Digital Agriculture - Not Your Father's Precision Farming
Article #7 of 9 in “Unconventional Thinking”
When it comes to the technology revolution taking place in agriculture today, there are many competing and confusing concepts and terms. Digital Agriculture (DA) has been described as a “system of systems.” As a result, the adoption of DA is not linear - there are simply too many entry points. In a recent project, we interviewed dozens of digital agriculture thought leaders that were recommended to us and found an interesting phenomenon. All of our thought leaders were knowledgeable, but none claimed themselves to be an expert - they all told us the technology is moving so quickly that no one is an expert. In fact, several refused interviews because they felt the topic was moving so quickly they could not provide credible input. But here is a topic that we can address immediately - the confusion between the terms “Digital Agriculture (DA)” and “Precision Farming.” There is no question that precision agriculture is a great example of DA, but it is not the entirety. If you have read our earlier articles, you know that CentricEngine is all about discriminating between the farmer, the farm, and farming. Too many agrimarketers assume that usage of precision farming techniques is the best (or only) evidence of a technologically advanced farm. Unfortunately, this observation gives us little insight into the true motivations and technology behaviors of the farmer. In fact, by relying on Precision Farming as an indicator, we may be missing some of the most technologically advanced farmers of all.
“Digital Agriculture is a System of Systems”
Precision farming is a management concept based on observing, measuring, and responding to inter and intra field variability in crops. By definition, it is based on geospatial analysis. In our discussions with farmers, consulting agronomists, and academics it has become clear that the current overwhelming focus of technology and effort is in leveraging the benefits of this field-level analysis. As such, precision farming is focussed on an agronomic, rather than business effort. Production for maximum efficiency per unit of land is obviously a key contributor to the health of the business overall, but it is analogous to a manufacturing business owner focusing only on the production line. On the other hand, digital agriculture refers to tools that digitally collect, store, analyze, and share electronic data and/or information along the agricultural value chain. This includes another “system” that we call “digital Enterprise Management - an intensive focus on using digital tools to manage the business activities that operate above the field operations – HR, purchasing, inventory management, marketing, IT/communications systems and culture.
We have met a small number of farmers who are approaching farm management from this very different direction. They are not ignoring Precision Farming but are proceeding cautiously on field-level data while focusing on leveraging existing (and in many cases purpose-built) digital technology to manage and integrate enterprise-level activities. They have cited two arguments for this investment; the first simply being a deep interest in business management and the second being a belief that productivity opportunities at the field level are overshadowed by opportunities at the enterprise level. There is a wealth of evidence to support this proposition.
To fully deliver on the promise of digital agriculture requires the existence of, and full integration between the digital systems representing every management and agronomic aspect of the enterprise. Few if any digital platforms combine and integrate field level activities with overall financial parameters – forming a true Enterprise Resource Planning application. For this reason, we see a lot of “cobbling” behavior - farm operators cobbling together their own digital solutions to fit their needs in the way that an old school farmer may cobble together a needed piece of equipment. It is this group that we see as operating at the forefront of Digital Agriculture.
“Designing for Enterprise Level Managers will Require a New and Different Approach”
Designing for and selling to farmers focused on Enterprise Level Management will require a new and different approach from selling to those focused more on field level operations. One that few field reps have the business training necessary for. Indeed - identifying the real decision-maker is key as our intuition (and some data) tells us that these farmers are more likely to compartmentalize and delegate decision making within the organization - but more on that in an upcoming article.
Keep listening! This is a topic that we intend to explore in some upcoming syndicated research.
