Investing in farming technology — whether it is digital farm management tools or animal health monitoring solutions — is not just a nice-to-have, as these capital expenditures are crucial to building financial and environmental sustainability, according to research from ag lender Rabobank.
In the report, Rabobank surveyed over 700 beef, dairy, and crop producers in 2024 and 2025 to assess their attitudes on tech investments and sustainability, as part of a multi-part survey. Rabobank will focus on pork, poultry, fruits, vegetables, and other specialty segments in future parts of the survey.
Rabobank ranked food producers from a one-to-10 scale on their digital and data utilization, with one being the lowest level of tech adoption and 10 the highest.
Dairy producers and feedlot operators were among the largest tech utilizers, while the hay, grass, forage, and cow-calf and stocker segments registered some of the lowest scores. Dairy and the feedlot and backgrounder segments received premiums and had higher-than-average digital/data scores, averaging 8.94 and 7.14, respectively.
Food producers with higher digital/data utilization scores also had greater interest and participation in practice-based incentive programmes that offer economic support, such as carbon or conservation programmes. Nearly all producers with a 10-score enrolled considered one of these programmes, while less than 60% of one-point producers did the same, Rabobank reported.
Overall, the smallest operator received the largest number of one-point ratings, nearly 60% of total one-score ratings, while large and medium-large-sized companies accounted for over 80% of 10-point scores.
Food producers commit to sustainability
Surveyed food producers also invested in sustainability for a variety of reasons, and many were already practicing some aspects of sustainable farming, including mixing livestock and crop operations.
More than half of farmers (54.8%) were driven to introduce sustainability efforts into their farms for personal or operational goals, while 24.1% wanted to tap into premiums and emerging markets, and 11.8% did so because of regulations and local legislation, Rabobank reported.
Most producers also integrated crops and livestock into their operations, including 83.9% of the feedlot and backgrounder, 69.5% of the cow-calf and stocker, and 67.4% of the hay, grass, and forage segments.
