Mark Aitchison I Pioneering at Frontier Agriculture
…who runs Frontier Agriculture, a business he founded in 2005, whose customers are predominantly farmers. Originally an agronomist, advising farmers how to grow, learning how they think, he then joined Cargill. They’re a trading not a customer business, but a few years in, Mark saw an opportunity to make their Agri Division number 1 by focusing on customers and service, and by being bold, going out on his own with their backing. After a good first few years, it became the platform to buy ABF’s grain business – great on the ground, not well managed – merging Allied Grain with Cargill Grain and creating Frontier. Over time, new services have been developed, especially in digital and analytics, but what matters most is being seen as expert, professional and customer focussed – you want farmers to say you’re not the cheapest but you are the best at what you do for them. It’s now a service business whose customers are 10,000 farmers and 300 grain buyers, and the culture is crucial. The best service comes from good people given great training and systems, who care about the company they work for and the service they provide. Lorries are symbolic – they are clean and the drivers are helpful and proud, acting as diplomats, driving carefully, efficiently and safely. When farmers talk about what they appreciate, it goes well beyond financials. Innovation has been continual, with forward pricing provided to farmers every day and with support to help them steer decisions well through ups and downs. It can be tough – there are times when the data has bad news on crop quality for example, but it’s managed with good, prompt communication and constantly improving data as a basis to work from, always aiming to help farmers succeed, on their side. The latest initiative is a new challenger bank for UK agriculture, Oxbury, set up in 2020 building on authentic relationships with farmers and becoming the fastest new business to reach breakeven in ABF’s history.