GROWMARK has announced the expansion of its partnership with Brazilian company Solinftec to enhance customers? overall service experience and improve operational efficiencies.
Solinftec has 13 years under its belt developing digital ag solutions for the largest agricultural operations in the world on more than 22 million acres of row crops. According to Lance Ruppert, GROWMARK?s director of agronomy marketing and technology, Solinftec uses logistics, analytics and real time weather data with algorithms to significantly increase partners? machinery and input use efficiency, improve crop yields, and reduce environmental impacts.
?We were introduced to Solinftec just under three years ago,? Ruppert said. ?They are a Brazilian company that specializes in operational efficiencies. What intrigued me initially was Solinftec was doing operational efficiency work in the sugarcane market. That?s where they started in Brazil.?
Solinftec established its US headquarters at Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Indiana in 2019 and began researching the needs of US ag retailers and growers. Initial research in the US found ag retailers? machines were idle 30 percent of the time, traveling 35 percent of the time and generating revenue 35 percent of the time. Ruppert says Solinftec saw the potential to more than double the average acreage covered by one sprayer in a season.
?We?ve got to keep sprayers running in the fields as much as possible,? Ruppert said. ?I think we?ve all seen sprayers or fertilizer application equipment sitting on the edge of a field waiting for a refill. That?s one of the key pieces we?ve been working with them on is how we can keep those sprayers running and keep our tendering equipment moving.?
Over the past year and a half, GROWMARK and several of its FS cooperatives have collaborated with Solinftec to develop a software solution that significantly enhances the operational efficiency of its custom application business.
The Solinftec sprayer/spreader solution for crop protection products, anhydrous ammonia and other fertilizers will be available to all of GROWMARK?s FS cooperatives across the US and Canada for the 2021 growing season.
