Farmers are not turning away from agricultural technology, but they are getting far more selective about what earns a place on the farm. That is the reading of McKinsey & Company's Global Farmer Insights 2026, its fourth biennial survey, conducted from April to July among 5,500 farmers in ten countries — from smallholders on 120 acres or less to operations above 6,000 acres — with interviews in the United States, Brazil, France, Germany, India and Peru.

Half of farmers now use at least one agtech tool, McKinsey's broad definition covering precision guidance, variable-rate application, irrigation controls, field monitoring, digital agronomy, remote sensing, farm-management software, automation, robotics and AI-enabled tools such as precision spraying. But adoption rose only 4 percentage points from 2024 across the seven countries surveyed both times, and just 2% in the United States, already one of the most mature markets. Digital agronomy is the most used category, at 31%, followed by precision hardware and remote sensing; the biggest gains were in remote sensing and farm-management software, while automation and robotics remain far less common — they cost more and fit less easily into existing work.

Money explains the caution. Farmers reported lower commodity prices against elevated or volatile costs for fertiliser, labour, land, equipment and financing, and are preserving cash, postponing purchases and trading down. In North America 66% named rising input prices among their top three profitability risks for the next two years and 50% cited commodity-price volatility. Equipment shows the whiplash: 16% would cut it first under margin pressure, but 36% would fund it first as profits recover — pent-up demand, McKinsey suggests. "Nitrogen is expensive and I don't want to use more than I have to," one US corn and soybean farmer said of what he wants technology for.

Generative AI is the exception to the slow curve: 17% of farmers use it for farm-related work (4% pay for it), most in Latin America and North America, and nearly three-quarters expect it to affect their operations within three to five years. Users apply it mainly before harvest — 43% for planning, 33% for crop management — and for troubleshooting, comparing products and framing questions for agronomists. Trust lags use: technical agronomists are a top purchasing influence for 56% of farmers, sales representatives for 56% (down from 67% in 2024), and generative AI or AI search for just 6%. A French grape grower said AI advice on grass cover during the drought "completely missed the mark".

Farmers are researching more online — 36% prefer digital channels to evaluate and compare products, up 14 points — but test before they scale: most adopters of biological products use them on less than half their land. "If I get a trusted recommendation, I'll put it on half a field to start and try it over a couple of different seasons," a US farmer said. McKinsey's conclusion for agtech companies is that adoption will depend on demonstrating return on investment at the farm level, across crops, geographies and farm sizes, while lowering the cost and complexity of getting started.

Source: AGDAILY