By Matthew Grassi, AgWeb.com

As part of its Smart Farming Week Takeover back in March, Farm Journal surveyed the most technology forward farmers in its subscriber community, gathering responses from a large sample of row crop farmers and livestock producers.

The ag media company – recently named one of Fast Company’s 2024 Most Innovative Companies – hosted a webinar to talk through some findings from the data, as well as recent trends and forward-looking statements in the ag tech segment.

Here are five insights that stood out:

INSIGHT #1: FARMERS TARGET THESE FOUR TECHNOLOGIES

When we took a step back and considered the bigger picture, it became clear that farmers are incredibly discerning when adopting technology. It must fit the workflow that is already in place, and it must help them farm more efficiently and save on expenses.

Farmers said these are the four cost saving technologies they are most interested in going forward:

*Selective spraying technology, whether that’s via drones or other methods.

*Fully autonomous machinery.

*Grain bin monitoring systems.

*Field level accounting software.

INSIGHT #2: AGE IS MERELY A NUMBER

The data clearly showed that age alone is not an accurate predictive metric for successful ag tech adoption.

Rather, farm size (in this case, the sweet spot being 2,000 – 5,000 acres) was closely correlated to operators who self-identify as early adopters of ag tech solutions. And then we observed another common trend line linking farmers with high annual operating income levels to being more likely to self-identify as early tech adopters.

INSIGHT #3: RETROFIT IS A SOUND STRATEGY

On the heels of the recent Trimble PTx announcement and considering Deere’s Precision Upgrades 2024 kit release at National Farm Machinery Show, there has been a clear commitment from ag tech providers to offer precision ag technology as both factory installed options (as they always have) and as retrofit kits that can be added to older, compatible machines.

Now, as many of you know, that retrofit side of the equation hasn’t always been the case in the precision ag world, but it is making ag tech more accessible.

INSIGHT #4: TECHNOLOGY AND SUSTAINABILITY TRACK TOGETHER

Farm Journal’s Trust in Food division has done quite a bit of work in measuring farmer sentiment on sustainable practices. In fact, the initiative was highlighted by Fast Company as one of the reasons it honored Farm Journal as one of ag’s Most Innovative Companies for 2024.

One insight President Amy Skoczlas Cole and her team uncovered there, according to Gist, is that the adoption of sustainable practices (No-till, soil health practices, etc.) closely mirrors that of ag technology. The ROI payoff has to be implicit and rapid, but there also has to be some form of support in place to help navigate integration early on.

“What farmers have told us is, whatever the product is, whether it’s buying a new piece of technology or changing a farming practice, it has to easily fit in and not overtly disrupt my operation,” he says.

INSIGHT #5: SOMETHING BIG COULD BE ON THE HORIZON

Industry observers have opined that ag tech as it stands today is mired in a bit of a flat period. That could change soon, say in the next 3-5 years, according to Cubbage.

“I think that in three to five years, we’re definitely going to see (an) increase in adoption,” he says. “The AI, the ag robotics piece, those continue to ramp up with farmers. There’s always a tipping point that happens – sometimes it happens a lot faster than we predict, but we’re just seeing some of these technologies come to a head.”

To read the entire report click here.