Digital platform looks to ensure competitive protein meal prices for dairy farmers

The platform, FeedMarket.fr,​​ was developed by a division of France’s Avril group, Saipol. That division produces and markets refined vegetable oils for human nutrition, oilseed meal for animal nutrition, biodiesel under the Diester brand for incorporation into petroleum diesel, and the vegetable glycerine used by numerous industries.  

Aimed at farmers, mainly dairy producers, traders and manufacturers of livestock feed, FeedMarket enables real-time viewing of the price of protein raw materials and crude oils, to manage and contract their purchases.

It offers farmers the possibility of positioning themselves on competitive prices to contract the supply to their farms of rapeseed, sunflower and soybean meal, said Emélie Halle, digital business leader, Saipol, who is in charge of the platform.

There was a hike in volumes sold between 2018 and 2019, she said.

“We launched the initiative two years ago, and we had a very good start in 2018, with almost 100,000 tons sold through this platform. We saw an increase in volumes sold last year - 140,000 tons.”​

Depending on who the buyer is – a trader or a farmer or feed company – they have different options open to them, through the platform, in terms of how they would like the feed to be delivered, whether they want to pick it up at the factory, have it delivered to the farm or to their own site, she said.

“Users chose the month of delivery they are interested in, and then they get an average price for their contract depending on the volumes they need, and [the type of truck delivery required].”​

Open five days a week, 24 hours a day 

FeedMarket was developed in the context of the growing digitalization of agricultural commercial practices and a strong demand from dairy farmers in and around Saipol factories for direct feed sales to support their on-farm mixing.

Moreover, the feed manufacture and trader customers appreciate the platform’s accessibility, its capacity to provide price quotations five days a week and 24 hours a day, Halle told us.

An interactive tool on the platform enables users to set up an alert system. They can get alerts when a price on a particular product drops - the users set up the alert and if the product dips below the price threshold they set for it, they will be notified.

The platform also offers nutritional advice.