Input prices, extreme weather and fluctuations in commodity prices are among top concerns for the next two years, according to a new McKinsey & Co. poll of 4,400 farmers worldwide.
Forty-eight percent of the farmers surveyed cited input prices as the main risk to their profits, which represents a drop of 15 percentage points from a similar survey in 2022.
Forty-one percent feared the impact of extreme weather or climate events, an increase of six percentage points from two years ago.
Meanwhile, 30% worried about volatility in agricultural commodity prices. The question was not asked in previous surveys.
North American farmers appeared to be more pessimistic about this year's profits than farmers on other continents. Sixty-four percent of North American farmers surveyed expected profits to be lower this year compared to last year, while 55% percent of European farmers, 23% of Latin American farmers and 8% of Indian farmers said the same.
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U.S. farmers appear to lead the way when it comes to interest and adoption of digital agronomy, precision agriculture, remote sensing and farm management technologies, the survey found. But Brazil appears to be outpacing the U.S. when it comes to sustainability-related software.
Sixty percent of North American farmers used digital agronomy technology for yield monitoring, while 48% used it for fertility prescription and 40% for planting and seed optimization. When it comes to precision agriculture, 89% use it to automatically steer their equipment, 78% use it to control how much they spray and 72% use it for planter row shutoffs.
Forty-eight percent of North American farmers look to input distributors for advice on agricultural purchases and soil health, while 35% said the same of family and neighbor farms. Thirty-one percent go to independent agronomists for advice.
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