Rooted in Value
As VP of Operations at Mountain West Ag here in Spanish Fork, Utah, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we price what we do, that’s been driven in part by my MBA marketing course. I’ve been studying pricing strategies, frameworks, and case studies, and it’s forced me to step back and look at our own approach a little more critically.
For a long time, our pricing has been relationship-driven. We take care of our customers. We offer a premier product. We put the customer first. That mindset has built strong loyalty with local farmers, and it’s something I don’t want to lose. But as we’ve started expanding into municipalities and lawn care providers, I’m realizing that “fair and relationship-based” isn’t the same thing as “strategic.”
If I’m honest, we’ve leaned heavily on cost-plus model of thinking. We know our costs, we add a margin, and that is what we base our price from. But that doesn’t always capture the real value we provide. If our fertilizer improves yield per acre or enhances long-term soil performance, then the conversation shouldn’t just be about cost per ton. It should be about economic impact. That shift alone changes how we position ourselves, especially against competitors who try to win purely on price.
The other thing I’ve been thinking about is segmentation. Farmers, municipalities, and lawn care companies don’t buy the same way. A farmer is focused on timing, performance, and trust. A municipality is driven by budgets and formal bids. A lawn care provider is managing tight margins and recurring service schedules. From a pricing standpoint, it probably doesn’t make sense to treat those segments the same. Different customers perceive value differently, and our pricing structure should reflect that.
Then there’s the service side. One of the reasons we’ve lost some larger clients is that competitors can supply fertilizer and spread it at scale. We have spreading and spraying equipment, but we’re limited on manpower. What I’m starting to see, especially through the lens of capacity and pricing strategy, is that this constraint isn’t just an operational issue but a pricing lever. When demand for applicating is high, that service has higher value. Priority scheduling during peak season should carry a premium. At the same time, we could use incentives for early booking or flexible scheduling to better balance our workload.
None of this changes who we are. We’re still customer focused. We still believe in offering a premier product. But what I’m learning is that thoughtful pricing doesn’t undermine that, it reinforces it. We can reward loyalty through early pay discounts, multi-year agreements, or volume incentives without defaulting to reactive discounting.
Studying pricing has made me realize something simple: pricing isn’t just a financial decision. It’s a strategic one. If we’re serious about growing Mountain West Ag while protecting what’s made us successful, then we need to approach pricing with the same intentionality we bring to everything else we do.