Farm Compare - see how your crop protection prices compare?

[Clive]

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It's taken us a lot longer than expected but it was one of those things where the deeper we got into it the more potential we could see and the better we wanted to make it but TFF' Farm Compare is finally tested and live

You can access it via the icon on the header of every TTF page or the menu bar, there are full instructions there and hopefully answers to any questions you will have about it

Since the beginnings of TFF the various tracker threads have been some of the most popular and useful helping many of us buy better and save money, there has often been a reluctance to share the source of prices however for fear that supplier may not offer that price again so it's always been clear than demand for a fully anonymous system to compare prices was needed, Farm Compare achieves that providing a 100% anonymous platform to compare supply, quote or even buying group prices

We have done a lot of testing and had a lot of help from a great group of Beta test TFF farmers who have helped shape this, there are already over 16,000 verified price points on there so plenty to compare your prices to and learn where to get better prices. You can submit "verified" (evidenced) prices or just verbal quotes (unverified) however the quality of results you get very much reflect the quality of what you put in, the idea is a simple fair trade of your price for someone else's price

Any feedback appreciated, if its successful on crop protection products we will expand the price comparisons to fuel, feeds, fert, seed, and anything else there is the demand for

Here is a link - https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?farm-compare/

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[Chris F]

A few comments so far. There is very little un-verified prices in the system:

Verfied Prices - around 16,000
UnVerified Prices - around 400

Don't be surprised if you don't get much in the way of results for unverified. We have done it this way as we had rogue prices being add to the system in our test phase. Try and upload an invoice in the short term when you try the system.

 

[Chris F]

An Example of what you can see

You can run searches for anything - this example is for Amistar - a 250g Azoxystrobin

This is where you search: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?farm-compare/search

The next page gives you the summary results and all the equivalent products. Plus how much variance there is in the prices that have been submitted to date:

You can see that Syngenta's Amistar has a price variance of 81% and there are 21 variants with prices and a further 31 without prices. 52 versions of 250g Azoxystrobin in total.

Click on View Prices to go to the details page:

You now need to have submitted prices to get further than this screen - here are the results of a verified price search:

This search has been run on full range of dates and for the whole country. So the best prices are from Hutchinsons in October 2019. Each price comes with a packsize, you will notice generally the best prices are achieved by buying bigger quantities. The Average price paid is £24.06 across all prices submitted. If you have submitted a price - your price will appear in the top right.

Below this information for Amistar - you can then see similar for all the variants:

You then get the average price for all the variants. The one with the best price at the top. The best average price was for a 250g Azoxy called Azure.

Below this you can then see a graph that represents the range of prices paid for the different variants:

The question is - which variant did you buy and how did your price compare to the average? Add your invoices to farm Compare to find out.

 

[Steevo]

Wow, this looks far more impressive than I had expected!

 

[Chris F]

You will get an alert every time you receive and then use a "search":

You can see how many searches you have by clicking on your username and selecting "Your Wallet"

 

[teslacoils]

Ace. I will give it a go. Will have to dig out some pre Christmas bills first.

 

[Chris F]

Any information you add is held under "Your Invoices":

You will be able to export this to Farmbench or any other program you want to in due course. We are finalising a spec of the export.

It you can export your prices from another system then send them to me and I can import them for you quickly.

 

[teslacoils]

I don't have a system beyond bits of paper.

 

[Clive]

Wow, this looks far more impressive than I had expected!

it has the potential to be a very powerful tool for uk farmers - lets hope it gets the use it deserves and we can then develop versions for other inputs

its is a work in progress so feedback on improvement suggestions appreciated

if you spot any rougue prices results please let us know as well so we can keep it as accurate as possible

 

[Chris F]

I don't have a system beyond bits of paper.

That’s fine. Just take pictures and use you phone to submit.

 

[Cowcorn]

​

It's taken us a lot longer than expected but it was one of those things where the deeper we got into it the more potential we could see and the better we wanted to make it but TFF' Farm Compare is finally tested and live

You can access it via the icon on the header of every TTF page or the menu bar, there are full instructions there and hopefully answers to any questions you will have about it

Since the beginnings of TFF the various tracker threads have been some of the most popular and useful helping many of us buy better and save money, there has often been a reluctance to share the source of prices however for fear that supplier may not offer that price again so it's always been clear than demand for a fully anonymous system to compare prices was needed, Farm Compare achieves that providing a 100% anonymous platform to compare supply, quote or even buying group prices

We have done a lot of testing and had a lot of help from a great group of Beta test TFF farmers who have helped shape this, there are already over 16,000 verified price points on there so plenty to compare your prices to and learn where to get better prices. You can submit "verified" (evidenced) prices or just verbal quotes (unverified) however the quality of results you get very much reflect the quality of what you put in, the idea is a simple fair trade of your price for someone else's price

Any feedback appreciated, if its successful on crop protection products we will expand the price comparisons to fuel, feeds, fert, seed, and anything else there is the demand for

Here is a link - https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?farm-compare/

​

There now a free benefit from a free forum . Beat that RT !!! The TFF members package is starting to take shape .

 

[Chris F]

Suspicious Prices

We have included a report function on the results page just as there is on every post on TFF - if you see a price you think is wrong, please do report this.

 

[Chris F]

We are in the process of adding adjuvants to Farm Compare right now. Please do let us know if there is anything we are missing. At the moment only products with a MAPP number or HSE Adjuvants on available to compare.

 

[Brisel]

Is there a section on "snake oils?" If not, don't waste too much time on it. There are far too many variables to compare one product with another.

Be aware that many adjuvants don't just contain one ingredient. Drill and Zarado are both DeSangosse methylated oils but contain differing levels of 3 ingredients (from memory). Zarado has more wetters & surfactants than Drill & has a bigger price tag as a result.

 

[Chris F]

Is there a section on "snake oils?" If not, don't waste too much time on it. There are far too many variables to compare one product with another.

Be aware that many adjuvants don't just contain one ingredient. Drill and Zarado are both DeSangosse methylated oils but contain differing levels of 3 ingredients (from memory). Zarado has more wetters & surfactants than Drill & has a bigger price tag as a result.

You can't really compare them between brands - as you say they are all almost unique in terms of ingredients. So you can only look at the price on an individual basis. So for instance, just look at prices for Biopower.

 

[Clive]

You can't really compare them between brands - as you say they are all almost unique in terms of ingredients. So you can only look at the price on an individual basis. So for instance, just look at prices for Biopower.

they don’t have MAPP numbers either do they ?

i guess price comparison is possible but only by brand name ie no comparison of variants

 

[Chris F]

they don’t have MAPP numbers either do they ?

i guess price comparison is possible but only by brand name ie no comparison of variants

Adjuvants do have a reference number from the HSE - Biopower is A0617 fro instance:

List Entry

secure.pesticides.gov.uk

 

[Chris F]

When adding invoices to farm Compare, please don't cover up the date or supplier. Supplier name is often in the footer as well, if you want to fold over the top.

No paperwork is kept, it gets digitally deleted as soon as prices are added to your TFF account.

 

[Steevo]

When adding invoices to farm Compare, please don't cover up the date or supplier. Supplier name is often in the footer as well, if you want to fold over the top.

No paperwork is kept, it gets digitally deleted as soon as prices are added to your TFF account.

Fold over the top to remove personal details...?

 

[Chris F]

Fold over the top to remove personal details...?

Some farmers are covering their personal information - Farm name and address, by folding over the top of the invoice and then taking a picture of it.