Report Overview

Global Digital Farming Market- Industry Trends & Forecast Report 2027

The global digital farming market has reached USD 4,770.8 million in 2020. It is further projected to reach USD 10,702.3 million by 2027, at a CAGR of 12.7% during the forecast period (2021-2027). Factors driving the market include increased food demand due to rapid population growth, and increased adoption of remote sensing technology, Variable Rate Technology (VRT), as well as guidance technologies by farmers worldwide. Another factor driving the market growth is substantial cost savings achieved by the use of modern agricultural techniques and other methods.

Companies in the global digital farming industry is heavily investing in the incorporation of cutting-edge technology for various agricultural processes such as precision farming, monitoring crop humidity, soil composition, and temperature, and increasing yields by observing crop treatment and determining the optimal amount of water or fertilizer to be used.

Source: BlueWeave Consulting

Global Digital Farming Market Overview:

Digital farming involves the process of applying the latest technological methods to predict and influence the cultivation process. Digital farming develops an operational system which provides real-time information about the soil and plants’ temperature, humidity, water levels, fertilizer requirements, and nutrients requirement. It helps farmers in optimizing various agricultural processes and increasing crop yield. Digital farming also has the potential to revolutionize agriculture and increase crop production with less investment. It often shortens the crop's selling time and lengthens the fallow period. Farmers who operate hundreds of hectares of farmland often struggle to keep an eye on every nook and corner of their farms and as a result, crop production suffers. Digital farming solves these issues with the help of sensors and smart devices. Companies operating in the digital farming market are even trying to integrate AI to further enhance the efficiency of the digital farming process.

Global Digital Farming Market Forecast and Trends

Growth Drivers

Increased food demand due to population growth

Food is one of the most important aspects of survival. People work to earn something to eat. As time progresses, the demand for food is growing exponentially. The production of agricultural farms and fields has increased with the global population in recent decades. Despite this, approximately 690 million people still go hungry every day. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations, the agriculture sector will need to increase productivity by nearly 50% by 2050 to meet the food demand of the increased population. According to the United Nations, the world's population will crossthe 9.5 billion mark by 2050. The FAO has further estimated thatto meet increased food demand, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia would need to more than double their agricultural productivity by 2050, while the rest of the world will need to increase agricultural productivity by more than one-third. Apart from this, the FAO further reported that yields of wheat and rice in low-income countries are currently about half those in high-income countries.

With food demand expected to rise exponentially in the coming years, and crop production showing little sign of improvement, farmers are increasingly using fertilizers, which not only raises the cost of crop production but also saturates the soil and harms the production of the next crop. Digital farming with a fully integrated and operational system increases the crop production by optimizing the farming process. It also provides real-time data on the supply of essential soil and plant nutrients and regulates the quantity of fertilizers to be used to meet the demand. Farmers all over the world are incorporating digital farming to increase crop production, and with increasing food demand, the number is expected to rise even further in the coming years. During the forecast period, this is expected to act as a catalyst and contribute to the global digital farming market's growth.

Increased adoption of variable rate technology (VRT), remote sensing technology, and guidance technologies by worldwide farmers

Governments around the globe are trying to encourage the adoption of digital farming technologies like VRT, remote sensing technologies, guidance technologies, and others. Moreover, digital farming is included in the EU's Popular Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is the costliest EU initiative, with a budget of more than EUR 50 billion per year.18 European countries have begun collaborating with the EU to encourage digital agriculture and the implementation of relevant technology in their respective countries. According to an FAO survey, energy-intensive agricultural equipment controlled by monitoring systems accounted for 70% of all agricultural equipment in Belarus in 2020, and the government aims to cultivate 30% of total agricultural land using new technologies. Additionally, according to Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report by USDA, 52% of the American farms use desktop or laptop for farm business in 2019 an increase of 8% from 44% in 2017.

VRT is an innovative technology that allows farmers to control the amount of input they use at a particular location. Remote sensing technology enables crop yield modeling and estimation of pests and disease infestation, soil sampling and mapping, droughts monitoring, and water resources mapping, along with many other applications. Guidance technologies, on the other hand, help farmers in identifying insect and disease-affected areas in their farms, as well as providing information about the amount of pesticides and insecticides to be used to get rid of the insect and diseases. With time, farmers have started adopting technology to make crop production easier and smart. As we move forward in time, the adoption of technologies like VRT, remote sensing, and others is expected to increase even more and is expected to contribute significantly towards the growth of the global digital farming market during the forecast period.

Restraints

High Capital Cost of Modern Agricultural Equipment

Farmers require different types of equipment at various stages of a crop's life cycle, from planting to harvesting. Farmers in North America and Europe are in better financial condition than farmers in African and Asian countries who lack funds to buy costly farming equipment. For example, Robovator, a robotic weeder by F. Poulsen Engineering, costs between USD 125,000 and USD 160,000, including about USD 15,000 in modifications.Tractors, one of the most essential farming equipment, cost around USD 350,00, and harvesters cost around USD 25,000, and a combine harvester cost around USD 24,500. A majority of the farmers cannot afford such high-cost equipment. Aside from these, modern equipment and innovations such as remote sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), Software as a Service (or SaaS), and Big Data technology are all costlier.Although the governments of different countries provide subsidy to farmers for purchasing technologically advanced farming equipment, the maintenance cost and operating cost of the equipment still remains too high for farmers. Althoughcompanies and governments are trying their best to make agricultural equipment affordable, high maintenance and operating cost and high initial investment cost are likely to act as a restraint for the growth of the global digital farming market during the forecast period.

Global Digital Farming Market: By Components

Based on components, global digital farming market is segmented into hardware, software, and others­. The hardware segment is the largest in the global digital farming market in 2020. It includes sensors, GPS devices, smart equipment, smart weeder and harvesters, and others, while software includes AI, Software as a Services (SaaS), Big Data, and others. Companies are actively searching for new ways to deliver innovative products and services to consumers in the digital farming space. Some of the companies operating in the digital farming market also provide robots for farming purposes.

Global Digital Farming Market: By Application

Source: BlueWeave Consulting

Based on application, the global digital farming is segmented into precision farming, live-stock monitoring, greenhouse farming, and others. Precision farming is the farming method where input received are used in a very precise manner to enhance the yield of the crop production. Precision farming require large fields and thus, is not very effective in India, where more than 58% of the farmers have less than one hectare of farming fields. Precision farming provides exact data for the amount of water, fertilizer, and pesticide required for the crop, thereby reducing the operational cost. Live-stock monitoring includes equipment and software used for the smart monitoring of live-stock and keeping heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, digestion level, and other vitals in check. Greenhouse farming is the method of growing crops under a fully or partially covered environment to enhance productivity. Greenhouse farming has been around for quite some time. It is widely used by farmers all over the world. As the adoption of digital farming and smart equipment is expected to increase during the forecast period, as a direct result precision farming is also expected to show appreciable growth.

Impact of COVID-19 in the industry

The onset of novel coronavirus has affected the global economy besides affecting business operations. Due to the high infection rate and adverse impact on public health systems, various countries had to enforce nationwide lockdowns. Industry players are currently considering digital solutions and services to serve thecommunity and provide newfangled opportunities to do business.

COVID-19 has also affected the global digital farming market negatively. The growth of the market dipped in 2020 due to the adverse effect of the COVID-19 on the supply chain of the digital farming market. Furthermore, everything was shut down and borders were closed due to lockout restrictions. Companies were unable to meet their consumers, limiting the market's growth.This prompted companies to start moving towards production monitoring, crop health monitoring, field mapping, irrigation scheduling, and harvesting management with the help of wireless platforms to enable real-time decision-making. However, the market recovered quickly towards the end of 2020 when lockdown restrictions were lifted. Consequently, the global digital farming market is expected to grow even more in 2021.

Global Digital Farming Market: Regional Insights

The global digital farming market is segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. The European digital farming market accounts for the largest share in the global digital farming market and is expected to lead the market in the forecast period as well.

Europe held the largest market shares in the global digital farming market in 2020 owing to the strong financial condition of the farmers, availability of the latest technology, strong infrastructure, and reinforced supply chain. In Europe, the Netherlands has emerged to be a global leader in agricultural innovation, forging new paths to fight hunger. Today, the Dutch country is the world’s second-largest exporter of food by value, only behind the US. It is worth noting that the US has 270 times the landmass of the Netherlands. Currently, the Netherlands accounts for more than a third of all global vegetable seed trade. Integration of green-house farming and precision farming has made the greatest contribution to the rapid growth of the Dutch agriculture and digital farming industries.

Source: BlueWeave Consulting

Recent Developments

On April 6, 2021, Guardian Agriculture reported a USD 10.5 million investment to modernize crop safety with eVTOL-powered precision. Guardian Agriculture has created the world's first integrated eVTOL device for precision application, expanding growers' reach, lowering environmental impact, and reducing product resistance. It collects data produced during the crop protection process, acts intelligently on it, and is provided to farmers as a service.

Competitive Landscape

The global digital farming market is fragmented in nature. Some of the key players operating in the market areGamaya SA, Cisco Systems Inc., AGCO Corporation, Accenture PLC, Trimble Navigation Ltd., IBM Corporation, Salt Mobile SA, Deere & Co., Epicor Software Corporation, Bayer CropScience AG,Hexagone AB, and other prominent players. Acquisitions and effective mergers are some of the strategies adopted by the key manufacturers.Some of the major industry players' main strategies include new product releases and an emphasis on continuous technological innovation.Additionally, the companies are also trying to dominate the market by investing in research and development.

Various companies are striving to gain market share by adopting competitive strategies such as joint ventures and research partnerships. The market players compete based on product quality, conformance to standards and performance, and cost-effective manufacturing process, which in turn optimizes the process for better production.

Scope of the Repor

By Component

• Hardware
• Software
• Others

By Application

•  Precision Farming
•  Live-Stock Monitoring
•  Greenhouse Farming
•  Others

By Region

•  North America
•  Europe
•  Asia-Pacific (APAC)
•  Latin America (LATAM)
•  Middle-East & Africa (MEA)