Tapping into external precision expertise can provide efficient and effective avenues to improve customer service for farm equipment dealerships. But the chaotic schedules of precision managers don’t always allow for coordinated sessions, especially nowadays.

There are likely more people than ever looking toward the future — pick your reason right now — but the reality is it will be here before we know it. This can be both a paralyzing and comforting thought for farm equipment dealerships.

Forecasting how farm equipment dealerships will operate in 10 years allows for a combination of creative and critical outlook. With ongoing generational transition on many U.S. farms, relationships between customer and dealers are evolving.

Precision farming specialists are often called upon to be versatile, adaptable problem-solvers. But as the next generation of decision-maker moves into farm management roles, dealerships are also transitioning how they meet the evolving expectations of customers.

Successfully selling precision farming services is an annual objective for many farm equipment dealerships. Getting farm customers to pay for software updates, in-field support and hardware installations is a challenge. But what about connecting customers’ ag tech and equipment investments with a long-term business plan for their farm operation?

As farm equipment continues to become more automated, tracking up- and downtime to the hour — especially with leased machinery — can have a significant economic impact. For ag input retailers that offer custom application services and lease fleets of sprayers, spreaders and floaters, the ability to monitor machine hours, fuel costs and labor time allows for an accurate analysis of return on investment.

Universities and colleges have had to rethink and revise the way they educate students and this is particularly true for precision ag undergraduates accustomed to hands-on, in-field learning.

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.