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.

This is according to research carried out by 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.

It also aimed to explore 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.

See also: Why agri-tech and nature have a place on the farm of the future

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 Nick.

Data-driven decisions

It showed a large majority see data-driven decision making as important in the future with nearly two thirds ranking 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 autosteer 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 of respondents said they use digital technology for soil management, environmental and carbon accounting, disease monitoring and stock-taking/recording.

Nick went on to say almost half said 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.

Barriers

When asked about potential barriers to adoption, cost and return on investment were clear issues.

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.