75 percent of farmers are already impacted by climate change or worried about its impacts, and 71 percent of them report reduced yields as a major concern. Six out of 10 have already experienced significant revenue loss due to weather events out of the norm recently. As part of the solution, farmers count on innovation: 75 percent are open to implementing new technologies to better cope with climate change. Desire for better yields, resilient farms, and protected livelihoods are driving interest and adoption of more regenerative and technological approaches to farming.
These are some of the key findings from the 2024 Farmer Voice survey, a study among 2,000 farmers across Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Kenya, Ukraine, and the United States, conducted by global market research firm Kynetec on behalf of Bayer. It reveals the challenges, aspirations, and needs of farmers in times of climate change, digitalization, and economic and political volatility.
Rodrigo Santos, Member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President of the Crop Science Division, said: "The Farmer Voice study underlines that farmers continue to face accelerating economic and environmental challenges in their important work – providing food to the world. They want innovation to help them do their jobs better, and an environment in which they can increasingly turn towards regenerative practices making food systems more resilient – to the benefit of the planet, food security, and their livelihoods alike."
Farmers' most prevalent current challenges are driven by volatility and uncertainty. With regard to the next three years, more than a third reported weather volatility or extreme weather events (37%) and price/income volatility (36%) among their top-3 challenges. While these remained stable compared to 2023 findings, this year's survey revealed a notable increase of political or regulatory decisions as a key concern, with 29 percent of farmers citing that as a top-3 challenge, double the amount compared to last year.
Access to innovations like crop protection (41%) as well as seeds and traits (36%) rank highly, but farmers also clearly indicated that regulatory and policy changes would benefit their farms in the future, with 36% ranking it as a top-3 benefit.
Farmers use digital technologies to tackle challenges and improve their businesses
Nearly two thirds of farmers already use digital tools, and another 25 percent plan to in the future. Principal factors driving digital adoption are economic: 88% see improved crop yields as a motivation to use digital applications, 85% cost savings, and 84 percent improved crop quality.
On average, globally 65 percent of farmers are using digital tools today, versus 49 percent in China, 42 percent in Kenya and only 8 percent in India. While 72 percent have little knowledge of current AI applications in agriculture, almost two thirds (62%) are interested to learn more.
Read the Farmer Voice report: www.go.bayer.com/FarmerVoice.
For more information:
Alexander Gutmann
Bayer
Tel: +49 174 7306349
[email protected]