This year has shown interesting new developments in market sentiments, with dealers continuing to slowly move away from hardware and steer sharply toward data management for future revenue, according to the seventh annual Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study.

Agronomic service is still a push-pull offering for dealers. Some have proactively embraced and invested in providing robust support options to customers that include soil sampling, data analysis and field prescriptions.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, at least in terms of how dealers are selling and servicing precision farming products. While strides have been made establishing precision as a standalone business, dealerships continue to seek a better balance between revenue generated by hardware sales and service.

Farm producers and dealers alike should have an easier time mixing and matching different brands of ISOBUS-equipped tractors and implements after AgriTechnica 2019.

Despite the downturn in the ag economy, precision farming dealers have largely maintained an ambitious sales outlook, banking on their ability to increase billable service and capture ROI-based revenue from new products.

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. But RTK-level correction is often referred to as the most essential technology in a successful strip-till system, given the importance of accurately planting into a narrow strip of soil.

Talking with precision dealers about their revenue outlook during the last several months, most have shared variations of the same story — cautious optimism with a caveat. A challenging spring in many areas is compounding the prolonged effect of the slumping ag economy, a combination precision dealers cited as a concern.

In the first part of this two-part “Our Dealer Story” episode from our sister publication Farm Equipment brought to you by HBS Systems, brothers Tom, Rob and Teddy Rosztoczy, along with their mother Diane, sat down with Alan Stenum from the Precision Farming Dealer team to share their story of how the dealership became Stotz Equipment.