Xero connect app Figured, the farm financial management software and Xero, the small business accounting platform, today announced they have been selected as joint winners of the “AgTech Finance Solution of the Year” award in the 2021 AgTech Breakthrough Awards. The awards are conducted by AgTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global AgTech market today.

The Xero cloud accounting platform integrates seamlessly with Figured to provide farmers and their advisors the tools to help better track and manage their farm’s finances and plan for the future. Xero works hand-in-hand with Figured, cloud-based farm financial management software that can help farmers respond to changes in global trading conditions, the prices of key agricultural commodities and critical inputs such as feed and fuel. It can also help them model the long-term financial impacts of decisions, such as succession plans, machinery or land purchases, as well as tracking livestock, dairy and crop production.

Xero’s mobile app provides the freedom to work from anywhere and manage finances from the field, tractor or truck. Users can sync their bank feeds to pull through financial data and reconcile transactions on the move, create and send invoices from the field, scan bills and receipts from the phone and keep track of business performance.

With information stored in the cloud, Xero and Figured provide flexibility to access data from anywhere while keeping financial information protected with the security of cloud-based software. Additionally, year-end financial information can stay updated and ready to access when it comes to tax season.

“Xero eliminates the need to spend hours chasing or collecting paperwork and manually inputting it into spreadsheets on a desktop computer. When Xero is synced with third-party agriculture apps like Figured for production and forecasting tracking, farmers can know where their business stands and make informed decisions to help determine their farm’s future,” said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director of AgTech Breakthrough Awards. “The simplicity of Xero paired with Figured means farmers can efficiently get the insights they need and focus their time and energy on the business of farming. Congratulations to Xero and Figured for being our choice for ‘AgTech Finance Solution of the Year.’”

The mission of the annual AgTech Breakthrough Awards program is to conduct the industry’s most comprehensive analysis and evaluation of agricultural and food technology categories, including Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based agricultural technologies, farm management, indoor farming, food quality, data analytics and many more. This year's program attracted more than 1,500 nominations from over 15 different countries throughout the world.

“Farming businesses have always faced uncertainty. Commodity prices, weather, international trading embargoes; the only certainty is uncertainty,” said David Dodds, CEO, Figured. “Farmers often need to adapt their operation to either manage downturns or take advantage of upturns. Yet most farmers only really understand their financial position once a year, and that really needs to change. Xero and Figured allow farmers and their financial advisors to understand their real-time financial position and optimise the farm performance as they go through a season.”

“Farming business owners wear many different hats, from managing their staff, conducting maintenance on machinery, dealing with suppliers and other business relationships. On top of these responsibilities, business owners also need to look after their finances. We see a tremendous opportunity for farmers to work alongside an accountant or bookkeeper and get help with budgeting or financial planning,” said Tanner Hoffman, General Manager, Industry Verticals, Xero. “We provide our clients with real-time financial insights that can assist with key decisions. Together, Xero and Figured bring an accounting solution to the agriculture sector which can help them stay on top of profitability and effectively plan for the future.”