FARGO, N.D.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bushel, an independently-owned software technology company focused on developing digital tools for the agricultural supply chain, announced the availability of a payment and money facilitation network. The product launch, announced during Bushel’s first-ever customer conference, will address the challenge the industry faces of facilitating payments for nearly 90% of a $200 billion industry through paper checks today.
This addition to the Bushel platform allows agricultural producers and agribusinesses to conveniently move money in real time across the agriculture supply chain. Through facilitating digital transactions, Bushel continues to deliver on its promise of strengthening relationships by building and standardizing the digital infrastructure for the agriculture industry. Through its network of grain companies using the Bushel platform, Bushel can safely and efficiently deploy this payment engine for 40% of grain origination in the U.S.
Bushel’s new product suite is created specifically for the complexity and scale of agribusiness.
○ Bushel Payments™ is the preferred money movement facilitator between growers and agribusinesses already on the Bushel platform.
○ Bushel Wallet™ is the first-ever digital wallet created specifically for the complexity and scale of agribusiness and available for farmers
○ Bushel Wallet Link is an API that allows any agribusiness to embed payments in their application or web environment and connect to Bushel Wallet’s network to move money.
One of the first agribusinesses to pilot Bushel Wallet Link will be Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. (CGB) who will be embedding a payments feature into its user experience to allow for simple and easy electronic settlements to their growers.
“To keep up with consumer demands for a more interactive experience, we knew we needed to provide a way to more easily transact with our customer base in a seamless and timely manner,” Charlie Laird, Director of IT Strategy of CGB said. “Bushel has shown it has the forward-thinking mindset to be progressive in the digital transformation of agriculture here in the U.S. and abroad.”
Additionally, Ag Valley Cooperative, based in Nebraska, will be piloting Bushel Payments for its growers. Their farmers can access Payments through Ag Valley's app powered by Bushel, complete the signup and verification process, and immediately begin to transact.
“As we see more opportunities to engage and communicate with our farmers, it became clear that we needed a way to streamline the payment process,” Jeff Krejdl, CEO of Ag Valley Cooperative said. “The onboarding was easy. Once we start working with growers, this is going to be a very cool option to offer to them. Harvest starts in mid-July, so we will start looking at using it for settlement payments then.”
Bushel has spent the past five years focusing on building agriculture's digital infrastructure. With the connections and integrations in place, Bushel is evolving from simply just moving information into safely and securely allowing the facilitation of digital payments, specifically in the agriculture industry. This continues Bushel's mission to enable, rather than disrupt, grain companies, input providers, farmers, and the supply chain, to be more efficient and effective businesses into the future.
“From early on in our work to digitize agriculture, it became apparent a big piece of this was how farmers and agribusinesses did business with each other. They need the tools to become more financially efficient and clearer on the state of their operations,” Jake Joraanstad, CEO of Bushel said. “The feedback from our customers will be crucial as we continue to innovate our FinTech products for agriculture.”
What This Means to Farmers
- Instead of waiting for a check in the mail and having to turn around directly and deposit the check into their account, farmers can see the money directly into their account.
- Farmers can link up to six U.S. bank accounts for transfer purposes or immediately access their Bushel Wallet balance with a Business Debit Card wherever Visa® is accepted.
- Farmers can instantaneously send or request payments for grain deliveries or input purchases within the Wallet ecosystem anytime, anywhere from their mobile device. The onboarding process to register and create a Bushel Wallet account takes less than three minutes.
What This Means to Agribusinesses
- Agribusinesses can eliminate the payment onboarding process and maintain ACH payment instructions by leveraging the Bushel Payments network where growers are already enrolled
- Reduced receivables with faster time to receive funds. Their customers have a concise view of what’s due and have control to pay invoices any time - day or night via their Bushel-powered app.
- With in-app notification of payments due and made, agribusinesses can gently remind growers of amounts due rather than mailing paper statements that are inefficient and take time and money.
- Agribusinesses can embed Bushel Wallet Link into other software applications they use with their customer base beyond grain merchandising. Bushel Wallet Link can embed into existing customer flows via an API connection, bringing the power of payments while maintaining their brand end-to-end.
To ensure financial security for all parties, Bushel Wallet has a fully routable account and is FDIC insured. Bushel complies with SOC 2 standards and debit card transactions over PCI-certified networks. Currently, the Bushel digital payment products are available only in the United States.
Learn more:
To learn more, visit bushelwallet.com
About Bushel
Bushel is an independently owned software company and leading provider of software technology solutions for growers, grain buyers, ag retailers, protein producers and food companies, headquartered in Fargo, N.D. Since launching in 2017, Bushel’s platform has grown rapidly, now powering nearly 2,000 grain facilities across the U.S. and Canada with real-time business information for their producers. Bushel’s platform now reaches more than 40% of grain origination in the United States, resulting in inarguably the largest technology network effect among growers and grain buyers in the U.S. today. Bushel’s product suite includes its flagship mobile app, websites, trading tools, digital payments and money facilitation, market feeds, API services, FarmLogs and a custom software division focused on agriculture. Bushel has been focused on building software since the company was founded in 2011. Data privacy is a cornerstone of Bushel’s philosophy. Read here Bushel’s Data Ethos.
