Farmers Edge Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Farmers Edge live audio webcast for its second quarter 2021 financial results and business highlights. Please be advised that reproduction of this audio webcast in whole or in part is not permitted without written authorization from the company. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise and after the speaker's remarks there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time Simply press star and the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. Individuals will be limited to two questions per person before being put back into the queue. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to David Patrick, Chief Financial Officer of Farmer's Edge. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Before we start, we would like to remind you that all amounts disclosed on this call are denominated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. Please note that the prepared remarks contain forward-looking information and additional forward-looking statements may be made in response to your questions during the Q&A portion of the call. These statements reflect the company's current expectations regarding future events. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. many of which are beyond the company's control, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. Listeners are urged to consider the assumptions, risks, and uncertainties associated with such forward-looking information, including by referring to the assumptions, risks, and uncertainties discussed in Farmers Edge's filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and therefore undue reliance should not be placed upon them. The company does not undertake any obligation to update the forward-looking information provided during this audio webcast, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Finally, we would like to remind listeners that the company may refer to certain non-IFRS measures and key performance indicators, or KPIs, During this audio webcast, for further details on non-IFRS measures and KPIs, including relevant definitions and certain reconciliations, see Farmer's Edge's filings with the Canadian Security Administrators. I now turn the call over to our Board Chair, Bill McFarland, for opening remarks.

Good morning, and thank you, David, and to everyone for joining the call this morning. Let me start by saying Q2 was a challenging quarter for Farmer's Edge with lowered unexpected revenue, which also impacted other KPIs, including EBITDA and free cash flow. Some of this decrease related to the purposeful delay in converting the 2020 elite acres to paid acres to coincide with the launch of the new smart carbon program with the underlying goal of improving the 2020 elite program conversion ratio. The other key elements in lower revenue for Q2 2021 compared to 2020 were the 2021 results had no fertility revenues as the current fertility season services were completed by the end of Q1 2021. And the progressive grower program, which is our key marketing program, does not include channel partner subsidies like prior programs. These items should not overshadow our record growth in new high revenue producing acres and the 17% growth in AAR on a year-to-date basis, which will be key factors in our long-term success. We are also pleased to report that an agreement was finalized yesterday to acquire Commoditech, an e-commerce platform developed by a strong and influential group of U.S. agricultural retailers. This strategic acquisition will add new capabilities to our Farm Command platform, and give us access to new customers for our progressive grower program as we continue to accelerate acre growth in the United States. The senior management team of Commoditech will also become part of the Farmer's Edge family, which is a real plus. Finally, we announced yesterday that our CFO, David Patrick, will be leaving the company and going back to his former employer in late September. A search process for a new CFO has been initiated. and Laurie Robideau will become the interim CFO. David and Laurie, our former CFO who retired about a year ago, will work together for a smooth and orderly transition as we search for a permanent CFO. I would like to thank David for his work over the past year in helping us go public. We welcome Laurie back to the Farmer's Edge team. I will now pass it over to Wade to discuss developments in the business and provide some more details around our acquisitions.