COLUMN | NEWS | FEATURE
FOCUSED ON THE PRODUCER COLUMN BY TED SCHULTZ, TMA CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER The commodity sector of agriculture has been going through a period of high production, low prices and steady markets. The combination of these factors has led many commodity-driven companies to downsize services that directly impact producers at the farm gate level. These services are viewed as a luxury companies cannot afford, and employees and services at the farm gate are removed. From the beginning, TMA was formed as the merchandising and logistics arms for local member cooperatives, driven by our focus on the producer. The producer-focus begins with our commitment to providing a positive harvest unload experience. Over the years, we have expanded our services to include risk management tools to help producers create revenue-based marketing plans. We continue to invest in our risk management division, now consisting of grain marketing, crop insurance and brokerage. The risk management division focus at TMA is centered around creating disciplined enterprise-based marketing plans for producers at the farm gate. Our focus is on making incremental changes every day that make our company easier to do business with. Most recently, we have invested in technologies to streamline our processes and provide access to data to ultimately improve the customers’ experience. In June 2019, we released the TMA App that revolutionized our producers’ experience. Our mobile app provides our customers with easy access to
account information. With the click of an icon, contracts and delivery tickets can be accessed. The ability to check out bid sheets and market information is also at your fingertips. Furthermore, users can see the scale in and scale out times, phone numbers and addresses for each of our locations. Producers also can give guest access to their account, so spouses, children, and farm managers can have insight into the business. We recognize this type of technology is valuable to our customers and continue to add functionality to the app, releasing upgrades several times throughout the year. As part of our digital transformation, electronic signatures are now a reality. At TMA, we will utilize digital signatures for grain marketing, crop insurance and next generation programs. The adoption of e-signatures allows producers to better manage contracts, quickly sign and return documents on the go from places like the field or your tractor. Digital signatures allow for greater transparency in seeing your contracts immediately compared to waiting on the mail. No longer will you have to manage mountains of paperwork and sort through what needs to be signed. Most importantly, this digital technology improves the ease of doing business for our customers. In a world that is constantly evolving and moving faster than ever, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Always remember, TMA is here to guide you as your operation evolves, minimizing risk and maximizing profit.
MEET THE
APP We’ve built a handy mobile app that allows you to easily access your account information with us on-the-go wherever you are. Check-out bid sheets and market information. View your contracts and delivery tickets from the field, the office or the shop.
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