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The Survey To begin to answer these questions, researchers from Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture surveyed 800 corn and soybean producers about their collection, management, and usage of farm data. The survey was limited to farms with 1,000 acres or more to produce a sample of farms most likely to have active data strategies. The survey asked respondents 32 questions regarding farm demographic characteristics, precision agriculture adoption, types of data collected on the farm, farm management decisions influenced by data (if collected), data management practices, and any data sharing with outside service providers. The goal of the survey is to understand the farm data lifecycle from collection to decision making and the various channels through which data becomes actionable.

Sample Demographics Sample farm characteristics are displayed in Table 1. Fifty percent of farms surveyed operate between 1,000 and 1,999 acres while 36% are between 2,000 and 4,999 acres, and 15% have 5,000 acres or more. The sample is more representative of large commercial operations (by design). About 80% of surveyed farms have owner/operators over the age of 50 and 35% are over the age of 65. Given the average age of producers in the US is 59, our sample is generally representative of the national age distribution of farmers. 2 Just under half of sampled farms have a bachelor’s degree or higher as the highest educational attainment among full-time employees and 9% have a postgraduate degree (Master’s and up), indicating a high degree of human capital.