The market for precision farming is projected to grow from its current value of $4bn to over $12bn by 2025.
According to a report produced by market research and management consultancy firm Global Market Insights, investigating the potential for growth within the precision farming market, the rising popularity of smart agricultural practices and increased uptake of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are expected to contribute to the market’s tripling in size in the next five years.
Precision farming, the concept of augmenting agricultural processes through targeted observation and real time responses to crop conditions, deploys a range of technological solutions to improve crop yield and quality. Farmers can take advantage of real time data collated via sensors, satellite observation and drones to manage soil conditions, implement crop rotation; and determine the optimum time for planting and harvesting crops.
The report highlights precision farming hardware as a key growth factor for the period spanning 2019 to 2025, saying: ‘In the precision farming component market, the hardware segment is expected to dominate the market in 2025 with a share of above 70% due to the huge installation of devices including sensors, smartphones, cameras, and UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]…In this segment, sensors will dominate the precision agriculture market in 2025 with a share of over 18%. Farmers and researchers are deploying sensors, which will help them in better monitoring their crop health. The players operating in the market are introducing advanced sensor-based products, which can provide quantitative metrics about the crop health.’
Technologies aimed at monitoring crop yield and weather conditions are predicted to show the most drastic growth. By 2025, North America is projected to hold a market share of more than 32%, due in part to existing reliance across the continent’s farming sector on technological and mechanised agricultural solutions; as well as the implementation of progressive policy in the USA supporting connectivity for rural precision farming.
