What does it take to accelerate farmer technology adoption of new agricultural products? Naturally, the technology needs to work and be proven through field trials. But proving a yield increase alone isn’t enough anymore. Best management practices (BMPs) are essential to showing farmers how a new technology fits into their overall crop production system. Answering the question, “how would it work on my farm?” remains paramount to driving adoption.
For years, farmers have shown reluctance to use new technologies like biologicals. That mindset continues to shift, and farmers are planning to adopt more new products and practices in the years ahead.
According to McKinsey’s Global Farmer Insights 2024 survey, farmer adoption of biologicals has grown substantially since the 2022 report. Today, 38% of farmers globally use biocontrols, biofertilizers, or biostimulants, and 90% say they plan to maintain or increase their spending on bio-based crop protection products in the years ahead. Adoption still varies widely by region and crop type — in Europe, roughly one-third of farmers use biologicals, with specialty crop growers (38%) more likely to adopt than row crop growers (22%). More education is still needed to close these gaps and build farmer confidence in the technology. Robust data and in-depth analysis that leads to BMPs provide the basis for the education farmers need to implement new technologies.
How can BMPs be determined?
- Understand crop production systems and the collective paradigms of the farmer-customer across geographical environments. How does a farmer process whether the product in the generally accepted production system is a success or failure?
- Start with scientifically solid field trial data to validate a level of statistically predictable performance and determine technically sound and specific product use recommendations within the crop production system.
- Take advantage of every piece of data to see a complete picture. Use all types of digital imagery, sensors and secondary data available to you. Look at environmental influences, other inputs, knowledge about the crops and farming practices. Technically position the product within a generally accepted crop production system or build rationale for improving the system with a new BMP.
- Aggregate the data and analyze for results and value. Mine insights.
- Plan the product positioning and build your brand story. What’s the opportunity your product will capitalize on at the farm gate? And geographically where? Not everything needs to be sold in the I-states. What problems is the technology solving? And equally as important is where doesn’t this product work? A specific focus or narrow focus doesn’t necessarily mean narrow opportunities. It could mean completely owning a corner of the market.
- Develop the BMPs by environment to optimize production and improve Return on Investment (ROI).
