Food supply chain software specialist LINKFRESH has signed a major deal which could be worth up to $5m in joint revenues with Illinois-based FamilyFarms Group.
FamilyFarms Group is a farmer-owned organisation focused on delivering business solutions for agricultural producers.
The company works with producers in 19 US states and 4 Canadian provinces and will introduce LINKFRESH Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to both current members and potential new members who will benefit from the increased visibility that a true ERP solution brings to improve processes and maximise profits.
The solution will further help independent farmers in the row crop industry to remain competitive, successful and independent through increased business efficiency.
Speaking about the new deal, the CEO of LINKFRESH in North America, Robert Frost said: “FamilyFarms Group is a fantastic company that has developed a strong reputation in North American farming thanks to its highly-effective business support that spreads best practice expertise to independent farmers. The fact that the company, which itself uses LINKFRESH ERP, sees the software as so business critical that it now wants to introduce it to member companies is a ringing testimonial.”
FamilyFarms Group CEO, Allen Lash, has over 48 years of affiliation with AgriSolutions, a financial consulting and agribusiness services provider.
AgriSolutions was acquired by FamilyFarms Group in January 2015. Lash, along with FamilyFarms Group Executive Vice President, Harold Birch, are uniquely positioned and qualified to help initiate a comprehensive ERP system for agricultural producers.
“Crop agriculture is changing. To think, we as crop producers, can use old technology in a precision ag environment and succeed is a mistake,” said Lash. “At FamilyFarms Group, we researched several ERP platforms and chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LINKFRESH. LINKFRESH is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and has more ERP experience than anyone else in the vegetable, fruit and food industry.”
Mike Kalisvaart, owner of Kalco Farms in Gibbons, Alberta Canada, is one of FamilyFarms Group members operating the ERP system. Kalisvaart has seen positive results and is confident the ERP system will be an instrumental tool in helping Kalco Farms grow.
“The ERP system has centralised all of our farm activity and eliminates a lot of overlap between multiple pieces of software and spreadsheets,” said Kalisvaart. “Using the ERP has forced us to take our management processes to a higher level. The way we interact with the software has given us new insights into gaps in our processes which have caused increased costs and inefficiencies.
“The platform is sophisticated and customisable, allowing us to track field activity, organise daily tasks, weigh grain in the field or in the yard, and track multiple levels of inventory. Additionally, we have found the ERP’s accounting package to be comprehensive, intuitive and structured logically.”
“Effective ERP software helps at every step of the cycle to planning the optimum crop size, planting times as well as streamlining harvest and distribution meaning farming businesses become efficient, effective and more profitable,” says Frost. “With such an expansive network in North America, we are excited to work more closely with FamilyFarms Group to help its network of farmers.”
The move to work more extensively within the row crop industry marks a bold new step for LINKFRESH as it expands into a relatively untapped sector.
The deal has the potential to lead to uptake of LINKFRESH software to many new crop producing clients and represents a major coup for the ERP software firm in the US.
