Meet TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods: the story behind our brand evolution

Today, we announced an evolution of our brand from TELUS Agriculture to TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods. While adding two words and an ampersand may be a small change, we believe it better reflects the value we can bring to our customers and the breadth of the markets we serve. As well as our promise to use our technology for good, in order to transform global supply chains and create better producer-to-consumer outcomes across the agriculture, food and consumer goods industries.

The COVID-19 pandemic and other major recent disruptions have underscored the importance and interconnectedness of global supply chains. For companies, the impact of these disruptions is estimated at half a year’s worth of profits over the course of a decade.* For consumers, we have all seen empty store shelves or heard of rising input and fuel costs, rapidly shifting consumer demand and critical shortages affecting the availability of goods, from baby formula to electronic devices. Yet, much of what’s produced doesn't end up in the hands of consumers due to waste, spoilage, quality issues and inaccurate demand forecasting. In food production alone, it’s estimated that up to 40% of losses happen before reaching the market.**

All of these factors impact the health, sustainability and profitability of the agriculture, food and consumer goods industries and put unnecessary strain on our natural resources. While certain variables are uncontrollable, we believe in the power of technology and data to better manage what we can control. To help address inefficiencies in the way food and consumer goods are produced, distributed and consumed globally – ultimately making our work and our lives better.

Better representing supply chains from producers to consumers

When the seed of our idea for TELUS Agriculture was planted in 2017, it was to digitize and connect the agriculture and food system. We envisioned a world where data flows from seed to fork, enabling ag manufacturers and advisors to better connect with customers. For farmers to be able to make real-time, data-driven decisions, and for food processors and end consumers to have a clearer picture of what goes into their food. Where data could help our customers optimize and validate their production and business practices and enhance the sustainability, quality and safety of their outputs.

Manufacturers of consumer goods are among the companies that respond most quickly to changing market trends and consumer tastes are shifting markedly towards products that are more environmentally and socially friendly. Over a third of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products.*** With the growth of our capabilities, digital tools, data insights and customer base, we recognized the potential to apply our expertise and solutions beyond agriculture and food, to help consumer goods companies advance their sustainability programs, gain insights into what consumers are buying and better understand their supply chain to more strategically source inputs and materials.

Introducing TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods

The agriculture, food and consumer goods value chain is not always considered as a whole, but rather as a combination of parts. Yet, any challenge experienced by one link can have repercussions on the others. For example, if farmers plant less corn due to high fertilizer prices, there are risks the lower yields will have an impact on a variety of food and non-food products, leading to higher costs from manufacturing to distribution, and ultimately for consumers.

We believe in creating one unified, trusted and sustainable value chain using technology and data. With our solutions, we aim to connect independent systems and value chain participants in order to improve end-to-end collaboration, visibility and profitability. This is what we’ve started doing with our agriculture customers, and working more closely with companies in the consumer goods industry is simply a natural extension of our approach.

Backed by connected digital solutions and data insights, together with our customers, we believe we can effectuate more accurate, efficient and profitable supply chains. We can help get the right products to shelf, at the right time and at the right price. We can grow more with less, trace our food from the source, transport goods more efficiently and better predict and meet demand. We can help ensure the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the agriculture, food and consumer goods industries and their supply chains.

To support this vision, we are continuously enhancing our solutions and providing actionable data insights that help digitize and optimize key business functions along the entire value chain, from ag rebate programs to production operations to sales and marketing management.

We have so much in store for the future and we look forward to growing with our customers and the communities where our team members live and work to drive meaningful change in the world.

John Raines President, TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods