The Precision Farming Dealer 2020 Benchmark Study showed several shifts in dealers’ expectations for their future revenue. Topping the list of revenue sources considered important for growth was application technology hardware, reversing its 3-year downward trend.

Problem solving is often the linchpin of a dealership’s precision farming business. The last couple of years have tested the abilities of precision teams to overcome ongoing economic — and more recently — social challenges to maintain, if not grow revenue.

The results of the eighth annual Precision Farming Dealer benchmark study — with contributions from dozens of farm equipment dealers, input retailers and independent precision companies — trend toward a conservative reality and a cautious outlook for the majority of respondents.

Strip-till farmers have typically been among the most progressive adopters of precision technology, embracing tools including variable-rate seeding, implement guidance and unmanned aerial vehicles.

While in-person meetings provide valuable face-to-face contact, the chaotic schedules of precision managers don’t always allow for coordinated sessions. In 2018, a group of John Deere precision farming managers, organized by Phil Moskal from Mid-State Equipment, began communicating via text message to assist each other with troubleshooting in-field problems or trading insight on new products or services.