Buying Intentions Survey: What Are Ag Retailers Planning to Purchase in 2025?
January 6, 2025 
Each year, CropLife® Magazine attempts to gauge the mood among ag retailers through its annual Buying Intentions Survey. For the 2025 edition, most respondents believe the 2025 growing season will see virtually every segment of the business remaining flat, sales wise, compared with 2024.
The Ag Tech Outlook
Like virtually every other category, 2025 Buying Intentions Survey respondents believe the ag tech sector will see overall flat sales during the upcoming growing season. In fact, only two segments — soil sampling and artificial intelligence (AI) — can expect sales increases between 1% and more than 11% for 32% and 30% of ag retailers, respectively.
Surprisingly, autonomous vehicles finished with the lowest percentage of expected sales increases among high tech items, with only 11% of respondents planning to increase their spending with these products this year.
The Crop Protection Products Outlook
For 2025, two of the seven crop protection product segments can expect to see more spending vs. flatness or declines. For the rest, the picture is mixed.
Overall, fungicides are expected to perform best, with 43% of respondents anticipating upping their spending in this area between 1% and more than 11% this year. Herbicides are the other segment that should do okay, with 41% of Buying Intentions Survey respondents planning to grow their spending for these products.
As for the other five segments, spending increases are expected from approximately one-third of the field. The percentages for ag retailers planning to increase their spending in these segments ranges between 38% for insecticides to 33% for biologicals.
The Equipment Outlook
As has been the case the past few years of the annual Buying Intentions Survey, ag retailers predict overall sameness in their spending for products/services that fall into the equipment category. In fact, only three segments can expect sales increases among 30% or more of ag retailers.
Leading the pack will be mixers/blenders. According to respondents, 32% of them expect to increase their spending on these products by between 1% and more than 11%. Slightly behind this group are self-propelled sprayers, where 31% of respondents plan to up their spending levels in 2025. The final segment with a third of buyers expected to grow their spending in 2025 is fertilizer spreaders, with 30% of respondents increasing their spending for these brands.
The Fertilizer Outlook
During 2024, the fertilizer category remained challenging for ag retailers and their grower-customers. Overall fertilizer sales for the nation’s top ag retailers fell to $19.9 billion during the year. This marked a significant drop of $2.5 billion from the 2023 category sales total of $22.4 billion.
Perhaps because of this market disconnect, ag retailers predict cautious buying habits for fertilizer during 2025. According to the Buying Intentions Survey, all six of the segments that make up the fertilizer category will see mixed sales figures this year. In fact, only one-third of ag retailers plan to increase their spending across fertilizer segments incrop 2025. The strongest sales are expected in micronutrients, where 37% of respondents plan to increase their spending by between 1% and more than 11%. The weakest sales are predicted for nitrogen/phosphorus stabilizers, where 31% of respondents plan to increase their spending. The other four categories can expect between 33% and 35% of ag retailers upping their purchases this year.
Subscribe Today For
