A New Precision Vision

It’s been an incredible year for the team here at Preci­sionAg Media. We have more than two decades in as the leading media source for ag technology, and we’ve seen a lot of marketplace ups and downs, and products and systems come and go. But we could tell going into 2016 that things were rapidly changing.

All segments of agriculture, from crop protection and seed to fertilizer and equipment, have been trying to find their place in the evolving precision market. Outside venture capital investment brought multitudes of products and systems vying for farmer attention and dollars. Tech companies working on big ideas in other industries began exploring agriculture as an additional outlet for their technologies.

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From drones and robots to sensors and big data, ag technology continues its exponential growth. We’ve watched and reported with a mix of excitement and concern.

Technology in agriculture has the potential to deliver tremendous value to the farm operation, from improved agronomic recommendations to greater operational efficiency to improved labor management, and much more. But the sheer volume and complexity of the technology makes effective farmer adoption of technology an almost impossible task.

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Precision agriculture integrators — retail agronomists and precision specialists, independent precision and agronomic consultants, equipment dealers, and university and Extension specialists — are creating critical connective tissue between farmers and technology providers. They are doing the best they can to facilitate farmer use of technology and are trusted advisers that provide tremendous value, but they are also struggling to stay in front of the technology revolution.

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Given these realities, and after spending the past 18 months engaging with the market through the magazine, our enewsletters, social media, and five events we hosted, we’re making a significant strategic decision in our content direction.

Beginning with our next issue in February 2017 (and online this month), the magazine will cater exclusively to the strategic and business management needs of precision agriculture integrators under a new brand, PrecisionAg Professional.

Our research and market experience leads us to believe that we as a media organization can best help drive the adoption of precision technology, and urge greater market collaboration among the key precision companies through more focused engagement with precision technology integrators. Inside the pages of PrecisionAg Professional, readers will find case studies on best precision practices, business management ideas, deep-dives into effectively integrating products and technologies, and other topics of interest to precision integrators. In our view, informed and successful precision professionals will allow agriculture to more rapidly and fully realize the benefits of technology.

Beyond the magazine, we created a targeted space on this website at www.precisionag.com/professionals, and will be focusing our enewsletter on content of particular interest to integrators.

On the event side, our PrecisionAg Innovation Series will likewise focus on precision professional-centric topics and themes.

This new focus means that farmers will no longer receive the publication. However, we welcome you to use our website at www.precisionag.com for general precision agriculture news and information. We look forward to your feedback as we move in this bold new direction.

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