TOM STAPLES fondly remembers the time when he spoke to a Saskatchewan canola grower who had seen canola seed performance analytics provided by Farmers Business Network (FBN) Canada, and said he was ready to change his seed purchase based on it. There was another instance FBN’s American co-founder Charles Baron recalls, which occurred at a dealer meeting in the U.S., when a seed dealer said farmers were calling to learn more about his company because its seed products were rank- ing well on the network. “The corporate folks from the seed company were nervous about FBN, but this farmer dealer stood up and said he was seeing a lot of inbound interest in their products, because farmers had seen them performing well on FBN, which they trust,” says Baron, co-founder of FBN. “We’re giving farmers a real-world picture on exactly how seeds are yielding locally, which would be best suited for each of a farmer’s fields, and what farmers are actually paying for them in the market. That transpar- ency is really unparalleled and helps growers make better decisions.” An American company that offers farmers a new way of doing business, FBN has come to Canada, setting up a head office in High River, Alta., and Farmers Business Network has come to Canada, and says it’s offering more transparency to growers. Marc Zienkiewicz recently announcing its acquisition of Yorkton Distributors in Saskatchewan — the beginning of what it says will be a distribution network across the West. According to Staples, general manager for FBN Canada, the acquisi- tion represents an important new era for the Canadian seed and agricul- ture sectors. FBN allows farmers to anonymously share precision ag data including seed performance, as well as information on what they’re paying for seed and crop protection products. Farmers can also purchase inputs — including seed — directly online from FBN and its partners for which FBN can provide credit access. “I refer to FBN as the Amazon of the agriculture world,” Staples says. “It’s e-commerce, where you place your order using digital technology and the product arrives at your door. We’re starting to set up that distribu- tion network in Western Canada just like any other retailer. Our acquisition of Yorkton Distributors is the first puzzle piece to that.” Staples was FBN Canada’s first employee, coming on with the com- pany in November 2017. Since then, the number of FBN Canada employ- ees has risen to 15. The company says more than two million acres of Canadian farms from across the Prairies and Ontario have joined the network. Farmers pay an annual sub- SILICONVALLEY JUSTENTERED THECANADIAN SEEDREALM 4 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2018