Talking with precision dealers about their revenue outlook during the last several months, most have shared variations of the same story — cautious optimism with a caveat.

A challenging spring in many areas is compounding the prolonged effect of the slumping ag economy, a combination precision dealers cited as a concern.

However, results of this year’s seventh annual Precision Farming Dealer benchmark study — with contributions from nearly 180 farm equipment dealers, input retailers and independent precision companies — indicate an overall positive financial outlook for 2019.

Based on the responses gathered during the first and second quarter of 2019 from 31 different states and Canada, about 28% of dealers reported precision revenue growth of 8% or more in 2018, slightly ahead of the revenue forecast in last year’s report.

This marks the third consecutive year dealers exceeded their higher-end revenue expectations. However, 2018 revenue in the 2-7% range was about 10% off of initial projections, with almost one-third of study participants reporting modest precision revenue growth last year.

So what are dealers expecting this year? Overall, some 57% forecast revenue growth of at least 2% over 2019, with about 20% projecting growth of at least 8%. These totals reflect a more conservative forecast compared to a year ago, but only about 6% of study participants project a revenue decline of at least 2% this year.

You can find the complete 2019 benchmark study report and analysis coming in the Summer issue of Precision Farming Dealer and extended coverage of past studies at PrecisionFarmingDealer.com.