chicago. They want to know if it's worth it to go two counties over for that extra $5 a pound. Or just go to the one 1 county over.
I can definitely talk the farm folk's language. Biggest problem would be getting the actual numbers. Which I'd have to either at first go around a physically collect them. Or have a user submission that is verified.
>>1173608
That's basically my entire gameplan. Already working on the map idea. Have a sexy layout. And most definitely an app. I'll probably work on the app later, or I guess if the site is mobile friendly enough you don't even have to worry about it.
Make it simple to use. My whole family works a farm and I'm a web developer. I never knew anything like that needed to be a thing.
I'm sure people would appreciate being able to find a cheap bale of hay
Run off a subscription service for listings.
>>1173612
I'll add just in case you didn't think about it, make some kind of a calculator there, if you buy it in a town A, 5$ 100 pounds, you'll get this amount
you buy it in town B at that price and this amount, you'll get this sum.
So they could easily check, if it's worth driving there etc.
You can add fuel cost driving there.
Just improve this idea, I hope this kicks a notch up for your company.
>>1173578
>Shoot it down
Meh, they got all that already for the big farms.
Drone surveillance of crops is where its at.
Already available for the most part, and not necessary in most instances. Everything you're talking about--crops, livestock, etc.--are sold as commodities. There's national level pricing and things like the Chicago commodities market, and then there are local levels that include sale barns and auctions.
The thing about major, national level pricing is that it is already heavily covered and reported. You're not going to innovate there. And as for the regional or local markets, you will spend more time trying to track and list the shit than the time it will take to sell it. And on-time reporting that regional hay sales jumped $0.50 or so isn't going to get you any profit or people that care. It's just as easy to call the co-op, or go down to the sale barn next week, or to watch the local evening news because they report cattle, hog, corn, bean, etc. prices every night.
The only thing I could see working is innovative software to help local and regional sale barns and auction houses report their goods in real-time or some other form of exposure. You sound like someone that would appeal to hobby-farmers, and while they throw money at things like crazy, they are not your bread and butter.
Despite your belief that farmers are not technologically innovative (ha-fucking-ha, go look at a fucking implements store and tell me how ass-backwards that $300,000 combine is), I am here to inform you that they get along just fine. It's a niche market and the thing about it is this: the people who know how to make money off of farmer's and the agricultural business are already doing so and being innovative about it. Small town banks running big-time farmers, and will literally seek specific services just to cover one or two of their big clients. Small technology firms focusing on ag are everywhere, but they're not General Dynamics size and never will be. They are cunning, smart, and small, and there are some hella smart people recruited into the ag support industry already.
>>1173578
Sounds good , provides value for the farmers. Like angies list for commodities?
You'll need lots of marketing capital to get a good start though , if you rely on word of mouth youre doomed.
>>1173712
>>you will spend more time trying to track and list the shit than the time it will take to sell it
No man , the farmers provide the info , the users are the product. He can profit by advertising if it saves enough farmers money to get clicks.
Think about it , if george down the street posts that he got 50 cents more per bushel of corn or whatever from buyer xyz I now have an edge on negotiating with that buyer and other buyers.
National commodity prices arent my concern at this scale but if im anout to move 10,000 bushels then thats a damn handy piece of info to get for free.
OP data mines me and I save / make an extra 5k - win / win
More liquidity in food
>>1173736
Should be the other way around.
No one is going to report what they bought something for free. The stores should post their shit.
Sounds like a great idea to me OP.
Maybe talk to a web developer and some people who are the head of farming organizations.
Sounds like the Ebay of agriculture to me.
>>1173736
There is a very good reason there is not spot location based commodities market prices down to the minute detail you are proposing.
You would need to be either living in the matrix or develop skynet to gather and process all the data necessary to make it a reality.
>>1173712
I wasn't saying farmers are stupid. A few I know have engineering degrees. What I'm saying is that they don't(from what I've seen) aren't into apps/websites. They're incredibly technical and meticulous. Again, the people loading up cattle do not care what chicago is pricing meat that day. But I do agree that they could just call the place if they're open or ask one of their buddies to find current prices.
I understand they get along just fine that's why they wouldn't want to use whatever I have to offer they would rather do it the way they've been doing for years. I also know people like you mentioned who bring in millions from ag. I'm just trying to think of a way to make it easier to find things. I like the exposure idea.
I guess I could make it more about the auction houses self reporting like >>1173730 mentioned.
>>1173843
Would it really be that complex? Each market is usually only open two weekends a month. Just have them report that data.
>>1173736
They already use Craigslist for what you're suggesting. If you made something more user-friendly than Craigslist and advertise it enough that farmers would use it, then you might have something. So yes, there is a market for it, but it would be difficult to get it out there. I think the coding would be easy compared to the marketing.
How do you think farmer's sell their products now? Just out of curiosity. Not talking about the farmer's market farmer's or hobby farmers. "National commodity prices arent my concern at this scale," but that's how you sell your corn, beans, wheat, and everything else. There are local adjustments, sure, but you call up your Town's co-op and then you call up the Next Town Over's co-op, and another if you want. But you also have to realize a lot of farmer's are limited by shipping. They're not going to make the long haul, and creating an app that tells you what each co-op's prices are isn't going to save them that much time, and doesn't get you any more money. You don't sell your corn to Bill down the road. You sell it to the co-op. Grain needs to be sold in a timely manner, and there are few places that take and test it, and it's 99% sales to the local co-op.
You take your livestock to the sale barn or auction house, and you might have better luck building an app around livestock, but shipping is also a major concern. Any other deals are done on a person-to-person basis or contract. The people that want to buy semen know where to look. The people that want to rent a bull know where to look. The people that want to buy feeder calves know where to look. You might be able to make something better like I said, but recruiting people and getting them to use it will be the hard part. Farmer's already provide their information on Craigslist, the co-op, the sale barn/auction house, and on a fence post out front. And the community is small enough, you know who to call around to to get what you need.
>>1174654
>What I'm saying is that they don't (from what I've seen) aren't into apps/websites.
I drove down to my parents today (who live on a farm), and laughed when I saw this old beater pick-up stop at the highway corner (think 1970's POS with more rust than car at that point), the old driver pulled out his iphone, and started taking pictures of the really pretty clouds/sunset. He looked about 70. With his beater pickup. And iPhone.
Farmer's are fascinating to me on how they often approach problems and situations. If they aren't into apps, websites, or technology, it is only because it can't reach them. My parents had dial-up only internet until maybe 5 or so years ago, because it wasn't cost effective for a company to bring it to their location. Do you know what rural cell phone coverage is like? It's fucking awful. Satellite goes out all the damn time in any weather. And this technological gap exists for a lot of farmers.
People loading up cattle DO care what Chicago is pricing meat at. That's where the auction pricing starts around (sets the precedent), and then it is sold in an auction. So these sales are very individualized because they are held as auctions, but national pricing is the standard at these auctions. If no one is buying, it drops for that day. If there's some old fuckers fighting it out, then it goes up. But commodity pricing is the basis. That is the current price. The changes are based on who is at the auction and what they are willing to pay. That's why >>1173843 is right. The prices are adjusting with the commodities market, and the local prices are adjusting based on if the local farmers think they need to buy that thing right then and there. So unless you're inventing skynet, you're not making anything useful on that front (grain, livestock). And unless you're making an easier-to-use Craigslist, then you're not going to catch the slower selling items (hay, etc.), either.
