The 2021 CropLife-Purdue Survey of precision agricultural practices by US agricultural input dealers serving the American grain and oilseed sector shows that most of them use GPS guidance and related technologies like sprayer boom control, most provide variable rate fertilizer services, and the majority say that fertilizer decisions are influenced by grower data. In contrast, dealers serving horticultural and specialty crop farms indicate comparatively modest adoption of many precision agriculture technologies. For example, the specialty crop input dealers responding to the survey indicate that 50% use guidance, 14% use sprayer boom control, and 27% offer variable rate fertilizer services.  But like grain and oilseed sector dealers, most dealers serving specialty crop farmers indicate they use pooled farmer data for fertilizer decisions. 

Some highlights from the 2021 survey of retailers serving mainly grain and oilseed producers:

• Eighty-six percent of the respondents use some type of Geographic Positioning System (GPS) guidance in providing farmers with custom fertilizer and pesticide application services. Eighty-three percent of respondents use autosteer, similar to the last several years, and 36% use manual guidance, down decidedly compared to previous surveys.
• Most dealers are now using pooled farm data to make soil fertility and seed decisions. For crop nutrient decisions, 87% of dealers said phosphorus and potassium decisions were at least somewhat influenced by pooled data, up from 43% just four years ago, and 83% saying nitrogen decisions were being influenced, up from 39% in 2017. 
• Dealers expect variable rate application of pesticide to increase dramatically in the next three years. For the last decade about a quarter of ag dealers have been offering VRT pesticide application, but respondents expect that to jump to 50% by 2024. That dramatic increase is probably related to technical developments in machine vision and weed recognition which will allow dealers to offer targeted weed control services to farmers in the near future.

The CropLife-Purdue survey has been following the adoption of technology use within U.S. dealerships and technology offerings to customers for over two decades, with most responses coming from the Midwest. In 2021 there were 225 respondents that serve the grain and oilseed markets.  Fifteen specialty crop surveys were completed, from dealers that work primarily with vegetable, tree fruit/nut growers, berries, grapes, nursery, or greenhouses.  

Part of the reason why specialty dealers lag behind in precision technology adoption compared to those serving grain and oilseed crops may be that the survey shows they custom apply a dramatically smaller portion of their fertilizer and crop protection sales.  Due to the unique timing and operational requirements of many specialty crops, it is probably more difficult for a dealer to provide for nutrient or pesticide application services for their customers.