April 8, 2025
•
2 min
read
Growers see it all—different soils, climates, and challenges that research trials alone can’t capture. Their feedback is packed with value, but collecting it and making it work for research? That’s where things get complicated: Traditional methods of collecting grower feedback are often inconsistent, or even non-existent.
New tools are reshaping the industry, allowing grower feedback to drive the big decisions in variety and product development. This article explores why grower feedback is crucial, the impact of structured feedback collection on technical and commercial teams, in seed companies and biologicals providers.
Grower feedback provides real-world insights that scientific trials alone cannot capture. Controlled field trials help assess a variety’s potential, but they do not fully account for the diverse climates, soil types, agricultural practices and unexpected challenges that growers face. By integrating growers’ direct input into the research and development process, companies can create better-adapted, higher-performing crop varieties and products.
Feedback from growers helps identify strengths and weaknesses in crop varieties, allowing for continuous improvement. It ensures that the varieties developed align with growers’ needs, leading to higher adoption rates and increased profitability. Additionally, understanding how crops respond to real-world conditions accelerates breeding programs and enhances sustainability by optimizing resource use, such as fertilizers and irrigation.
Growers can assess varieties' performance within an agronomic system – information that is difficult to capture and valorize with the scientific approach.
When feedback is systematically gathered and analyzed, it leads to more reliable decision-making in agriculture. Standardized data collection allows researchers and agronomists to compare performance across different regions, leading to the development of varieties and products with improved agronomic performance and with high environmental adaptability.
For farmers, structured feedback collection reduces costs and maximizes investments in seeds and agricultural inputs. When growers know what performs best in specific conditions, they can make informed choices that enhance their productivity. Suppliers benefit from better alignment with market needs, ensuring they develop innovations that truly meet the expectations of the farming community.
By collecting feedback from specific fields, it becomes possible to track the performance over time under various conditions. For example, if a particular variety consistently performs well for growers in fields with sandy soils, this insight can be used to recommend the variety to other growers with similar field characteristics. This data-driven approach allows for more precise, targeted recommendations, helping farmers choose the best-performing varieties for their unique environments.
Despite its importance, grower feedback has traditionally been difficult to collect and manage efficiently. Commercial team representatives visiting farmers' fields still rely on paper-based surveys or inconsistent digital records, leading to lost or unreliable data. Bloomeo offers an innovative solution by providing a seamless system for gathering and analyzing grower feedback in real-time.
Challenges that Bloomeo has to overcome:
- In order to valorise all the farmers' feedback, the data captured has to be well structured
- Finding an innovative methodology to valorize the text comments collected in large volumes
Bloomeo empowers the commercial team and farmers with mobile tools that enable seamless data collection during field visits. Observations from growers are directly uploaded to a centralized database where they are systematically linked to growing areas, cultivation practices, soil conditions, and crop varieties. This integration ensures standardized feedback, creating a comprehensive dataset for better decision-making. Managed by the research team, the system fosters collaboration between commercial teams and researchers, ensuring that all stakeholders have access to real-time data and can efficiently work together.
One of the key advantages of Bloomeo is its ability to integrate grower feedback with essential agricultural data, such as climate conditions, soil properties, and farming practices. This feature enables researchers to assess how varieties perform in specific environments, leading to more targeted and effective variety development programs. Additionally, the software generates comprehensive reports and variety sheets, making it easier to share insights with stakeholders and drive informed decision-making.
The project of collecting and valorizing growers' feedback is transformative for many agricultural organizations with needs to:
- Decide and prioritize the information to be collected e.g. environmental conditions or cultivation practices
- Structure traits with unified methods of notation (e.g. choices of pick lists, and variables to collect…)
- Training growers and salespeople to use digital tools
- Promoting the value of a strategic collaborative innovation
Doriane with 40 years of experience in digital transformation for innovation in agriculture proposes intuitive digital tools for data capture and data analysis that help empower commercial teams with innovative tools for grower feedback collection.
We had the pleasure of discussing the importance of grower feedback with a corn and sunflower farmer based in Western France. He shared how valuable it is when seed or product providers actively seek out feedback from growers, making them feel that their insights are appreciated. "It’s rewarding to see our experiences taken into account, and I’m always eager to try new varieties or new products that are suggested based on the unique conditions of my fields. Being involved in the development of new varieties gives me a sense of contribution to the overall progress of agriculture," he explained. The farmer emphasized that this collaborative approach not only helps him make more informed decisions but also improves productivity in the long run. He also confessed that he would be eager to share information if he could benefit in return from a network of farmers who are in the same ambition.
We also spoke with a representative from a seed company, who commented on the process: "Grower feedback is vital for us to ensure we're developing varieties that truly meet the needs of farmers," she explained. "With tools that streamline feedback collection, we can gather reliable data from farms in various regions, allowing us to adjust our variety development programs and better align our offerings with the challenges farmers face." The representative noted that this collaborative approach not only strengthens relationships with growers but also accelerates the development of better-performing crop varieties, contributing to a more efficient agricultural system.
For companies developing agricultural inputs like bio-controls, bio-stimulants, or crop protection products, grower feedback is essential to understand how products perform across varied environmental conditions and crop systems.
Field observations reveal how factors like soil type, climate, pest pressure, and application methods influence product effectiveness. Collecting this feedback allows product teams to fine-tune formulations, optimize usage recommendations, and validate performance claims under real-world conditions.
Additionally, growers' qualitative insights help identify practical improvements in application techniques and highlight market expectations, ultimately guiding more targeted and impactful innovation.
This collaborative, data-driven approach helps bridge the gap between costly, lengthy breeding programs and the immediate needs of growers. It means that recommendations can be tailored, ensuring that farmers adopt varieties best suited to their unique challenges, reducing the impact of factors beyond their control.
Moreover, by focusing on varieties that demonstrate proven field performance, companies avoid the costly mistake of investing in varieties that may not yield the desired outcomes when scaled up. This not only boosts profitability for seed companies but also translate directly into better returns for farmers. Aligning research with the genuine needs of the agricultural community ensures that every dollar spent on development translates into on-the-ground success. Ultimately, the integration of standardized grower feedback represents a necessary evolution in agricultural practice, paving the way for more sustainable and robust global food production.
Together, we can turn grower insights into transformative solutions that will drive a more sustainable, efficient, and thriving agricultural future!
Patricija Levickaite
Agronomist, Business engineer at Doriane
Did you find this article useful? Share it!
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April 24, 2025
Unlock the power of multi-factorial trials! Learn from our agronomist and IT expert to design, test, and analyze interaction effects for smarter crop research.
Patricija Levickaite
IT expert & Agronomy engineer
April 8, 2025
•
2 min
read
Growers see it all—different soils, climates, and challenges that research trials alone can’t capture. Their feedback is packed with value, but collecting it and making it work for research? That’s where things get complicated: Traditional methods of collecting grower feedback are often inconsistent, or even non-existent.
New tools are reshaping the industry, allowing grower feedback to drive the big decisions in variety and product development. This article explores why grower feedback is crucial, the impact of structured feedback collection on technical and commercial teams, in seed companies and biologicals providers.
Grower feedback provides real-world insights that scientific trials alone cannot capture. Controlled field trials help assess a variety’s potential, but they do not fully account for the diverse climates, soil types, agricultural practices and unexpected challenges that growers face. By integrating growers’ direct input into the research and development process, companies can create better-adapted, higher-performing crop varieties and products.
Feedback from growers helps identify strengths and weaknesses in crop varieties, allowing for continuous improvement. It ensures that the varieties developed align with growers’ needs, leading to higher adoption rates and increased profitability. Additionally, understanding how crops respond to real-world conditions accelerates breeding programs and enhances sustainability by optimizing resource use, such as fertilizers and irrigation.
Growers can assess varieties' performance within an agronomic system – information that is difficult to capture and valorize with the scientific approach.
When feedback is systematically gathered and analyzed, it leads to more reliable decision-making in agriculture. Standardized data collection allows researchers and agronomists to compare performance across different regions, leading to the development of varieties and products with improved agronomic performance and with high environmental adaptability.
For farmers, structured feedback collection reduces costs and maximizes investments in seeds and agricultural inputs. When growers know what performs best in specific conditions, they can make informed choices that enhance their productivity. Suppliers benefit from better alignment with market needs, ensuring they develop innovations that truly meet the expectations of the farming community.
By collecting feedback from specific fields, it becomes possible to track the performance over time under various conditions. For example, if a particular variety consistently performs well for growers in fields with sandy soils, this insight can be used to recommend the variety to other growers with similar field characteristics. This data-driven approach allows for more precise, targeted recommendations, helping farmers choose the best-performing varieties for their unique environments.
Despite its importance, grower feedback has traditionally been difficult to collect and manage efficiently. Commercial team representatives visiting farmers' fields still rely on paper-based surveys or inconsistent digital records, leading to lost or unreliable data. Bloomeo offers an innovative solution by providing a seamless system for gathering and analyzing grower feedback in real-time.
Challenges that Bloomeo has to overcome:
- In order to valorise all the farmers' feedback, the data captured has to be well structured
- Finding an innovative methodology to valorize the text comments collected in large volumes
Bloomeo empowers the commercial team and farmers with mobile tools that enable seamless data collection during field visits. Observations from growers are directly uploaded to a centralized database where they are systematically linked to growing areas, cultivation practices, soil conditions, and crop varieties. This integration ensures standardized feedback, creating a comprehensive dataset for better decision-making. Managed by the research team, the system fosters collaboration between commercial teams and researchers, ensuring that all stakeholders have access to real-time data and can efficiently work together.
One of the key advantages of Bloomeo is its ability to integrate grower feedback with essential agricultural data, such as climate conditions, soil properties, and farming practices. This feature enables researchers to assess how varieties perform in specific environments, leading to more targeted and effective variety development programs. Additionally, the software generates comprehensive reports and variety sheets, making it easier to share insights with stakeholders and drive informed decision-making.
The project of collecting and valorizing growers' feedback is transformative for many agricultural organizations with needs to:
- Decide and prioritize the information to be collected e.g. environmental conditions or cultivation practices
- Structure traits with unified methods of notation (e.g. choices of pick lists, and variables to collect…)
- Training growers and salespeople to use digital tools
- Promoting the value of a strategic collaborative innovation
Doriane with 40 years of experience in digital transformation for innovation in agriculture proposes intuitive digital tools for data capture and data analysis that help empower commercial teams with innovative tools for grower feedback collection.
We had the pleasure of discussing the importance of grower feedback with a corn and sunflower farmer based in Western France. He shared how valuable it is when seed or product providers actively seek out feedback from growers, making them feel that their insights are appreciated. "It’s rewarding to see our experiences taken into account, and I’m always eager to try new varieties or new products that are suggested based on the unique conditions of my fields. Being involved in the development of new varieties gives me a sense of contribution to the overall progress of agriculture," he explained. The farmer emphasized that this collaborative approach not only helps him make more informed decisions but also improves productivity in the long run. He also confessed that he would be eager to share information if he could benefit in return from a network of farmers who are in the same ambition.
We also spoke with a representative from a seed company, who commented on the process: "Grower feedback is vital for us to ensure we're developing varieties that truly meet the needs of farmers," she explained. "With tools that streamline feedback collection, we can gather reliable data from farms in various regions, allowing us to adjust our variety development programs and better align our offerings with the challenges farmers face." The representative noted that this collaborative approach not only strengthens relationships with growers but also accelerates the development of better-performing crop varieties, contributing to a more efficient agricultural system.
For companies developing agricultural inputs like bio-controls, bio-stimulants, or crop protection products, grower feedback is essential to understand how products perform across varied environmental conditions and crop systems.
Field observations reveal how factors like soil type, climate, pest pressure, and application methods influence product effectiveness. Collecting this feedback allows product teams to fine-tune formulations, optimize usage recommendations, and validate performance claims under real-world conditions.
Additionally, growers' qualitative insights help identify practical improvements in application techniques and highlight market expectations, ultimately guiding more targeted and impactful innovation.
This collaborative, data-driven approach helps bridge the gap between costly, lengthy breeding programs and the immediate needs of growers. It means that recommendations can be tailored, ensuring that farmers adopt varieties best suited to their unique challenges, reducing the impact of factors beyond their control.
Moreover, by focusing on varieties that demonstrate proven field performance, companies avoid the costly mistake of investing in varieties that may not yield the desired outcomes when scaled up. This not only boosts profitability for seed companies but also translate directly into better returns for farmers. Aligning research with the genuine needs of the agricultural community ensures that every dollar spent on development translates into on-the-ground success. Ultimately, the integration of standardized grower feedback represents a necessary evolution in agricultural practice, paving the way for more sustainable and robust global food production.
Together, we can turn grower insights into transformative solutions that will drive a more sustainable, efficient, and thriving agricultural future!
Patricija Levickaite
Agronomist, Business engineer at Doriane
Did you find this article useful? Share it!
