Farm Advisory Service as a business partner: a new integrated approach based on Progis solutions eFarmer Central European Conference, Budapest, 31 January-1 February 2007

Current state of FAS Technology intensive FAS The issue of data ownership Business opportunities with FAS Partners 1: Agro-Insurance Partners 2: Agro-Banks Partners 3: Commodity Sellers Other beneficiaries Cooperation within AGROffice PROGIS business offers Conclusions Outline

Several Strategies for financing FAS Current State of FAS Realization PublicPrivate Funding Public A – Free state advice service B – Additional advice service (contracts, voucher schemes) Private C – Cost recovery by state advice service D – Private advice service Source: Povellato and Scorzelli, The Farm Advisory System: A Challenge for the Implementation of Cross Compliance. INEA. FAS must be operational by January 1st 2007 at the latest (Regulation 1782/2003); The participation of farmers is voluntary; In 2010 the advisory system may become compulsory (Art. 16); Support granted to farmers to use FAS (max. 80 % or up to EUR 1,500 per advisory service (Art. 21); Support granted to cover the costs for setting up FAS, both for organisations and farmers (Regulation 1698/2005).

Documentation is produced with one single input and for different sources; Reduction of reporting work, subsidy management automatized; Better management due to planning tools; A link to the agro-technological database; Optimisation of whole production process (e.g. fertilizer and chemicals use, machinery use etc.); Better business calculation, easy variants calculation Easy production of business plans and access to credits; For FAS agent: –Face-to-face communication with a farmer (due to time saving) –Better access to and sharing of information Technology intensive FAS

Farmers –first hand and most reliable information, –not so open to share their information, –when are urged to provide information this might be not so close to the reality. Trust Centers –collect the information from each single farm, –filter the information based on requirement of inquiring side, –share the data and information (anonymously) with the farmers’ “OK”, The issue of data ownership

Main activities: –Advice on agro-technology; –Farm documentation: Subsidy claims, Cross Compliance issues, Food Traceability requirements, Various reports to national bodies. Additional activities: –Possibility to run Logistics for group of farms; Transport optimization, Land use optimization, etc. –Possibility to provide commercial services for: Agro-Insurance companies, Agriculture oriented Banks, Commodity sellers, etc. Business opportunities with FAS

Partners 1: Agro-Insurance FAS structure as a mean for: –Marketing –Sales –Direct interaction with clients –Ensuring two way communication (top-down and bottom-up) IT PLatform as a mean for: –Insurance data verification –Crating database of Insurance history in a single farm region country –Diversification of risk areas –Basis for prognoses and strategy development

Banks become part of FAS structure ; Trainings for potential clients via FAS; First hand and reliable information from the field; FAS agent helps farmers to produce business plans; Increased number of clients due to the easier access to micro-credits; Face-to-face communication with its clients (via the service provided by FAS agent); FAS agent may provide a non-direct advertisement; Co-financing possibilities of the technological enrichment of FAS. Partners 2: Agro- Banks

IT platform / data and FAS structure for qualified use of new products; Putting datailed characteristics of the products to the Agro-Technological database of AGROffice software; Using FAS structure and agents for indirect promotion of their products; Direct feedback from end-users on improvement of products sold; Opportunity to integrate the newest technologies in a basis of an IT platform used by farmers; Partners 3: Commodity Sellers

Governmental Institutions –Up to date field level information – e.g. statistical data filtered by trust centers; –Opportunity to receive digital subsidy claims; –Tools for regional planning and monitoring –Workforce for environmental issues Traders, Export organisations / Exporters –Food traceability / EUREPGAP compatible Food producing and processing companies –Quality increase and verification ability Other beneficiaries (partners)

Education and Science: –Permanent support for agricultural expertise database, setup and update –Use of the software for educational purposes – free of charge –Experts develop, test and implement on top expertise (GIS, FOMUMMIS, logstics, rural area management, precision farming, virtual farming etc.) IT Companies –Localization of Progis products, –Permanent technical support to users, –Distribution of licenses for Progis products FAS –Trainings for AGROffice users –Feedbacks for product improvement –Distribution channel for AGROffice Cooperation within AGROffice

Tools for –rural area management, –agriculture, –forestry, –pipeline management, –risk management, etc.; Logistics –Map production or map preparation (import, vectorisation etc.) –Application design including i-net web solution –Integration of time, logistic optimisation and routing –Hardware – stationary, mobile, GPS, GPRS Communication –Track visualisation and calculation –Machine guidance Project development (Progis know-how in background); PROGIS business offers

FAS (when equipped with appropriate tools) is an attractive business partner for those who sell products or services to farmers; FAS may provide timely, reliable and accurate field level information to governmental institutions and other interested bodies for strategic planning and monitoring; Agro-Insurance companies, Agricultural Banks and Commodity Sellers may become part of FAS with their investments that will ensure: –Independence of FAS from project based financing; –More demand driven services for end-users; –Dynamic development and sustainability. Cooperation within AGROffice brings and opportunity to fasten the linkages between science and extension. Conclusions

Thanks for your attention! By Arman Manukyan, Marketing Director, PROGIS Software AG