There was a piece in the Wall Street Journal recently about how many farms are getting much larger and are leveraging their size. The highlights are that larger operations “use machinery and technology more efficiently, get better prices on bulk supplies and manage to keep more of the profits by cutting out middlemen.”
The article also mentions some of the potential benefits in renting to a larger operation.
Many large farmers pay cash on leases, versus the crop-sharing deals that smaller farmers have often used and which add risk for the landowner. Some large farmers provide more comprehensive data on how the property is cared for and used. Mr. Frahm offers a mobile app that shows his landowners how much moisture their fields are getting.
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Mr. Frahm, who holds three degrees in business and agricultural economics, said his operation thrives by pushing efficiency at every turn.
His nine-person team totes tablet computers that control sprinkler systems miles away, switching them off when sensors report adequate moisture. When his tractors are rolling, automated systems monitor the number and type of seeds being sown in each row, to maximize planting on fertile ground and avoid wasting seed on poor soil.
The equipment beams the data to remote servers, where Mr. Frahm and his team analyze it to determine how machinery can be run more efficiently, or where they can spray fewer chemicals. This year Mr. Frahm has been testing automated insect traps that deliver updates on the number and type of bugs killed to help time pesticide spraying.
Farming operations are getting more efficient as they get larger. Going forward the pressure to grow operations should increase, leading to farmers searching for more land and bidding up prices.