Reducing the Cost Barrier to Precision Technology

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Precision agriculture promises to maximize profitability from every acre if utilized correctly. But the cost of this technology is still a barrier to adoption. Marc Kermisch, Global Chief Digital & Information Officer at CNH Industrial says farm owners and managers are closely scrutinizing the return on investment of this technology.

Kermisch… “If you look at the take rate and you set aside auto steer for a second, right, you know, we're still at the very beginning stages of precision, and I think it's for a couple reasons and there are some generational changeover that's occurring. So an established farmer that's in their, you know, call it sixty-five to eighty-five range is getting ready to pass the farm down. You know that there's a discussion at the table between son and father or daughter and father on how are they gonna use automation for the farming practice. And some of that comes down to cost, right? So I think one of the biggest challenges precision has from an acceptance rate, one is getting the cost down that allows the farmer to see the impact on their P and l. So if they're not seeing productivity and yields go up and input costs go down and our cost to deliver the technology on the vehicle is too high, then you have a lose-lose situation. And that's where I think what's always regulating our ability to introduce new capabilities to the farmer is making sure that we can prove that our cost is right, and it's justified because we're driving so much value by improved yields or improved costs to the farmer itself.”

Again, that’s Marc Kermisch of CNH Industrial.