The future of farming. Release by release.
In flight
Mobile/Web/Admin
December 2024 - Price on Request
Price volatility and commercial sensitivities in agricultural commodities mean that for certain products it is sometimes difficult to post a price. Up to now, farmers had to ring in to get a quote. With this important new feature we’re letting farmers place requests for quote for specific high volume or high-volatility items. An attached workflow feeds the quote back to the individual farmer via mobile notification and email, complete with a quote expiry window.
In flight
Mobile/Web/Admin
October 2024 - Analytics 2.0
We are preparing the platform for the next big push and getting ready to add AI features, for the benefit of farmers. Starting with a new analytics suite to allow our Coop customers to see exactly what their farmers are looking at, we will in 2025 follow up with AI that can use the intelligence to make real-time product recommendations, determine disease maps based on purchases and help farmers and agronomists optimise purchase timing.
Shipped
Mobile/Web
July/August 2024 - This is a little embarassing…
We are finally making the website version of the marketplace fully responsive.
What to say.
We’ve been busy.
Shipped
Mobile/Web
May 2024 - Internationalising the category tree
As a platform we are keen to maintain a single category tree for all agronomy, livestock and energy inputs, regardless of our customers’ language and customisation requirements. We are introducing translation and multi-language support so that what is Fertiliser over here can be Fertilizer over there (avec un petit peu d’Engrais en Quebec). Or did anyone say Düngemittel? Ab Mai alles dabei.
Shipped
Mobile/Web
March 2024 - Collective Deals v1.2
We are expanding the demand aggregation feature set with a supplier bid management tool that makes it easy to enter supplier bids for Collective Deals in a reverse auction and determine the winner across different grades, order sizes and locations.
In flight
Mobile/Web/Admin
November 2024 - Farmer Store Credit
To help our customers entice farmers to the platform and to keep them buying, we are now allowing them to allocate store credit to farmer end users, for any kind of purpose and which can be used to make purchases on the platform. The credit is advertised as a banner on mobile app and web and redeemable in the checkout.
In flight
Admin
September 2024 - ERP Integrations
To support our success in rolling out in the US market, we are building an API to allow us to integrate with the Enterprise Resource Platforms used by US and Cooperatives in other countries.
Shipped
Mobile/Web/Admin
June 2024 - Deep Linking
Allow the farmer to click an email deal link and send them straight to the checkout. Sounds easy. But what if the farmer clicks an expired link? What if the deal is not available in their area? What if the farmer wants to see the deal on the mobile app? Thank God we have big-brained boffins on the team….
Shipped
Mobile/Web
April 2024 - Driving Farmer Engagement for Group Deals
With the ability to manage Collective Deals fully in the system now, the next obvious step is to maximise platform engagement by building out our messaging system, to support more targeted User Notifications at varying stages of a Collective deal lifecycle. We are at the same time introducing functionality to deep-link message responses straight into the checkout.
Shipped
Mobile/Web
January 2024: Bespoke Quote Requests
Farmers can now ask for bespoke requests for specific product grades and/or R&D products that are not on the shelves.
Shipped
Admin
October 2023 - Collective Deals v1.1
We made it easier for our buying group partners to handle the increasing scale of running Collective Deals and reverse auctions.
Shipped
Mobile/Web
November 2023 - Manage your farm
Farmer users can now add more holdings and manage existing ones from inside the web app and mobile app
Shipped
Admin
September 2023 - Better Admin support for our partner buying groups
We made it possible for our buying group partners to manage all the aspects of product distribution. With this critical update, our partners can now with a few clicks decide which products they want to sell, where and for how much.
In all of this we maintained the essence of our SaaS platform, which is to allow our partners to sell more at the lowest possible cost - so that farmers can save more.
Shipped
Mobile/Web
September 2023 - Target Deals
Our Collective Deals feature, launched at the start of the year, has proven itself. Hundreds of individual farmers have joined everything from Glyphosate to Urea to Seed Collective Deals, using their collective muscle to drive prices down a staggering 10%. So we’re doubling down by launching Target Deals - a new price finding tool that will drive prices down even more and which allows us to bring more and better group discounts to fuel. Target Deals work by pre-negotiating a volume based group discount with suppliers that want to play - once the target is met the price drops for everyone.
Shipped
Mobile/Web
August 2023 - We’re going international
We built support for international partners. To get us there the team is create support for new timezones, address formats, and currencies.
With this we now have an ultra-low cost sales and marketing capabilities - we can literally partner with any partner anywhere in the world and get them trading with their members in a matter of days.
Shipped
Mobile/Web
March 2023 - A shiny new homepage
Throughout 22 we were working out, hitting the gym, lifting weights, running marathons to finally get the body we want, and then do all the amazing things we’ve been wanting to do on the deal page and the checkout. But oh no - what’s that? We forgot to fix our spotty teenage face!
So let’s quit flexing for a moment and tighten up the homepage carousel, plumb in a better navigation while we’re at it and use our shiny new product images to advertise our special offers. Now, that looks better...
Shipped
Admin/Mobile/Web
November 2022 - Checkout Payment Module
This is transformative. We have so far not offered an integrated payment solution in the checkout. And before you ask - that is because it took a long time to find a provider that does not charge extortionate rates, which then make the products we sell more expensive. So now: gone are the days where our admin team had to fire off invoices and look at bank transfers coming in, long live the days where a transaction truly ends on the checkout, for the convenience of all.
And that’s not all, we’re investing in a super-exciting Open Banking payment solution to facilitate bank to bank transfers from within the checkout. Because that’s even cheaper than a card-based solution. And our members like cheaper just as much as we do.
Shipped
Mobile/Web
December 2022 - Collective Deals
You don’t have to look further than our homepage and you’ll know that our ultimate aim is to give farmers real pricing power, with the help of modern tech. So we’re borrowing heavily from our background in building and running comparison marketplaces and introducing Collective Deals to ag input buying. There are certain products every farmer has to buy - our new Collective Deal category bundles their buying power into maximum collective demand, giving us the chance to put that demand before suppliers, and get their absolute best price. Urea, Minerals, NPK, AN, generic chemicals, milk powder - these example commodities are cheaper if bought collectively. Not a new idea at all, but our platform takes it to another level.
Shipped
Admin/Mobile/Web
September 2022 - Adding Product Specifications
To review trial results before applying a biostimulant, to see exactly what is in a minerals bucket before feeding it to your animals and being able to download the safety sheet for a crop protection deal is very important. We’re attaching all of this and more to every product in our database and making these accessible from the checkout journey.
Shipped
Admin/Mobile/Web
August 2022 - In-Page Filtering
In the last 15 months we onboarded over 1,000 products across different categories. These all come with their own specific physical and commercial characteristics, so we are delivering an upgrade to the way members can search and filter for various deals in-page. For example, our members can now look for NPK by individual N, P, K (or S) content, amongst many other things. Agronomists rejoice.
Shipped
Admin/Mobile/Web
July 2022 - VAT
We’re now displaying VAT/subtotals on web/mobile checkout. Since this update is about tax, we’re not going to crow about it. Still a lot of work to get right, though, given that a lot of inputs are either VAT exempt or reduced rate below certain volume thresholds…
Shipped
Admin/Mobile/Web
April 2022 - New Category Seeds
We onboarded two national seeds suppliers, to seed the seed category. From autumn we expect to host a full range of winter season seeds, ie wheat, barley, OSR + forage at super competitive prices. Come visit, lots to seed here.
Shipped
Admin/Mobile/Web
January 2022 - Product Imagery upgrade
Pictures are a powerful tool when it comes to turning users into customers. Not an issue when we were largely focused on commodity products like fuels, but an important differentiator for some of the more complex livestock and crop protection products.
Shipped
Admin/Mobile/Web
November 2021 - Veterinary Medications New Category
A new category has landed. Our buying group partners can now onboard vet med suppliers and their products. This means support for POM-V and POM-VPS conditions in the checkout. If you know what that means then we’re the platform for you (hint: the ‘Join FutureFarm’ button is top right).
Shipped
Admin/Mobile/Web
November 2021 - Expand Lubricants, Livestock and Fertiliser range
We tested our improved product and supplier onboarding process by adding some key suppliers across different product ranges. With this upgrade we successfully removed a key bottleneck in onboarding.
In Progress
Admin
November 2021 - Updated Marketplace homepage and navigation
We’ve applied the branding changes from the new version of the mobile app to the web. The Buying Group brand now takes centre stage in the header and there is clearer and more logical brand and functionality segregation separation between the Buying Group shop brand and the platform brand.
Shipped
Admin/Mobile
October 2021 - Special Offer notification
With commodities in short supply globally, particularly in agriculture, we are launching a critical feature to alert farmers about the availability of special, limited-time offers as and when loaded onto the platform by the buyer. Farmers whose delivery addresses are within the delivery radius of a product are notified by mobile alert and link straight into the checkout. FOMO begone.
Shipped
Admin/Web/Mobile
October 2021 - Improved onboarding journey
Farmers who come to the FutureFarm platform via a partner source via referral link now have a 100% end-to-end partner branded, optimised user journey.
In Progress
Admin/Web/Mobile
October 2021 - Deal Syndication
We’re putting modern meaning into the Co-operatives movement and providing an answer to a vexing question: How to achieve scale when sales are limited to your existing membership? With Deal Syndication, buying groups can sell their deals to a wider audience, through our network, and pass the scale benefit back to the existing membership.
Shipped
Admin/Web/Mobile
September 2021 - Farmer can invite other farm managers
Farmers can now invite agronomists or other colleagues to join our platform so they can place orders on their behalf, for their farm. This is one we are particularly proud of!
Shipped
Admin/Web/Mobile
August 2021 - Price Club
With this feature we're bringing the fuel syndicate idea to farming. Farmers can add their Heating Oil volume to a rolling target price deal. As the aggregate volume grows over a period of 1-2 week, suppliers place final bids for the combined volume.
Shipped
Mobile
July 2021 - Mobile App 2.0
This next version of the mobile app brings a true multi-product buying journey, the re-designed deal tile and the checkout first introduced with the web app in March.
Shipped
Web/Mobile
June 2021 - Machinery Parts and Livestock
Two new product categories to complement the existing range.
Shipped
Web/Mobile
June 2021 - Volume-driven aggregation discounts
This release covers the final price-optimisation model, to accompany the existing spot-price (PriceWatch) and simple volume deal features. Buying group admin will be able to create deals with inbuilt discount/rebate thresholds, which are automatically triggered when pre-set aggregate order volumes are achieved.
Shipped
Web
Apr 2021 - Fertiliser and Crop Protection
Support for the new fertiliser and crop protection products user buying journey. The features to be shipped with this release cover the ability to search for compound products by active ingredient or MAPP number plus support for pack sizes, rebates and other nuances required to make for a good buying experience on the web.
Shipped
Web
Mar 2021- Web app buying journey
We launched the new web app journey, to accompany the FutureFarm mobile app. Our beta group of farmers can select and purchase products from the buying groups they are affiliated with and manage their account on marketplace.futurefarm.ag in addition to the FutureFarm mobile app.
Shipped
Web
Mar 2021- Self-enrolment
Buying group members are able to register on the site choosing the buying group(s) they are (a) member(s) of, with independent farmers being directed to Farmdeals.ag. We’re capturing farm business details in all their complex glory, allowing for multiple holdings and billing addresses, topped off by an individual approval step controlled by the buying group admin.
Shipped
Web
Feb 2021 - New public website
Launch of new version of Futurefarm.ag with hero video and lots more information about our services. You’re looking at it… Hello!
Shipped
Mobile
Sep 2020 - PriceWatch
PriceWatch pools intra-day spot-price orders with those of other members, so that buying desks can negotiate extra volume discounts based on logistical efficiencies, before the deal ends. Users are automatically notified of price drops and can opt out PriceWatch on a transaction-by-transaction basis.
Shipped
Admin
Aug 2020 - Order transfer
To enable the upcoming PriceWatch feature, we built a price checking tool into the buying desk admin suite, which allows traders to scan for cheaper, comparable offers and to move pending orders into cheaper deals.
Shipped
Mobile
Jun 2020 - Mobile launch
Release of the iOS companion to the existing Android app (launched April 2020). Pre-registered farmer users can search for and order from a range of agricultural input fuels (Gas Oil, Heating Oil, Derv). Orders are stored and displayed in a chronological list.
Shipped
Admin
Apr 2020 - Trading desk
Launch of fuel trade desk, including deal creation, order history, order export, user management and deal archive features. We’re in business.