Farmers across the UK are extensively using digital technology to help them run their businesses now and to help them plan how they will 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 early December, head of marketing Nick Rainsley explained that the reasoning behind this extensive research was to understand better where farmers are on their digital journey, explore some of the key issues that exist and share the results amongst the farming community to stimulate discussion and actions.

The survey covered 200 growers and farms of over 100 ha of either arable only or mixed arable and livestock, and asked 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.

A large majority sees 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 generic tools such as What3Words, it was unsurprising that the research suggested a whopping 72% of farmers believed climate change and weather considerations were the biggest challenges facing farming.

Nick pointed out, however, that almost half or more of farmers surveyed unsurprisingly cited the additional challenges of high input costs, 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 used digital technology for soil management, environmental and carbon accounting, disease monitoring and stock-taking/recording. Almost half said that digital technology would help them meet the growing challenges of compliance and more environmentally focused production.

While these technologies have been around for a while, it should come as no surprise that their adoption is increasingly popular when the environment and cost drivers are taken into consideration.

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

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

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

Looking at variances, Mr Rainsley said the early adopters were 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 that could be improved by digital technology than the rest of the cohort.

SURVEY KEY FINDINGS

  • UK farmers are confident in use of digital tech
  • Adoption is now embedded in UK agriculture
  • Saving costs is the biggest driver
  • Half can see digital tech improving compliance and audit
  • Two thirds see data-driven decision making as important
  • More opportunities are needed for better training, awareness and support.

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