American Plains
Customer Stories
Background
For over 60 years, American Plains Co-op has been a local agricultural leader and ag service provider committed to excellence in the agriculture space. In that time, American Plains has grown to 16 elevators and 13 fueling site locations and offers agronomy, seed, feed, bulk fuel, grain, and farm supply services. While remaining committed to unwavering support of its growers and its community, American Plains is constantly looking for ways in which to provide more value and improve the customer experience.
The Opportunity
With continued growth over the years, and a commitment to deliver the best in class customer experience, American Plains was looking for a solution to help them better engage with growers to grow and retain their business. “Growers are asking for an app [customer portal] to view their account information, and Bushel has a reputation for providing great service. That’s why we went with Bushel for our app [customer portal],” said Cammie Vaupel, Communications & Brand Programs Coordinator
American Plains’ partnership with Bushel includes integration with and data from Ever.Ag’s EFC Merchant Ag enterprise software. Bushel’s technology and integration allowed American Plains to digitize scale tickets, contracts, settlements, and additional information for growers, providing it to them in near real-time via a portal accessed by smartphone or computer.Â
Vaupel mentioned that Bushel’s tools and its integration with Merchant Ag solves a big need for their growers. “We saw growers visiting other websites for grain pricing, and we wanted to keep them locked into American Plains. Our new app [customer portal] gives them easy, instant access to tickets and contract information, utilizing our app [customer portal] vs looking elsewhere,” said Vaupel.
The Results
Since onboarding with Bushel, American Plains has seen its growers easily adapt to all the new digital tools. After launching, grower adoption jumped 300% in the second month following their marketing efforts to drive adoption. Push notifications allow direct and widespread communication to growers and are leveraged throughout harvest and the balance of the year for business updates.
“The implementation with Bushel went very smoothly, and it was easy to connect to our ERP data with MerchantAg. It has saved time for our office staff by providing that account information to our growers to view when they need it most,” Vaupel said.
“Growers are asking for an app [customer portal] to view their account information, and Bushel has a reputation for providing great service. That’s why we went with Bushel.”