How Technology Can Unite Farmers And Their Trusted Advisors
Farm Journal’s Smart Farming Week is an annual week-long emphasis on innovation in agriculture. The goal is to encourage you to explore and prioritize the technology, tools and practices that will help you farm smarter. Innovation today ensures an efficient, productive and sustainable tomorrow.
Ag retailers are the multipliers of information and services in agriculture. A study done in conjunction with the Agricultural Retailers Association found the average ag retail location services or sells to more than 61,000 acres.
The relationship ag retailers have with their farmer-customers is even more paramount as profitability is challenged while technology opportunities rise. The influence of one ag retailer propels multiple farms’ success, and the opportunity is further highlighted with this season’s growing challenges.
In early February, the USDA Economic Research Service released its 2024 net farm income projections. The numbers were not promising—namely, the 26% decline in net farm income year over year. To top it off, ag faces other red flags for the year.
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) projects net farm income to see the largest year-to-year decrease since the organization began tracking such figures. John Deere has projected a 20% decline in large equipment sales, and economists at the University of Illinois released data showing corn farmers should be prepared to take up to a $160 loss per acre. According to AFBF, the forecast decline in 2024 net farm income is directly tied to lower crop and livestock cash receipts and continued increases in production costs.
This Year Is The Year For A Fresh Approach
As the near-term outlook suggests an incredibly challenging operating environment for farmers, it’s also challenging for the companies, including tech and machinery providers, that serve growers.
“All the major OEMs are predicting a decline in equipment and technology sales in 2024—anywhere from 6% up to 20%,” says Darryl Matthews, a recently retired Trimble executive.
Connected machines, implements and on-farm storage structures are keys of a complete smart farming strategy. That includes the enabling software, usually mobile apps on a smartphone, these tools require to work.
Than Hartsock, vice president of precision upgrades for John Deere, saw the power of connected machines firsthand on his family’s farm in south central Ohio. This fall, Hartsock installed John Deere’s Precision Upgrades kit—a satellite receiver plus in-cab display and guidance—on his father’s old green combine.
“My dad is an Operations Center user,” Hartsock explains. “He finally connected the combine, and the look on his face when he pulled out his phone and could see what the combine is doing and how it’s performing said it all. He doesn’t have to wait until he pulls out the USB stick, takes it back to the office and downloads the data into a spreadsheet anymore.”
When One Plus One Equals Three
Trimble has been releasing connectivity, data telemetry and machine correction innovations for farmers for decades. The company’s precision ag hardware solutions has a history of being white-labeled and integrated into the back end of machines.
“[Smart farming] is using technology to digitally sense what’s going on in the field, or to digitally prescribe what you want to have happen in that field, and then applying that in a very precise way,” says Cory Buchs, senior product director, ag software at Trimble. “It’s about improving decision-making. We’re trying to enable data-based decision-making. Instead of just doing what you’ve always done, look at the data.”
Tracey Wiedmeyer, co-founder of Gripp.ag, an AgLaunch class of 2024 startup, has a unique view of smart farming.
His farm background helped inform the company’s mobile app to help users manage machinery performance and maintenance tracking across mixed fleets. Wiedmeyer sees it as a strategy to leverage consumer tech approaches to the farm—and it’s working.
“Farming has the idea that technology needs to be complex. Those days are ending,” he says. “Enterprise software firms have leveraged consumer technology approaches for a few years. It puts farmers in the driver’s seat with technology that works for them instead of them having to work for the technology. That’s smart.”
Smart farming has always held vast potential, but today, it’s heightened by the abundance of extreme, unpredictable weather patterns around the world.
John Gates, CropX chief revenue officer, says farmers are enthusiastic to use technology to be more efficient and sustainable. For growers in the U.S., he sees smart farming technology is going to be critical to help get every drop of water for crops and livestock.
“You’re up against changes in weather, changes in seed genetics, changes in water resources. As a row crop grower, you’ve got new and better genetics coming out every year, and you’re not going to know ahead of time that interaction with water necessity and demand,” Gates says. “You need tools and data and technology.”
Which State Tops The List For Precision Ag Use?
