3 minute read
Advances bring farm tech to tipping point
Digital tools have been used in agriculture since the late 1990s. It was in 1999, while working with John Deere, that I first came across a satellite receiver. It immediately became apparent to me the benefits that accurate positioning of machinery would have for agriculture. Yet it has taken 20 years for this to become mainstream technology in modern tractors. The need for more efficiency in the field has moved the market to see this technology as a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.
What this illustrates to me is the adoption timeline for technology in agriculture. Most agtech is a vitamin, not a painkiller. If you take vitamins you know you will be better off long term but there is no immediate need to go to the pharmacy to buy vitamins at 8 o’clock at night, whereas if you have a headache and there are no painkillers in the house, you will drive to get some straight away. The headache is an immediate need and the payback for taking painkillers is immediate relief from discomfort. To make matters worse, because widespread market adoption has been slow, the companies producing the tech have not had the scale to invest in the user experience to make it simple to adopt. Nor have they offered business models that ensure the investment in new technology keeps up with innovation. Just think how the mobile phone market now works. The handset is part of a monthly payment plan that ensures the customer can update their hardware every few years at minimal or no capital cost to ensure they keep up with innovations. Why do I think agtech is turning a corner? Farmers are facing more challenges today than in the last 20 years. They have always been driving for efficiencies but it has stepped
Most agtech is a vitamin, not a painkiller.”
Farmlands’ Head of Enabling Technology, John Arrell, says the stars are finally aligning for digital farm technology.
| It has taken 20 years for positioning systems to become mainstream technology in modern tractors.
up a notch with environmental legislation and changing consumer demand resulting in the nice-to-haves becoming must-haves. The technology market has also stepped up to this challenge, understanding the user journey more, designing technology solutions to seamlessly integrate into the existing system and offering business models that enable the hardware to effectively be leased. This offers a complete solution that delivers the benefit the technology was designed to provide while taking away the barrier to deploying the tech on-farm. One agtech company taking the lead on this is CropX, in my opinion one of the first to really understand the customer experience.CropX soil moisture sensors are part of a hardware and software solution that is easy to deploy, thus overcoming the adoption barriers of the past. You can pick up a CropX soil sensor from a Farmlands store, download the app, scan the QR code on the sensor and screw the sensor into the soil. That’s it. The product activates itself and sends data to your app. You can track soil moisture at two depths, helping you understand how water moves through your soil profile, and irrigate accordingly. This ensures you optimise your water usage, which is better for the environment, better for your pocket and helps you grow an optimum crop. CropX has also come up with new business models that are replicating the mobile phone business models, offering a leasing option. This ensures that as CropX innovates and evolves its solution, the customer gets access to the newest technology on the market. No more outdated agtech gathering dust at the back of the shed. Farmlands is on a journey to bring you the best and easiest to deploy technology on the market with the most innovative business models. We are here to support your journey and keep you informed about new and innovative solutions for your farm.
