For Adama, the Secret Is Simplicity

“A lot of people say brand is the biggest part of your balance sheet; it’s the equity that you have. For us it will be a question of nurturing it with both the investors and the growers but also with the distributors. They will all judge us ultimately on our performance.” –Jean-Marc Dardier, global head of marketing, Adama

“A lot of people say brand is the biggest part of your balance sheet; it’s the equity that you have. For us it will be a question of nurturing it with both the investors and the growers but also with the distributors. They will all judge us ultimately on our performance.” –Jean-Marc Dardier, global head of marketing, Adama

“Our story has been three years in the making. There was a huge amount of introspection to find out who we were,” said Jean-Marc Dardier, global head of marketing for Adama. “Adama means ‘earth’ in Hebrew – what better real estate to have?”

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In a chat with Farm Chemicals International at the FCI Trade Summit – Americas in Las Vegas on Aug. 26, Dardier explained how the newly rebranded Israeli crop protection company is bringing simplicity to agriculture. Simplicity is Adama’s core mission, and it starts out with recognizing the commonalities among its customers – like the regulatory tension that is felt the world over – and finding ways to alleviate pressures in their lives: finding quality labor, managing weed resistance and running larger farms with fewer people are some of the big ones. So far, the customer response has been overwhelmingly positive. “What’s interesting is that they perceived we had our act together … They feel we can be a challenger in this space and we believe so too, given all the attributes we have and the diversity of our portfolio,” Dardier said.

Adama’s unique ownership structure by ChemChina is a differentiator and gives it a competitive edge in the market, said Adama Global Public Relations Manager Anna Wood. In other words, it has access – an invaluable asset particularly in the current climate. When (that is, if) raw material shortages cease to be a problem, the company will still be an insider in what Dardier predicts will be the world’s biggest market. “From a pure commercial perspective, China is a $5-billion market and within 10 years it will have doubled. It’s going to challenge Brazil and probably outstrip it thereafter.” China’s infrastructure for active ingredients is already in place, and the company is making more acquisitions and integrating others, giving it a unique footprint into core actives including paraquat, 2,4-D and glyphosate.

Adama also plans to build a new R&D center in China focused heavily on formulations. As resistance issues spread, novel formulations will become even more relied upon over dwindling discoveries of new single active ingredients. An important factor, Dardier pointed out, is China’s formidable talent pool from which it can draw.

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Beyond the brand name, how does Adama plan to bring simplicity to growers and distributors? A prime example is a nematicide called Nimitz, which is its first major product launch. All of the sourcing was done by the company – no acquisitions involved, Dardier stressed. The product negates the need for fumigation and the heavy protection it entails. “From a cost and safety perspective, this is going to be a huge step forward in productivity and efficiencies. The limitations in spraying and getting back to the field are hugely diminished,” he said. “This is really our coming-of-age with a launch of a global product in multiple markets in probably multiple crops.” The U.S. launch is coming this fall, and Brazil will follow next year. An Australian rollout is also in the works.

The company is also redesigning its packaging, again with the simplicity theme in mind. Going about making the changes was not quite as simple. Adama conducted a global market study with the goal of identifying and answering more than 100 different “pain points” growers experience when using agchem products. It determined that color coding, easy disposability, better stackability and clearer labels are among the solutions to those pain points. Some basic advances were rolled out in July and others will begin next year for the 2016 season, and Adama wants to eventually link its products with its digital platform via smart labels, Dardier said.

Moving forward, Dardier explained, Adama will continue to test its strategy, launch new products and make a name for itself with the quality of business its customers have enjoyed so far – all of which it hopes will reinforce the new brand.

“A lot of people say brand is the biggest part of your balance sheet; it’s the equity that you have,” he said. “For us it will be a question of nurturing it with both the investors and the growers but also with the distributors. They will all judge us ultimately on our performance.”

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