ollie989898
Member
Perhaps I have misunderstood the entire thread then and the bearing thereof. I do apologise, no wonder Clive was less than amused.
In any event, I wish him luck in all his ventures, howsoever they unfold.
Ag chemicals back on Farm Marketplace
- Thread starter Lucy @ Farm Marketplace
- Start date
Perhaps I have misunderstood the entire thread then and the bearing thereof. I do apologise, no wonder Clive was less than amused.
In any event, I wish him luck in all his ventures, howsoever they unfold.
ollie989898
Member
I felt I would attempt to explain the structure and nature of the industry somewhat. There seems to be a proliferation of feeling here that big companies are making too much money or profiteering from the industry. I am not sure I would agree with that. There are legions of people working in the supporting trades who do sterling service to farming and I think much will be lost if they did not exist.
I must also admit I felt somewhat intimidating by the nature of the replies I received, though none were outright hostile I should add.
It does not help that since Friday night I have been on a diet of mostly Codeine phosphate and battling a fever/virus bug, which is never the best combination for anything.
ollie989898
Member
Assuming the job of chemical regulation is taken up 100% by the CRD, I think it is unlikely that we will see the return of many products very quickly. Though the CRD are a more pragmatic bunch than EU commission, would a chemical manufacturer bother to bring to market a product that found approval only in the UK and not elsewhere in Europe? A senior chap at one company told me several years ago that seeking to invent blackgrass products per se was simply not on the agenda because the blackgrass market worldwide was not big enough to justify the expense involved. And thus the inevitable truth dawned on me that whilst they could be discovering useful actives fairly regularly, they are unable to bring them to market purely for reasons of economics? Which also goes some way to explaining recent collaborations like the blackgrass partnership thing.
- Location
- Bedfordshire
A bad salesman hates competition
Sunny Suffolk
New Member
Isn't that what the Farmers Marketplace is, a middleman? So TFF isn't taking a cut for anything it sells? Just seems like a new distribution model but not fundamentally different?
SilliamWhale
Member
All Clive is doing though is setting himself up as another merchant effectively. People can still chose to buy Elatus era from agrii with some back up data or they could by aviator from marketplace with no backup but a proven track record. Its about.more choice not about stealing profits from chemical companies r and d budgets.
- Location
- Hammerwich
@Barleycorn Is this the sort of thing - https://www.marketplace.farm/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=341 or something more specific you are after as that range is expanding come September I am told. Feel free to PM me anything else specific you are looking for and we will search out the suppliers.
Not that I completely agree with everything you have posted, but I do agree this this. At the end of the day chemical companies are a business, and so will only develop and register products for which there is a market and suitable profit. Sometimes this market may be one country, or could be several. Given that it can be expensive to develop and register a product, I would assume that it makes more financial sense to develop something for a large multi-country market. However, balanced against this, if you look at some companies like supermarkets, they may take a hit or lower profit margin on some products just to raise awareness of their products/company or improve their 'image'. I'm not sure if this happens with the chemical industry though?
What FMP does do, could be argued to be similar to other 'middlemen' companies. But because there is no associated backup or technical advice, and you are just buying the chemical, the costs can be cheaper. Therefore, just because a distributor is charging more, it doesn't necessarily mean it is a bad thing. If you a farmer who doesn't understand agronomy and don't have time to ring around comparing prices, then it probably makes sense to use such a distributor. But if you do your own agronomy or have an independent agronomist who just tells you which products/chemistry to use, and you have time to compare prices, then FMP is for you. Personally, I would be in the 2nd category, but you have to balance what is most profitable or convenient for your business
Honest john
Member
- Location
- Fenland
The big R&D ag chem companies are not going to suddenly start using FMP to supply under patent stuff in a big hurry. They need distribution to get cans to farm etc and supply agronomy is something like 70% of the uk market I'm told ! No big manufacturer is going to walk from that without good reason, however I think the very possibility of a more direct route to market might just help them when negotiating supply to big distributors in the future. All I can say is I have had nothing but positive reaction from the bigger R&D manufacturers and am able to pick up a phone to most of them. Who knows in the future some might just decide a direct route to market may work for them !
FMP will be used by the generic market, Selling product at best prices available in this already competitive space is frankly not really of much interest to supply agronomy as the margins are not as interesting for them. There is a good range of generic actives from some quality manufacturers that most switched on farmer know how to use without advice
The casualties here will be the buying groups imo - they might get supply at similar prices but can no way compete with the low costs of a online platform so need membership fees and a margin on product to cover their much higher costs
Why pay to be in a buying group for inputs when you can get better prices online in a convinient and easy to use way ?
Steevo
Member
- Location
- Gloucestershire
They may just get leaner themselves, rather than become casualties.
My buying group consists of two people, a single room, two phones and two computers. Low overheads, very flexible. No product levy. Very unlike many larger groups.
The only downside is they still use the distributor network, thus there is another margin here. But, I get delivery included because the vans are likely passing close to me anyway, and all the products are in one big warehouse. I also send just one email which takes a few seconds and it's all organised by someone else in minutes, turns up the next day, and I don't pay for 3-4 months.
FM can't offer that "bundling" yet, there would be a delivery charge per manufacturer I assume.
Imagine is AtlasFram did their own website for member only login, doing exactly the same but with their existing network. They could probably shed a huge number of staff and office space whilst retaining their current customer base, finance terms, etc.
I think FM will shake things up quite a bit for buying groups, but I can't see too many casualties other than their employees.
On another thought, if I want 360 glyphosate, will FM just have one supplier, or will I as a farmer need to hunt round the site to sieve through all 200 different glyphosate brands to find what the cheapest? I ask as ebay/amazon have 100s of sellers of the same product, and hunting the cheapest out can be time consuming and less than simple.
Delivery is included in the price on chemcails listed so far
Other vendors may choose to list at lower prices with deliverers extra based on location - that's their choice
It's not the intention for there o be just one supplier of any given product on farm marketplace - anyone who wants to can sell on it just like Amazon you may ultimately have multiple vendors selling the same item and you will be able to choose which is best for you based on price and service / delivery timing etc
- Location
- Hammerwich
Not a merchant ! That's last thing I want to be !
FMP is just a platform that facilitates trade directly between manufacturer, distributer or importer with the farmer
It's closer in function to a buying group than a merchant in that it doesn't buy and sell it just connects
However by being online it is way lower cost and more efficient due to its self serve nature so can offer prices below those of buying groups without commitment or membership costs that they also demand
It's certainly proven distributive already - I think we have set the price on the chemical listed so far ! There is lot of very positive potential here for our industry, it's time it modernised for the better
- Location
- norfolk
Was after some clomazone but seems to be a minimum order of 12 litres and i don't need that much. Any option of a smaller order and paying for delivery?
how much do you need / what postcode ? (PM me best) I can ask the vendor for you
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I had the same issue. I only apply at 0.2 l/ha and already had some left in store. Although with label changes coming if it's the right product with right label and use by date might be worth having next years now.
- Location
- Kenilworth