FARMING AS A SERVICE

With the rise of new technologies and practices, farmers may be faced with new business models from manufacturers

- Alex Gray

By now, many farmers are already acquainted with subscription-based services, and between auto guidance and telematics services, they may have a few of their own.

In 2022, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) made 13 predictions in “The Future of Food Production” report covering the next 10 years. They include changing farm ownership models, increased global production demand, reducing environmental impact, geographic shifts in production, developing artificial intelligence, and narrowing the connectivity gap. At the convergence of all these trends, AEM predicts new business models will emerge in the agriculture machinery industry.

Curt Blades, senior vice president of AEM, points specifically to changes in farm ownership as one of the biggest trends driving the emergence of new business models, citing data from the 2014 USDA Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land survey. At that time, 39% of U.S. farmland was rented, increasing to 54% for land used for crop production. This trend has continued since 2014. Looking specifically at Iowa, the amount of Iowa farmland leased out increased from 53% in 2017 to 58% in 2022, according to data from Iowa State University’s Iowa Farmland Ownership and Tenure Survey.

“The business structure has evolved a little bit with less direct ownership of farmland,” says Blades. “As a result, whether you’re in ag equipment or inputs, you have to match that business model with what the farmer’s using.”

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