Why AgGateway? Here’s Your Elevator Speech
by Rod Conner, President/CEO

It probably won’t surprise you to learn a lot of Agribusiness professionals that I encounter have never heard of AgGateway (we’re working to correct that.) Without fail, after asking "What is AgGateway?” the next question almost always is “Why does the Ag industry need AgGateway?” I’d be willing to bet that you get the same question. Does it catch you off guard or do you have an answer ready?

I thought it might be helpful in this month’s article to offer you a short elevator speech so next time someone asks, you’ll have your answer prepared. Feel free to plagiarize or put this into your own words.

This brief elevator speech, like any worth its salt, has a short catchy phrase to help you remember it. The reason the Ag Industry needs AgGateway is because “sustainable productive Agriculture needs a lot of people working together". Read it again a few times, it’s not too hard.

Now that you’ve memorized that, let’s fill in a few blanks.

• eBusiness is one of the key elements for long term sustainability and productivity in Agriculture

It’s hard to imagine that agriculture could be sustainable or productive without the use of information and communication technologies applied to all aspects of the business in a standardized way. Think precision Agriculture, supply chain management, and the like.

• For eBusiness to have a positive impact on Agriculture there must be broad-based participation, collaboration and support from the stakeholders.

This can’t be accomplished one company at a time, or even by one Ag industry segment. It takes a lot of collaborative effort by a wide variety of people to make it work for everyone in the Ag community.

• AgGateway provides the collaborative framework for expanding the use of eBusiness in Agriculture.

AgGateway is the place that this is happening. No one else makes it happen the way we do. You can’t afford not to be involved.

There you have it, I hope next time someone asks, you have your answer ready. After that successful communication, text me or send me an email and I’ll follow-up with them.

Rod