Relatability. Complexity. Risk. These were just some of the reasons farmers themselves give for not adopting new technologies faster, according to panellists on AgTechNavigator’s recent webinar, Agtech adoption strategies: Building buy-in from farmers and the wider supply chain.
Hosted by AgTechNavigator editors in Asia, Europe and the US, the discussion tackled one of the most stubborn challenges in the sector: how do you move agtech from pilots and prototypes into meaningful, scalable adoption on real farms, and across the supply chains that support them?
What emerged was a clear message. Adoption is not a technology problem. It’s a systems problem.
From the lab to the land: why time in the field still matters
Opening the webinar from Salinas, California, AgTechNavigator’s US editor Ryan Daily joined the launch of Reservoir’s incubator farm – a commercial, on-farm innovation hub designed to help startups develop, test and validate technologies directly in real production environments.
Speaking to Matthew Hoffman, general partner at Reservoir, Daily explored why start-ups often struggle to cross the chasm from proof-of-concept to practical impact.
“Something I’ve seen a few really successful companies do well is just time in the field,” Hoffman said. “To a certain segment in farming it’s almost laughable or obvious that time in the field is critical. But a lot of start-ups have trouble getting out into the field. That’s one of the reasons Reservoir exists.”
The point resonated across the webinar: farming systems are already highly optimised, and asking growers to change them is not trivial, especially when the risks are real and margins are tight.
Trust first: lessons from smallholder markets in Asia
From Singapore, AgTechNavigator Asia editor Amanda Lim brought a much-needed smallholder perspective to the discussion, interviewing JT Solis, CEO of Philippines-based Mayani, and Ashutosh Sharma, CEO of Modern Village Futures, which works extensively with farmers in India.
The focus was on trust – and whether working with smallholders can be a viable business model.
“For smallholder farmers, especially when incomes are low, the first step is to foster trust,” Sharma said. “You need to hand-hold those progressive farmers who are willing to embrace new tech.”
Modern Village Futures is also training younger members of farming communities to act as intermediaries, helping to embed technology and build long-term confidence locally.
Solis echoed the theme from Mayani’s experience on the ground. “A lot of our smallholder farmers value solutions that create practical, tangible value for them,” he said. “You can replicate trust when you embed yourself in communities.”
But trust alone isn’t enough. “We don’t need more solutions,” Solis added. “We need more stakeholder coordination.”
Europe’s disconnect: unrecognised effort, rising frustration
From a European perspective, AgTechNavigator Europe editor Oliver Morrison was joined by Hannah Lloyd from UK-based agricultural specialist PR agency Pinstone.
Lloyd shared recent insights showing that 92% of farmers feel unrecognised for the sustainability progress they’ve already made – a finding that speaks to growing frustration, policy disconnects and investment fatigue.
“Before we ask more of farmers, we need to recognise more what they are dealing with and what they are already doing,” Lloyd said. “We need to be empathetic with what they’re facing day in, day out.”
That lack of recognition can quietly undermine adoption, even when technology promises environmental or economic benefits.
Interoperability: the invisible barrier holding adoption back
Another European panellist, Barend Bekamp, senior specialist for food and agriculture at Rabobank, highlighted a technical issue with very human consequences: interoperability.
“The thing that’s often overlooked is that the current way of working on a farm is optimised for that farmer,” Bekamp said. “Changing a technology can be quite a leap.”
Rabobank’s recent analysis of the EU farm machinery sector points to a fragmented ecosystem, where equipment, software platforms and data systems often can’t communicate with one another.
This lack of interoperability forces farmers to manage incompatible tools and inconsistent data, creating friction that actively discourages adoption, regardless of how promising a technology might be.
Managing risk: the grower’s perspective
From the company side, Nicolas Weber, co-founder of Voltiris – which provides renewable energy solutions for greenhouse growers – brought the conversation back to risk.
“In our case the challenge is risk management for growers,” Weber said. “Introducing something new has to be proven and demonstrated, otherwise it carries a lot of risk.”
For Voltiris, that means reference sites, pilots and strong peer-to-peer validation. The company’s business model is deliberately designed to partner with growers from the outset, rather than selling technology to them after the fact.
Bekamp agreed, calling for more “farms of the future” that go beyond trial plots.
“We need full-scale inspiration farms where new technology is part of a real operation,” he said. “Let’s all go there and learn and be inspired.”
The bottom line: adoption is a systems challenge
The webinar’s central takeaway was clear: agtech adoption isn’t being held back by a lack of innovation.
It’s being slowed by misaligned incentives, fragmented systems, unacknowledged farmer effort and a failure to meet growers where they are – economically, emotionally and operationally.
For anyone working in agtech, agribusiness, policy or investment, these are not abstract challenges. They’re the difference between promising technology and real-world impact.
Register here to watch the full webinar and hear directly from the panellists shaping the future of agtech adoption.
