Where do you buy your ag chems?

Have you got a telephone?

You need the right agronomist in each firm.
Some don’t want to quote, so find one who will
Also, make sure you are asking correctly. An email asking for prices of certain Chems (eg bravo, aviator etc) will work ringing up asking what controls phoma in rape at what rate, then asking for cheapest price will mean you get short shrift.

matttargett4 said:

hi,

I'm after some suggestions as to where to get an honest simple price on supply only ag chems. I'm finding that it's a lot less simple than I would have expected, lots of sign up first, get told prices later etc etc, I just want to ask for what I want, get given a price promptly and say yes please or no thanks, I don't want to be tied in or ripped off.

I love the idea of farm marketplace, for me it's 2 steps away from perfect, I'd like to be able to find any product I need and I'd like to be able to have a trade account, balance transfer every time is a pain to be honest.

I'd be greatful for any suggestions and any further insight into how to make the market work for me.

Thanks

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Use Farm Marketplace or join a buying group, or...

Do as @Hampton suggested and make contact with your local suppliers. I used to email out volumes & products to the nationals plus a couple of local ones, asking them to quote. Just remember to change the name greeting when you copy & paste to the next supplier! Agrii, Agrovista, Frontier, Hutchinsons, Procam, then you've got the smaller players like Zantra, Bartholomews (south of England), Horizon, Prime (East Anglia) etc. Before I joined the Anglia Farmers group most of my chems came from Bartholomews but the bigger volumes on certain products came from the majors.

Ask your agronomist. Many of the firms run buying groups for their clients. Buying groups aren't always the best but the admin is simple and they are right often enough that the odd more expensive can is more than outweighed by the best price on the rest. My only concern with some of the unusual generics is the quality of the product and risk of fakes.

matttargett4 said:

hi,

I'm after some suggestions as to where to get an honest simple price on supply only ag chems. I'm finding that it's a lot less simple than I would have expected, lots of sign up first, get told prices later etc etc, I just want to ask for what I want, get given a price promptly and say yes please or no thanks, I don't want to be tied in or ripped off.

I love the idea of farm marketplace, for me it's 2 steps away from perfect, I'd like to be able to find any product I need and I'd like to be able to have a trade account, balance transfer every time is a pain to be honest.

I'd be greatful for any suggestions and any further insight into how to make the market work for me.

Thanks

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Where do you buy currently?

When I stopped having agronomy and chemicals as a package I did a few years of phoning all the distributors in the area and getting prices. this became such a ball ache that I moved to a buying group. This has made my life much easier and usually extremely competitive prices. All ordering done by email, delivery is spot on and the group are very good at sorting issues and recommending alternative products if they are at a better price.

I do think there is mileage in Farm Maketplace and I do keep an eye on it.

The group I use has a number of customers in your area @matttargett4

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You could try Yagro, I’ve used it a fair bit, but they really need more supplies for my area.

matttargett4 said:

@Boysground i was going to call you

You suggested in a post back along you use a buying group that would cover me but I could remember the name or find the post, pm or text me if could please!

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Cropadvisors. Text sent to you.
I also use Fram but thats electricity and Cow food.

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Aren’t Anglia farmers and woldmarsh the main ones?

limestone brash said:

Aren’t Anglia farmers and woldmarsh the main ones?

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AF is the biggest. Woldmarsh and Fram Farmers are also big. Crop Advisors is big in the South for seed, fert, sprays and fuel.

matttargett4 said:

It's my first yr having a go at doing some myself, so currently I don't buy anywhere, have been used to an independent who supply's mainly from agrii. They won't talk prices until I set up an account.
@Brisel do you by through af?

I have an existing account but I was put off by the idea that I can't just get a price, I have to put all my faith in there ability and wait till the end of the yr for a rebate to see if I was right, not backed with any guarantees I wasn't really into it.

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Yes, I buy through AF. Not fuel, mobiles or utilities though. I can get better deals outside them. Who is your existing account with?

AF have been ok. I’m a fully committed buyer so all my fert and sprays through them. All the crop seed too but I’ve bought bits elsewhere, mostly for bespoke game covers and the odd bit of grass seed. The big groups want you to buy all your programmes through them which gives them greater buying power and they can use prediction models to forecast future usage. You can use them for bits & bobs but you will pay a higher levy %. AF have got a new chief executive, Jon Duffy, who has stripped it back to basics. Clarke Willis had plans for world domination and had lots of splinter business units on the side. Fees and levies were rising quickly as the layers of staff and management grew. Members had a big group rebate last year to share the savings Duffy made.

I do check that the AF prices are competitive regularly and so far they have been pretty good. I’m running a reasonably big farm so the levy on goods drops as the turnover in each category increases. When I place an order, I have to trust them to get me the best deal. Billing is by direct debit each month. There are frequently delayed payment terms on some products, but mostly I just want the best price on the day. In an average year I probably get 1-2% rebates from the main chem suppliers but these aren't broken down into products, just a generic figure. I just code them against the group costs, so at the end of each year I've put roughly £400k of business through and it costs me around £3k in fees & levies. I can live with that.

The biggest savings I've made are on seed and fertiliser where I was going through agents before who were taking a cut. My chemical savings are more to do with admin than unit cost to be honest. I think many sprays have a price list and the groups like AF and FMP are near the bottom of. I've spoken to other TFF members who were buying independently and many were getting the same or slightly better than me when the levies are taken into account. Another benefit has been on non variable costs e.g. APM Agriplant & Spaldings. Buying direct, I got a better discount rate than I do though AF net of levy so that nearly covers the annual fee by itself.

matttargett4 said:

hi,

I'm after some suggestions as to where to get an honest simple price on supply only ag chems. I'm finding that it's a lot less simple than I would have expected, lots of sign up first, get told prices later etc etc, I just want to ask for what I want, get given a price promptly and say yes please or no thanks, I don't want to be tied in or ripped off.

I love the idea of farm marketplace, for me it's 2 steps away from perfect, I'd like to be able to find any product I need and I'd like to be able to have a trade account, balance transfer every time is a pain to be honest.

I'd be greatful for any suggestions and any further insight into how to make the market work for me.

Thanks

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Another vote for a buying group. Unless you are covering thousands of hectares chasing the best possible price costs too much time. If you are like me your clever buys will be cancelled out by not so clever.

B'o'B said:

You could try Yagro, I’ve used it a fair bit, but they really need more supplies for my area.

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Do they do agchem now?
Had a talk by them not long ago and sounded like diesel and fert was about it so far.
Lots of benchmarking, but no ability to supply yet.
Maybe I got that wrong?