Recipient Organization
CUSTOM AG SOLUTIONS, INC.
27 W MAIN ST
COWLEY,WY 824200000
Performing Department
CAS, Inc.
Non Technical Summary
In the U.S., small and mid-size farms account for 78% of the beef cattle industry's $29.5B in annual sales. Unlike large producers, who commonly develop and utilize comprehensive marketing plans, most small and mid-size producers do not work to optimize their production and marketing strategies. In short, smaller producers must view the expected benefits of such actions as not exceeding their expected costs. In failing to utilize available market information, analytical tools, and risk management strategies, smaller producers realize lower marketing results than large producers, leading to reduced profitability and sustainability. The project team will develop and commercialize a cloud-based cattle marketing portal (CMP) designed to improve smaller producers' marketing capabilities and financial results. The portal will enable producers to 1) track their individual cattle lots, 2) access and analyze relevant and timely market information, and 3) evaluate and create improved marketing alternatives that consider a combination of production practices, marketing strategies, and risk management tools. Provided under a Software as a Service model and accessible by PC, tablet, or phone, the CMP will leverage existing data platforms, previous research, and proven application development methods. Project objectives are to 1) demonstrate that improved marketing methods (e.g., production practices and/or marketing decisions) can be identified as both practical and economical for producer adoption and 2) demonstrate that the CMP can be made functionally accessible such that small and mid-size producers are likely to use the portal to analyze and implement better marketing methods and realize improved profitability.The $29.5B beef cattle industry enjoys a stable, though mature market, which is unlikely to change substantially over the next 20 years. Over 700,000 small and mid-size producers account for 78% ($23B) of market sales, with 128,000 producers, running 50-499 cows, forming the addressable market for the proposed cattle marketing portal (CMP). Annual revenues for these producers range from $35,000 to $500,000 to total over $16B in 2012. With 128,000 producers in the addressable market, an aggressive marketing and education campaign, conducted primarily through producer associations, is projected to result in a market penetration of 20% within five years. At 20% penetration, the CMP will have 25,600 users managing around $3.3B in revenues. If the proposed CMP improves marketing results by just 3%, users' average annual revenues will increase by $100M ($1,000 for a 50-cow operation up to $14,000 for a 500-cow operation). Most importantly, on a farm-level basis, the improved marketing results will result in improved profitability and sustainability for the small and mid-size operations that form the backbone of many rural economies.
Animal Health Component
30%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
30%
Developmental
60%
Goals / Objectives
The project team will develop and commercialize a cloud-based cattle marketing portal (CMP) designed to improve small and mid-sized beef cattle producers' marketing capabilities and financial results. The portal will enable producers to 1) track their individual cattle lots, 2) access and analyze relevant and timely market information, and 3) evaluate and create improved marketing alternatives that consider a combination of production practices, marketing strategies, and risk management tools. Provided under a Software as a Service model and accessible by PC, tablet, or phone, the CMP will leverage existing data platforms, previous research, and proven application development methods.Project objectives are as follows:Objective 1) Demonstrate that improved marketing methods (e.g., production practices and/or marketing decisions) can be identified as both practical and economical for implementation and adoption by small and mid-sized cattle producers.CAS will collaborate with its team of cattle industry experts, the Missouri Cattlemen's Association, and National Livestock of Oklahoma to gather feedback and input about actual marketing methods used by small and mid-sized cattle producers and evaluate the potential for improved decision-making to increase profitability. This phase of the research will consider producer motivations and criteria for adopting new practices with the goal of identifying a set of specific, actionable marketing method changes that can be facilitated by producers' use of the cattle marketing portal (CMP).Research questions are as follows:What alternative marketing methods promise the most potential benefit to producers?What are producers' perceived and actual costs to implement the alternative marketing methods?Can the producer requirements for successful implementation of improved marketing methods be simplified and communicated sufficiently that adoption becomes practical?What are the expected micro and macro-level monetary impacts for producers who implement the identified alternative marketing methods?Objective 2) Demonstrate that the CMP can be made functionally accessible such that small and mid-size producers are likely to use the portal to analyze and implement better marketing methods and realize improved profitability.As addressed elsewhere in this proposal, existing data, information, and analytical tools can help cattle producers make improved decisions in their choice of marketing methods. However, small and mid-sized producers do not generally access and take advantage of existing tools and information for several possible reasons, among them: 1) they are unaware that they exist, 2) they are unaware of potential benefits, 3) the costs of locating and obtaining access is prohibitive, and/or 4) the cost in time and effort required to make productive use of them is too high. Through this technical objective, the project team will seek to establish that relevant and useful decision support tools can be developed and presented in a format that is functionally accessible for small and mid-size cattle producers. Producers (as users) must be able to recognize and appreciate that the potential value of using the tools exceeds the cost (in time and effort) of obtaining and supplying required user inputs.The project team will address this objective through a collaborative effort that will involve researchers, technical developers, industry specialists, and direct interaction with producers through focus groups that include personal interview surveys. A working CMP prototype will be developed by the technical team with guidance and expertise from extension specialists and industry professionals, including cattle association leadership and extension personnel. Missouri and Oklahoma producers will then be asked to interact with the prototype in four planned focus groups. The project team will evaluate success for this technical objective by assessing the likelihood that producers will choose to utilize the CMP for tracking cattle lots and analyzing alternative marketing methods.Research questions are as follows:Will producers use CMP to track individual cattle lots?Will producers use CMP to make decisions about improved marketing methods?How receptive are small and mid-sized cattle operators to adopting new technologies and tools to help them make improved decisions?Can the CMP-based tools be constructed and presented in a way that will be both simple and effective for the targeted producers?Which data, information, and types of analytical tools are producers most likely to use?What is the optimal format, structure, user platform, number of inputs and outputs, etc. to include for maximum functional accessibility?
Project Methods
Project Objective 1For Project Objective 1, the project team will work to demonstrate that improved marketing methods (e.g., production practices and/or marketing decisions) can be identified as both practical and economical for implementation and adoption by small and mid-sized cattle producers. The project team will collaborate with cattle industry experts, the Missouri Cattlemen's Association, and National Livestock of Oklahoma to gather feedback and input about actual marketing methods used by small and mid-sized cattle producers and evaluate the potential for improved decision-making to increase profitability. This phase of the research will consider producer motivations and criteria for adopting new practices with the goal of identifying a set of specific, actionable marketing method changes that can be facilitated by producers' use of the cattle marketing portal (CMP). Research questions include the following:What marketing method alternatives promise the most potential benefit to producers?What are producers perceived and actual costs to implement the alternative marketing methods?Can the producer requirements for successful implementation of improved marketing methods be simplified and communicated sufficiently that adoption becomes practical?What are the expected micro and macro-level monetary impacts for producers who implement the identified alternative marketing methods?Objective 1 milestone/metric: Document 3-5 alternative marketing methods that are most likely to prove practical and economical for producers to implement. Quantify the potential resulting micro and macro impacts using historical market prices and cost data to analyze simulated farm-level outcomes. Phase I success will be claimed if at least 3 alternative marketing methods are identified as feasible for inclusion in the CMP prototype for use by Missouri and Oklahoma producers.Project Objective 2For project Objective 2, the project team will interact with producers to demonstrate that the CMP can be made functionally accessible such that small and mid-size producers are likely to use the portal to analyze and implement better marketing methods and realize improved profitability.As addressed elsewhere in this proposal, existing data, information, and analytical tools can help cattle producers make improved decisions in their choice of marketing methods. However, small and mid-sized producers do not generally access and take advantage of existing tools and information for several possible reasons, among them: 1) they are unaware that they exist, 2) they are unaware of potential benefits, 3) the costs of locating and obtaining access is prohibitive, and/or 4) the cost in time and effort required to make productive use of them is too high. Through this technical objective, the project team will seek to establish that relevant and useful decision support tools can be developed and presented in a format that is functionally accessible for small and mid-size cattle producers. Producers (as users) must be able to recognize and appreciate that the potential value of using the tools exceeds the cost (in time and effort) of obtaining and supplying required user inputs.The project team will address this objective through a collaborative effort that will involve researchers, technical developers, industry specialists, and direct interaction with producers through focus groups that include personal interview surveys. A working CMP prototype will be developed by the technical team with guidance and expertise from extension specialists and industry professionals, including cattle association leadership and extension personnel.Missouri and Oklahoma producers will then be asked to interact with the prototype in four planned focus groups. The project team will evaluate success for this technical objective by assessing the likelihood that producers will choose to utilize the CMP for tracking cattle lots and analyzing alternative marketing methods. Research questions include the following:Will producers use CMP to track individual cattle lots?Will producers use CMP to make decisions about improved marketing methods?How receptive are small and mid-sized cattle operators to adopting new technologies and tools to help them make improved decisions?Can the CMP-based tools be constructed and presented in a way that will be both simple and effective for the targeted producers?Which data, information, and types of analytical tools are producers most likely to use?What is the optimal format, structure, user platform, number of inputs and outputs, etc. to include for maximum functional accessibility?Objective 2 metric: 75%+ average Likert scale approval (agree or strongly agree) rating by cattle producer focus group participants judging the CMP's 1) ease of use, 2) perceived informational benefits, 3) likelihood of implementation, and 4) likelihood of financial benefit. Strongly Disagree < > Disagree < > Neutral < > Agree < > Strongly Agree