While precision farming sales and service revenue was down on average in 2024, most dealers are optimistic they’ll bounce back this year according to the 12th annual Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study.
Nearly 33% of dealers surveyed estimated their total sales and service revenue was down at least 2% or more from 2023, while 40% reported little or no change. 20% said their revenue was up 2-7% and only 7% reported an increase of 8% or more.
“We’re starting to get our numbers in, and I’d say we’re about 2-3% up,” says Spud Armstrong, precision specialist with Rochester, Ind.-based Ag Technologies Inc. and New Holland Rochester. “We did pick up some good projects in January last year, so that helped us out on the bottom line. Sales were fairly decent in the second half. We landed around $500,000, but we still didn’t get to where I thought we would in terms of picking up new customers.”
Revenue Breakdown
26.5% of dealers estimate their total 2024 precision farming revenue was $500,000 or less, while another 26.5% were between $1-$2 million. 20% made between $500,001-$1 million, about 7% were between $2-$3 million, another 7% were between $4-$5 million and 13% made more than $5 million.
46.5% of dealers surveyed reported between $500,001 and $2 million in total precision revenue in 2024, while 26.5% reported $500,000 or less. 13% brought in more than $5 million in revenue. Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
Hardware sales once again represented most of the total precision revenue in 2024 at 53%, compared to 52% in 2023 and 57% in 2022. Service/support made up an average of just over 21% of dealers’ total precision revenue, down almost 6 percentage points from 2023. Agronomic services took a giant leap in this year’s survey with nearly 19% compared to around 1% last year.
“We don’t do any agronomic services because the dealer principal made it very clear 15 years ago that he did not want to be involved in that,” Armstrong says. “I’ve partnered with some local, independent agronomists. There’s about 3 or 4 of them I work with and most of my customers are dealing with those guys. As a dealer, we just felt that we didn’t need to be our customers’ agronomists. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, that’s just how we do it.”
Factory installed precision systems continue to get the biggest chunk of sales for precision dealers. Aftermarket sales dropped 2 percentage points from 2023. Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
Factory installed precision systems made up almost 55% of total sales in 2024. Aftermarket sales represented just over 38% of total sales and used precision equipment checked in at about 11%.
2025 Sales Outlook
Looking ahead to 2025, 60% of dealers surveyed forecast at least a 2-7% increase in revenue from precision farming sales, while 26% expect little or no change. About 7% forecast revenue to decline 2-7% while another 7% forecast a drop of 8% or more.
“It’s been a pretty slow start to the new year, but I think we’ll start picking up some more precision sales in the spring,” Armstrong says. “Instead of trading in a sprayer or planter, I assume more guys will look to precision purchases.”
67% of dealers surveyed prefer to bill precision services by the hour, down 20 percentage points from 2023, but more in line with the 2021-22 surveys. No dealers surveyed used annual contracts in 2024. 17% used "other" methods. Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
Ryan Seger, salesperson for Vincennes, Ind., John Deere dealer Sloan Implement, says his team is taking a more aggressive approach in 2025 to help move the needle.
“For a while, it was hard to actually get out of the office because we were processing so many orders,” Seger says. “But now, with the slowdown, we’re going to have to be more proactive with customers and working with them directly at their farms. We’ll be on the road a lot more.”
What’s the Biggest Challenge Facing Your Precision Business in 2025?
- Farmers are not going to have money to spend unless the market drastically changes, or we have above average yields.
- Competition, mainly from John Deere, in the form of hardware sales programs and product breadth. If they have something we don’t, that’s another reason to switch to their products. We also have to deal with the split of CNH and Trimble while still supporting our customers.
- Getting the precision farming team to effectively and consistently track and bill out labor. Our specialists are so good at helping clients and solving problems. Unfortunately, they’re natural givers of free support. It’s my fault as a leader, not enforcing it more. With the economic downturn, I didn’t want to add to the negative vibes and burn them out.
- Finding new ways to generate revenue during slow times.
- Managing growth — adding new locations and hiring more precision ag support/sales staff.
Seger has seen some forecasts from Deere and other companies predicting a market that’s going to be just as challenging in 2025 as it was in 2024, but as a farmer himself, he’s always optimistic that everything is about to turn around.
“Yes, commodity prices are down, but most of our customers had higher corn yields than they expected,” Seger says. “Right now, our customers are working with their accountants and going through how much money they’ll be able to spend.”
Over half of dealers surveyed are not currently selling or supporting agronomic services, while almost a quarter are either providing limited services through their own precision specialists or partnering with external retailers. Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
Nearly 43% of survey respondents said precision specialists are responsible for selling precision products at their dealership, while 36% rely on a dedicated precision salesperson. Some 21% said farm equipment salespeople are primarily responsible for precision sales. Finding new talent capable of handling the duties of a full-time precision specialist has been a challenge, Armstrong says.
“We have around 100 employees total in our organization and about 3 of them are focused on precision farming,” he says. “We wish we had more, but it’s hard to find good people. We don’t go out and hire someone just because they have a heartbeat. We try to find people that know what they’re doing. I’ve had a couple opportunities recently to add some guys from other dealerships, but we haven’t done that yet.”
Best of the Rest: Noteworthy Numbers
- 86% view selling precision technologies as a competitive advantage in attracting cross-over customers.
- 85% say precision customers are more likely to use texting/digital communication than non-precision customers.
- 75% say GPS and guidance systems are “very important” to increasing their dealerhip's precision revenue in the next 3 years. 66% say planter control systems, application tech hardware and signal subscriptions are also “very important.”
- 83% say it’s “very likely” they’ll invest in employee training in the next 2 years. 67% say it’s “very likely” they’ll invest in customer training, 58% say additional precision farming staff, 50% say autonomy and 42% say data management.
Jason Boyles, store manager for Sloan Implement in Vincennes, Ind., expects 2025 to be another challenging year overall. But he’s confident it can be a good one if his team stays positive.
“You don’t want to be down about a downtime because that translates when you’re trying to sell something to a customer. If you don’t feel confident about the deal, they probably won’t feel confident saying yes to it. We’re trying to stay positive and get through another possible down year, but hopefully we’ll turn the corner by the end of it.”
Dealers continue to generate most of their revenue from hardware sales. Agronomic services like soil sampling and seeding/fertilizer prescriptions jumped up to 19% among 2024 survey participants. Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
Dealers were asked, “Where do you find the most success recruiting precision employees?” 31% recruit from within, while 23% had success with college students. 23% also said “other,” which included recommendations from employees, former co-op workers and “headhunters.” Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
Of those who are not currently selling agronomic services, 31% say they’re likely to change directions in the next 2 years, up 17 percentage points from 2023. Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
How Will You Address Your Biggest Challenges in 2025?
- ROI-based selling is really all we can do. Farmers who use technology are more profitable.
- Try to offer a better customer experience and also look at alternative product lines to offer everything our competition offers.
- Push discounted service rates for in-house purchases and higher rates for equipment not sold through us.
- Utilize the CRM system better.
- We’re going to have to “cut deals.”
- Promote offseason services.
Trimble and Raven topped the list of most popular brands carried by precision dealers in 2024, followed by Precision Planting and Ag Leader rounding out the top 4. Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
71% of dealers surveyed offered data management services in 2024, compared to just 60% in 2023. Ag Leader SMS, Case IH FieldOps and Climate FieldView were the top 3 farm data management platforms carried among dealers surveyed. Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
Hardware installation and correction signal subscriptions are the most commonly charged-for-services, followed by in-season technology support, software updates/upgrades, phone support, pre-season set-up & yield monitor calibration. Source: Precision Farming Dealer Benchmark Study
![[Technology Corner] Deere Upgrades Allow Farmers to Take Smaller Steps with Precision Tech](https://www.precisionfarmingdealer.com/ext/resources/2025/03/13/Deere-Upgrades-Allow-Farmers-to-Take-Smaller-Steps-with-Precision-Tech.png?height=290&t=1741960939&width=400)
