Building an Agronomic Strategy for Regenerative Agriculture Product Adoption

TL;DR

If you're seeing slower-than-expected adoption despite a solid product and good data, the issue might not be your product, it might be your agronomic strategy.

This article walks through a practical, field-tested framework to help your team:

1. Define the right problem from the farmgate in — so you're solving their top pain points, not just yours

2. Align product capabilities with real-world agronomic fit — reducing friction and making adoption easier

3. Identify regions with higher adoption potential — using tools like the FARM™ Index and your own sales data

4. Equip your field teams and partners — with messaging and tools that build trust, not just features

Whether you’re leading Product, Sales, Agronomy, or GTM Strategy, this approach helps turn product potential into repeatable market traction.

🌾 How to Build an Agronomic Strategy That Drives Adoption

Are you developing a soil health or regenerative product that should be winning… But adoption isn’t what you expected.

❓ Are you frustrated by the slow traction?

❓ Wondering why the data doesn’t seem to be convincing enough?

❓ Feeling like you're doing all the right things, but still not getting market lift?

Before you invest in more trials, another sales push, or a brand refresh…

Step back and ask:

Do we have a clear agronomic strategy, one grounded in how farmers think, work, and adopt?

🧭 What’s an Agronomic Strategy?

An agronomic strategy aligns your product’s WHAT and HOW with the farmer’s WHY and regional WHERE.

It ensures the product is relevant, easy to adopt, and designed with real-world on-farm constraints in mind.

Here’s the framework we use at Living Roots:

1️⃣ Define the Problem from the Farmgate Out

Start with the farmer’s perspective, not your roadmap.

• What’s the real on-farm challenge your solution addresses?

• When and how will it be used?

• Is it solving complexity or creating it?

Too often, companies build from the outside-in: identifying a broad agronomic issue and building what makes sense in the lab. But when the product hits the field, it’s too complex, poorly timed, or doesn’t align with real-world conditions.

Real-world example: 

I once recommended a grower make compost extracts to help solve his resource concerns. The biology was there but the application was a mess: filters clogged, the process took too long, and our window for use was tight. We fixed it the second year, but most farmers wouldn’t have stuck around. That grower’s willingness to iterate taught us far more than data alone could.

Tips: 

💡Get innovators and early adopters involved in product development. The insights you gain will shape smarter adoption strategies later.

2️⃣ Align Agronomic Fit with Product Capabilities

Once you know the grower’s WHY, test your HOW.

• Is it compatible with existing systems?

• Will it introduce friction or reduce it?

• What tests do we have showing how it works in the field?

• Does your ROI calculation include the growers time, handling, and equipment?

Many product teams build hypothetical ROI scenarios based on yield lift vs. cost. But what about the operational cost at the farmgate? A new pass across the field, incompatible herbicide mixes, or a non-standard application method can kill adoption.

Here’s another lesson I’ve learned the hard way:

In my first year building foliar nutrition plans, we mapped out timing and pulled sap analysis on time. But when the window came to apply the products, the weather turned. We didn’t want to mix with herbicides due to compatibility concerns, so the applications never happened or were delayed.

We’ve since adjusted our preseason planning:

• Now, we vet foliar product compatibility early and through multiple sources so we don’t lose our shot when it counts.

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Tips:

💡 Take the friction out. Simplicity scales. Complexity kills momentum.

💡 Ask: Does this solution fit the farmer’s system without compromising other tasks?

3️⃣ Identify WHERE Adoption Is Most Likely

Not all regions or growers are equally ready. Use tools like the FARM Index, sales overlays, and regional data to prioritize:

• Where is the farmer mindset aligned with your product’s value?

• Where are field conditions most compatible?

• Where have early results or referrals already started?  

Focus here first. Let success compound and find similar regions before expanding too wide.

Identifying these zones early can save:

• Thousands of miles per rep

• Days (or weeks) of outreach time

• Burnout from chasing the wrong leads

Tip:

💡 Focus equals faster traction, lower CAC, and higher morale.

4️⃣ Equip the Right People to Tell the Story

Your product might be best-in-class, but if the story doesn’t land, it won’t stick.

As someone who’s naturally curious, I love asking reps follow-up questions. So does my dad, who farms 1,600 acres of corn and beans. We’ve both had conversations with reps who can only go two or three layers deep and then they guess.

That’s not a rep problem. It’s a training problem.

Equip your field teams with:

• Clear technical content

• Answer-ready product briefs

• A culture where it’s okay to say, “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you.”

Trust builds over time. In fact, ~80% of sales happen after the 5th–12th interaction. The first five are often about building trust, not closing a deal.

So how do you build that trust?

• Show up with something helpful. A resource. An idea. A contact. A coffee. A pair of hands. Bring value every time.

• When the right person tells the story well, it builds a feedback loop that improves your product, positioning, and proof.

Final Thoughts

If you’re feeling stuck or like you're doing “everything right” but still not getting momentum… you’re not alone.

Ask yourself:

✔️ Are we solving a top-tier problem for the grower?

✔️ Can our product be easily used and trusted?

✔️ Are we focusing our resources in the right places?

✔️ Can our reps confidently explain HOW and WHY it works?

At Living Roots, we help companies build actionable agronomic strategies grounded in farmer reality and market opportunity so adoption feels natural, not forced.

If that sounds helpful, let’s talk or connect on LI

Let’s save tomorrow's soils today!