How UK farmers are using digital technology

Farmers across the UK are extensively using digital technology to help them run their businesses now and in the way they plan to run their businesses in the future according to exclusive research carried out by leading crop production specialists Hutchinsons.

Launched at Hutchinsons’ Connected Farming Technology Conference in Peterborough, head of marketing Nick Rainsley, explained the reasoning behind this extensive research was to better understand where farmers are on their digital journey, to exploring some of the key issues that exist and to share the results amongst the farming community to stimulate discussion and actions following on from the findings.

The survey covered 200 growers and farms of over 100 ha of arable only, or mixed arable and livestock – and whether respondents were early adopters, more results focused or just cautious.

“The research lends weight to the role digital technology is going to play in the future of UK farming. Half of the farms researched said digital technology was going to be of increasing importance in farming and this rose to nearly two-thirds among the largest farms,” said Mr Rainsley.

“A large majority see data-driven decision making as important in the future. Nearly two thirds ranked it six or more out of 10 – with 10 being the highest importance.

“With an increasing array of tools and solutions being used, particularly weather-related apps and even generic tools such as What3Words, it was unsurprising the research suggested a whopping 72% of farmers believed climate change and weather considerations were the biggest challenges facing farming.”

However he pointed out almost half or more of farmers surveyed, unsurprisingly cited the additional challenges of high input costs, end market prices and overall farm profitability. This was reflected in the principal reasons they gave for using digital tools; savings on costs, improving yields and being more efficient.

“Of the current tools in use, 76% of respondents said they were using auto-steer with around 40% adopting variable-rate technology for fertiliser applications and seed drilling. A smaller proportion, 21%, used variable-rate applications for spraying.

“More than a third said they use digital technology for soil management, environmental and carbon accounting, disease monitoring and stock-taking/recording. Almost half told us that digital technology would help them meet the growing challenges of compliance and more environmentally focused production.

“Whilst these technologies have been around for a while, we shouldn’t be surprised that their adoption is increasingly popular when the environment and also cost drivers are taken into consideration,” he said.

When asked about potential barriers to adoption, cost and return on investment were clear issues, pointing out for the larger farms, integration between different software was also a notable barrier to usage, suggesting this pain point was possibly a reflection that bigger businesses were using or interested in using more digital tools.

“Across the whole survey, more than a quarter cited solution integration as being important in the future. In fact it was the number one requirement.

In an encouraging sign, Mr Rainsley pointed out 77% rated themselves as five or above (out of 10) when it came to their confidence in using digital tech.

“The pandemic possibly accelerated people’s confidence. For such a large percentage to feel reasonably comfortable with the technology is very positive.

“However we should be mindful that nearly a third felt they were insufficiently aware of what was available, and around 20% said lack of time, insufficient training, or lack of technical support were barriers.”

We did note some variances, continued Mr Rainsley. “For example, the early adopters were even more positive about digital technology. Staffing challenges were more relevant to the bigger farms and not surprisingly they rated work and resource planning as being a more important area digital tech could improve than the rest of the cohort.”

PANEL

Hutchinsons believes the findings back up its strategy to support farmers with increasingly smart digital technology. “Our decision to invest in Omnia is backed up by the survey and indeed take-up of the solution,” Hutchinsons chairman Andrew McShane explained.

“We have placed significant emphasis on making the tool as easy to use as possible, ensuring farmers can have as much of their data in one place as possible through third-party integrations, and also invested heavily in ensuring farmers have control of their data and that it is secure.”

Omnia is certified under both ISO27001 for data security and Farm Data Principles scheme for farm data governance. “With nearly a fifth of respondents pointing to data ownership and data security as being barriers to digital adoption, we know that farmers want to be confident their data is their data,” Mr McShane added.