Extracting value from precision agriculture technology is difficult |
Extracting value from precision agriculture technology is difficult |
https://www.kpcnews.com/article_288b1d8f-0455-4eb9-9795-e8aa19823e26.html
Publish Date: 2026-04-04 00:00:00
Source Domain: www.kpcnews.com
WEST LAFAYETTE — Precision agriculture technology (tools like automated guidance, yield monitors, grid soil sampling, section control, and variable rate application) is widely seen as a path toward more efficient, more profitable farming.
Yet farmers themselves often struggle to identify exactly what financial return they get from these investments. In a recent study, we examined whether using these technologies actually made Kansas farms more efficient at generating gross revenue, and for what type of farms the benefits are most likely to show up.
What we found
On average, precision agriculture technology does not broadly improve farm efficiency. Across the seventeen technology combinations we studied, most were not associated with meaningful gains in the ability to generate revenue relative to costs. The added expense of adopting these tools was not offset by higher revenue.
Two exceptions stand out: automated guidance, and the combination of yield monitors with grid soil sampling. Automated guidance works largely on its own once installed, requiring little learning to unlock its benefits. Yield monitors and grid soil sampling, by contrast, generate information that farmers must learn to act on.
These two technologies have been commercially available for many years and farmers have likely learned how to extract value. However, this finding suggests that emerging information-generating technologies may have long-run potential, but to fully realize that potential, farmers will experience a learning process.
Less efficient farms gain the most from precision agriculture technology. Farms in the lower end of the efficiency distribution saw meaningful gains from several technology combinations, while highly efficient farms saw little to none. This finding suggests a catch-up effect, where technology helps close management gaps that…
