The challenges faced by Australian farmers are diverse and complex. In their efforts to feed the nation, support their families and sustainably develop their farm – they must navigate everything from climate change to market access, socio-political trends to pest and disease management. To stay relevant to the evolving needs of farmers, the HiveXchange engages with major grower groups around the country on a regular basis. HiveXchange CEO Antonio Palanca says:

“I like to attend the AGM’s and conferences offered by horticultural leaders in our associations for a range of reasons. Most importantly, it gives us an insight to the difficulties and opportunities of farm life, and helps us focus the resources of our company to facilitate positive change and solve problems where possible”

It is through active engagement with growers associations and connecting with participants in these forums, that the HiveXchange was inspired to build a number of key extensions for the e-commerce platform. With a locally-based design and development team, we were able to integrate the following grower-inspired innovations into the platform quickly and efficiently;

• automation of levy collection and reporting
• automation of contracting – aligned with the horticultural code of conduct
• price transparency
• development of effective dispute management protocols

These are expected to be the first of many industry-led innovations to the HiveXchange platform, for as Mr Palanca says “the journey to try and use technology to fix common market failures has only just begun”.