FBN co-founder Charles Baron confirms business departure from Australia

FBN has cited core economic and geographic differences between the United States - where FBN was founded - and Australia as the main reason for the pull-out.

In the US and Canada, FBN started as a data-sharing analytics network and has since grown to include financial and veterinary services.

FBN co-founder Charles Baron was hoping to bring this fully-rounded network to Australia's shores, however he said the vastness of the country made logistics incredibly difficult.

"We have to build all the logistics to delivery infrastructure, the warehouse and supply chain infrastructure, the suppliers, the products, all from the ground up - so it's a very large process," Mr Baron said.

"I think a lot of the basic geography features of Australia make it a challenge, Australia has two primary growing regions but they're vastly separated."

Within Australia's growing regions, there are vast distances and separation between the farms, while the US and Canadian farms are close together and are a part of one contiguous growing region.

This means the "United States model" wasn't instantly applicable on Australian soil, as there are fundamental differences in the logistic infrastructure required to support farmers.

FBN has started the process of "winding down" its Australian operations and has said when the time is right it will shut down its head office in Perth - most likely this autumn.

Previous customers of FBN have been approached by FBN sales representatives to purchase the remaining chemical stock in the country at a discount rate.

"We're just going to wind down, we're selling through our inventory and we're working through all that inventory with our growers," Mr Baron said.

"That's always our first choice is to give our members who have rewarded us with their business, the best possible offers we can give them - we would much rather see them get products at good prices."

FBN has only 'bare-bones' left operating in the country, with many employees transitioning to their next role.

Mr Baron said he was extremely proud of the Australian team and FBN was working hard to make sure they were looked after in the transition.

"It is obviously a painful decision given the tremendous people and we can't thank them enough," he said.

The Americans were attracted to the Australian agricultural economy because they believed there wasn't enough competition in the market and wanted to provide Aussie farmers with a reliable alternative.

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Mr Baron was also passionate about transparency in the market - which he believed Australia lacked - especially when it came to pricing.

From an American perspective, he believed Australia needed more supplier options for inputs and transportation off-farm.

According to Mr Baron, FBN was quickly welcomed into the Australian market due to a "real hunger for an alternative in the system".

"We built a phenomenal team who has sort of rallied behind the mission of transparency and bringing more competition to Australian growers," he said

"We entered full force and we really believed very deeply in the Australian market - there were so many things that made it very exciting for us.

"The amount of livestock in Australia, the language made it a much easier and friendlier place to start a business, the similarities in equipment - there were a lot of reasons for entering the market."

However, in a start-up business where capital is a precious resource, Mr Baron and his team eventually had to decide where to invest into technology and infrastructure to best benefit consumers.

FBN is passionate about delivering a full farm platform, whereas in Australia only crop protection was delivered.

"Ultimately we said if we can't bring the full platform - and it's more challenging to do - we'll focus on creating the best service and most competition possible for our North American growers where we started," Mr Baron said.