Farmers worldwide look to agricultural technology as a way to increase productivity, while receiving a return on investment. They also find other reasons for purchasing new agricultural technology.
Farmers today rely on producer feedback and data sets to help them make purchasing decisions, say Mark Core, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Vermeer.
?There?s less reliance today on influence from the actual inventor, or company that?s bringing the product to market,? Core said. ?Truly as a benefit of social media, there?s a lot of ?farmer talk? going on online. Over time, that has generated a lot of good conversation as people are trying to look at a non-biased scenario.?
?Data is more available today than it has ever been,? Core said. ?For a lot of farmers, the stress of gut decisions has been replaced by good data sets from their operation or many operations.”
?Every farming operation has different drivers,? according to Core. However, Core believes many farmers look to agriculutral technology for one reason in particular.
?A big chunk of our decisions as production agriculture folks and retailers are around (the) labor shortage. And it?s changed the curve over time, in terms of how quickly we?re willing to adopt technologies because in a lot of situations, it allows us to be more efficient and a little less dependent on skilled labor, or labor costs in general,? Core said.
Other reasons for adoption include: Adapting/responding to a changing consumer preference, increased sustainability, land availability, market prices, as well as rules and regulations.
