Tradewinds Software

Advances in technology have created efficiencies in the agriculture industry that were unheard of a generation ago. Despite these advances, grain processors continue to struggle with making the most informed business decisions due to the lack of detailed, accurate, and timely grain inventory information. This inability to determine the quantity, quality, and availability of grains in a timely fashion can lead to not maximizing or losing margins.

At a time when the agriculture industry demands companies to stay most competitive, TradeWinds Software (TradeWinds) provides them with the edge they need. Since its inception in 1988, TradeWinds has been committed to optimizing customers’ grain and seed operations. In doing so, TradeWinds empowers agricultural businesses with multicategory software solutions. The company offers a userintuitive, powerful platform to provide end-to-end features essential for integrating people, processes, and technologies across clients’ businesses.

At the core, TradeWinds is squarely focused on the small and middle size customers and puts forth out-of-the-box tools that fit their budgets. “A lot of companies in these markets are hamstrung with limited budgets when it comes to buying expensive professional accounting software,” stresses Randy Rich, CEO, TradeWinds. This is where TradeWinds brings in its partnering capabilities to help such organizations become more efficient without breaking the bank to deploy and run software. Rich adds that, unlike large-scale corporations, the company’s solutions give a modern touch while streamlining the traditional processes of agriculture. For instance, its core accounting platform provides full module support for all traditional functions, including general ledger, payables, invoices, receipts, and others, and eliminates the need for time consuming spreadsheets. “We aim at improving the customers’ business and hence, position ourselves in between a software developer and a vendor,” remarks Rich.

TradeWinds accounting solution accepts data in the raw form across different modules and seamlessly integrates it into a central database. The robust application covers all the aspects of agriculture and ensures a steady connection between crucial processes like tracking inventories, accounting, invoices, and others. “From milling to shipping, bin monitoring to packaging, loading from the farmer’s place to delivering it to the grocery shelf, our software handles it all,” affirms Jeremy Tidmore, VP, Software Development.
In short, the fully integrated system allows customers to eliminate chances of double-entry, data manipulation, and more and automatically handles the farming-related coding processes.

That said, the Louisiana based firm finds its niche in grain storage and processing. Its next-generation rough grain software solution for dryers, warehouses, and grain storage facilities—GrainLink360—manages the unique requirements of customers. Be it audit reporting or tracking of weight and grade on a load and lot basis, providing instant visibility on daily grain positions, or automatically calculating drying charges, the completely synchronized GrainLink360 addresses it all. In essence, TradeWinds has designed yet another stellar solution, SeedLink360, to meet the specific functionalities in the daily requirements of the seed handling business. It even provides automated treating, processing, packing, and tracking rough grains throughout the agriculture lifecycle. At the behest of its promising solutions, TradeWinds Software quickly narrows down process-related must-haves like contracts, transactions, and the like into a more granular report.

In order to deliver maximum benefits to clients, meet their specific needs, and build long-term relationships, TradeWinds goes over and beyond managing the client experience. Be it the unbeatable customer support service, the unique line of products, or the unmatched quality, customer experience remains the top priority at TradeWinds, wherein listening to customers is not just about hearing out their problems; it’s about connecting with them and understanding their needs and meeting those with tailor-made products. This uniqueness stems from the company’s more than three decades of development experience and platform built from the ground up to meet diverse agribusiness needs. From dealing with accounting needs and packaging to running equipment on an automated level, TradeWinds Software supports clients as and when their needs change and demands increase. Its proprietary solutions enable agriculture firms to manipulate and review data instantaneously and monitor food quality in real-time. “We stay in close contact with our clients so that we can continue to build and grow with them,” exclaims Rich.

To further paint an evocative picture of how TradeWinds’ solutions add dimensions to customers’ business propositions, Tidmore mentions an incident wherein the company partnered with a rice mill that was heavily contracting temporary workers from agents. During the process, the mill observed an abnormal spike in their overall costs due to the lack of proper work distribution among the hired workers. TradeWinds monitored the individual agencies and created a module to devise plans and allocate costs to particular production processes.This enabled the rice mill to gain a more accurate picture of their actual costs involved instead of any general ledger estimation. This case highlights one of the many instances wherein TradeWinds’ personal attention to detail helped the client optimize their business seamlessly.

Scripting similar success stories, TradeWinds is currently moving the needle amidst Covid19 induced changes. As companies slowly step out of the shadow of the pandemic, Tidmore explains that the series of events highlighted the importance of safety now more than ever. To meet the increased demand for safety, TradeWinds is offering a fully integrated food safety management system that allows end-to-end tracing of grain and supplies used for a quick turnaround on mock recalls. Also, with its primary focus on the rice market since its inception, TradeWinds now aims to expand its footprint and knowledge to other grains like corn, wheat, soybeans, and others. The company even offers a state-of-the-art milling software product named RiceLink360 that is intricately designed to support rice inventory control and tracking needs. “As a forward-looking firm, we are aiming to modernize our software to be able to work with different commodities fluidly and guarantee a standardized user experience to our clients,” concludes Rich.