5 Key Tech Trends That Will Impact Your Precision Ag Plans in 2021
January 4, 2021 For most of the end of the last decade, technology investment washed over the agriculture market like the incoming tide. The deluge of products, offerings, and ideas did affect some change the precision ag landscape, but the rapidly receding funding from many (but not all) camps over the last couple of years has left core agriculture companies to digest and deploy the best of what the tech wave brought to the industry.
Despite the logistical, personal, and psychological challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic wrought during the 2020 crop season, retailers reported few truly difficult on-the-ground challenges in what was a largely solid season across the Corn Belt. Where social distancing was a larger issue, retailers leaned on technology to keep the lines of communication open with suppliers and farmer-customers.
From a new incoming administration to uncertainty in global markets, there are plenty of “X” factors that will come into play this year. But with a solid fall fertilizer season completed and farm income, despite the healthy contribution from Uncle Sam, on a largely firm footing, the 2021 season could provide opportunities to incorporate value-focused technology strategies into the crop plan.
Below are five technology trends to watch that could impact your short and medium-term technology and precision plans.
Getting Beyond Ecommerce
The early days of Farmers Business Network’s emergence as a competitor for broker-level crop protection sales, followed by Nutrien’s summer 2018 announcement of investment in an integrated digital portal (with an internet-based ordering platform as a top priority) was, for many, a wake up call to start considering internet product transactions as a threat.
Responses to the trend included collective platforms like CommoditAg, as well as auction-style web offerings and white-label bolt-on solutions like AgVend, which has since shuttered the auction to focus on individual retail-centric commerce solutions. Towards the end of last year, Nutrien reported reaching $1 billion dollars in ecommerce transactions (which include orders placed by sales representatives on the farmer-client’s behalf).
The threat purely from ecommerce alone has waned, but 2020 ushered in a new benchmark for doing business and sharing information on digital platforms. Providing farmer-clients with information, access, and transparency on accounts, field work, and other key information has moved forward rapidly. And of course, retailers are in the mix with John Deere’s Operations Center and Bayer-Climate FieldView.
The large, integrated retailers are pushing hard on this front with proprietary systems, and enterprise software companies have or are moving in that direction. Recently, AgVend announced it’s moving beyond the transaction through what it calls the Grower Portal Ecosystem to bring together products and services under a single platform.
With all the players at work on these systems, 2021 will be a big year for the web portal.
Carbon Sequestration Opportunities are Data-Dependent
For years, forward-thinking retailers and farmers have been keeping an eye on downstream discussions around sustainability and carbon sequestration initiatives. There’s been no shortage of ideas and initial energy for planning and goal setting, but important elements have been lacking.
The cost of implementing modified and new systems to accommodate these programs, and providing enough incentive to motivate the crop production side of the value chain to buy in, continue to throttle progress. But going into 2021, a growing number of traditional agriculture organizations making progress toward establishing a framework of production and incentive for carbon sequestration and sustainability.
Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN initiative has been among those leading the way, and Nutrien last month announced what it called an “end-to-end carbon program with a focus on grower incentive for adherence to sustainable farming practices. Of course, a key element will be recording and tracking data from planting to harvest.
As provider of key inputs and collector of field data, full-service retailer are square in the middle of the value equation for sustainability and carbon programs. This year should see some serious progress on these programs move forward, and retailers should be in the thick any opportunity to help farmers participate.
Increasing Focus on In-Season Systems
Two years ago the PrecisionAg Alliance, an initiative led by our sister brand PrecisionAg Media, put together a document outlining what it called the Six Levels of Precision Agriculture Adoption, a guide to understanding farm-level progress in the use of technology. The document identified two distinct approaches to continuous agronomic improvement — data-driven year over year learning implemented in the off-season, and instant, on-the-go learning implemented as it happens.
The assumption was that highly active in-season, on-the-go agronomy programs would be more difficult to achieve and therefore be a more advanced level of technology use for farmers. But the tide appears to be turning rapidly with advancements in technology and increasing collaboration and integration.
Best in breed sensors, imagery solutions, and other in-field technology are coming together. Companies like Taranis and FluroSat are putting structure around data collection from every source, helping to match the technology to actual field solutions. These systems have the potential to deliver tremendous value, and work most effectively with a trusted adviser partnered with the farmer.
Scaling Autonomy and “Smart” Application
No one is going into 2021 declaring that it will be the “Year of the Robot,” but it could be a real watershed season for progress on commercialization of autonomy. Raven Industries has gone all-in on autonomous equipment with a number of key investments, including the full acquisition of DOT Technology Corp. last March after six months as majority owner, and autonomous grain cart manufacturer Smart Ag.
The company capped off 2020 by formally announcing the creation of Raven Autonomy as a business unit, and establishing its headquarters in the former DOT location in Regina. As an experienced ag technology company, Raven is going into the project understanding that there is still much to test and prove out in the field, but the company has acquired key components that put it in a very compelling position.
2021 should also be an interesting year for practical developments in machine learning. The market has been waiting for “what’s next” from John Deere’s Blue River acquisition, and perhaps this is the season it takes the next step. Also, there are some interesting collaborations in the works, like BASF’s new joint venture with sensor manufacturer Bosch announced in November.
The two companies have been working together for a little over a year, and are now focused on a smart spraying solution that combines Bosch high speed sensors with BASF’s xarvio crop optimization platform. Ultimately, the goal is to turn weed recognition by a sensor into spray application on the weed with accuracy that significantly reduces product use.
Accelerating Focus on Value and Results
The latest round of precision investment moved some compelling technologies to the forefront. As the key agriculture technology players ingest and scale the best of these new ideas and products in 2021, delivering real results and clear value for farmers is going to be paramount.
That said, with regulatory, trade, and policy uncertainty that will come with a new administration in the White House, farmer attitudes about making significant changes to crop production practices likely won’t be terribly positive. Retailers are the trusted advisers and gatekeepers when it comes to weighing up new technologies and techniques, and your knowledge and input will be extremely important in the season ahead.
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