Precision Farming Dealer editors encounter a variety of articles, social media posts, podcasts and videos that offer a unique look at various aspects of our great agricultural industry. Here is our favorite content from the past week:

• CNBC: AGCO Predicts 30% Growth in Its Precision Business in 2022
• How the Best & Worst Ag Sales People Think Differently When Making Sales on Relationships
• SwarmFarm CEO: ‘Big Opportunity’ for New Business Models for Selling Ag Machinery
• European Tractor Maker SDF Takes Majority Stake in Autonomous Vineyard Robot Developer
• Investors at the ‘Very Beginning’ of Buying into Agtech

Best of the Web This Week is brought to you by Salford Group.

As global leaders with the widest range of spinner spreaders and air boom applicators in the industry, Salford Group has got you covered. Backed by over 400 application-specific dealers, eight North American parts distribution centers and revered in-field application support, we’re the partners you need to make your business as productive as possible.

CNBC: AGCO Predicts 30% Growth in Its Precision Business in 2022

AGCO expects 30% growth in its precision agriculture business in 2022, according to this article from CNBC. During an interview on CNBC’s Mad Money, AGCO CEO Eric Hansotia said AGCO has the biggest order bank in its history, up 30% from last year in Europe and up 20% in the U.S. While he anticipates some relief from supply chain shortages in the second half of the year, Hansotia says semiconductor chips are the biggest challenge remaining.

“Farmers have never been under more pressure to produce more, and yet their input costs are up, so they want to do with less inputs … the only way to solve that equation is precision ag and technology,” said AGCO's CEO Eric Hansotia on CNBC’s Mad Money. https://t.co/ZG0n1XQwjd pic.twitter.com/GNkTnRYcOP

— AGCO (@AGCOcorp) August 2, 2022

How the Best & Worst Ag Sales People Think Differently When Making Sales on Relationships

Agricultural sales enablement coach David Dam posted this chart on LinkedIn that’s based on his company’s assessments of ag retailers, seed companies and dealerships. It illustrates how different levels of salespeople rank themselves on 5 of Dam’s key attributes for relationship building competency when making sales. Do you agree with his conclusion about the need to be liked when making a sale and how it affects performance?

SwarmFarm CEO: ‘Big Opportunity’ for New Business Models for Selling Ag Machinery

Andrew Bate, CEO of SwarmFarm Robotics, plans to scale its fleet of robots and farming-as-a-service model differently than the traditional ag dealership. In this episode of the “Agtech…so what?” podcast, Bate says eliminating the dealer and selling directly to customers will give farmers more decision-making power when it comes to service and support. A 2022 survey from Ag Equipment Intelligence illustrated dealers’ concern about the threat of different and competing models of distribution for electric farm machinery, a common power source for the autonomous equipment in development today. More than half of the total North American dealers surveyed said they were concerned about alternative distribution models.

European Tractor Maker SDF Takes Majority Stake in Autonomous Vineyard Robot Developer

European agricultural equipment manufacturer SDF is taking a majority stake in VitiBot, a French company developing autonomous electric vineyard robots, according to this article from Future Farming. SDF’s CEO says VitiBot will enrich SDF’s tractor offerings, and SDF’s goal is to support VitiBot’s development and product industrialization, “satisfying a market demand that we think will be continuously growing in the future.”

Investors at the ‘Very Beginning’ of Buying into Agtech

While investments in tech stocks are slowing, BlackRock U.S. Head of Thematic and Active Equity ETFs Jay Jacobs believes investors are just starting to buy into agtech companies. “People still have to buy food. ... So it gives us a certain amount of confidence and resilience in this theme that, despite the broader economic environment, we still have a lot of conviction that this will be growing going forward,” Jacobs tells Yahoo Finance.

Is there something you want to share in "This Week"? Send us an email.

More from this series

Best of the Web This Week is brought to you by Salford Group.

At Salford Group, we have range - in our product lineup and when it comes time to apply. As global leaders with the widest range of spinner spreaders and air boom applicators in the industry, we’ve got you covered. Salford’s BBI and Valmar applicators are proven over millions of acres and range from simple, durable fleet spreaders to precision, variable rate machines engineered for high acreage, custom application. Backed by over 400 application-specific dealers, eight North American parts distribution centers and revered in-field application support, we’re the partners you need to make your business as productive as possible.

Click here to view past "Best of the Web This Week" updates.