As precision farming departments at farm equipment dealerships evolve, adding agronomic services has been somewhat of a natural progression. But, generating recurring revenue from agronomic services can be a challenge.

The roundtable topic of adding agronomic services drew a large crowd. To kick the conversation off, moderator John Marshall, integrated solutions manager for Wade Inc., took a quick poll to get a feel for how many in the room currently offered agronomy services. Of the 30 or so who sat in on this roundtable, roughly 20% had hired an agronomist.

The reason we got into agronomic services 6 years ago was after a good equipment customer of ours made the decision to get into an air drill with variable-rate seeding capability. He’d gone to an independent agronomist who developed a seeding prescription with both a nutrient and seed variation. When that farmer took that prescription, got into the cab and plugged it in as he was told to do, it didn’t work.

Last summer I was invited to speak to a farm equipment dealership’s sales team on new opportunities in the farm equipment business. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do it, but the fact that managers at the dealership were intentionally addressing the subject of new opportunities told me a lot about that organization.

Last summer I was invited to speak to a farm equipment dealership’s sales team on new opportunities in the farm equipment business. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do it, but the fact that managers at the dealership were intentionally addressing the subject of new opportunities told me a lot about that organization.

Choosing a practical entry point into delivery of data management service is a mystery for many farm equipment dealers. Figuring out a method for making it a profitable part of their business is even more of an enigma.