Among the agricultural technology trends surveyed, more precise seed placement ranks first for the farms and contractors surveyed. More precise planting depth and uniform seed spacing result in homogeneous field emergence, leading to better crop management.
Compared to previous years’ surveys, harrowing and hoeing technology has become less important to farmers. Other technology trends have moved up to the top spots. It is striking that digital solutions are becoming increasingly widespread. Farms are making greater use of precision agriculture technologies to optimize and simplify operational processes. Interoperability—that is, the ability of different IT systems, software applications, or organizations to seamlessly exchange data, utilize information, and share functions—and compatibility were rated at 2.36 by survey participants two years ago and have now moved up to third place (2023: fifth place).
This shows that this criterion is crucial for digitalization in the agricultural value chain.
DLG-Agrifuture Insights – a comprehensive view on agricultural development
DLG-Agrifuture Insights is the DLG knowledge brand and platform for international trend analyses in the agricultural sector. It examines the business environment in agriculture in Germany and worldwide. For this purpose, farmers and people from agribusiness, science and consulting are surveyed annually on their assessments of the economic situation and development of agricultural businesses, as well as technology trends and innovations in the individual business sectors. A total of 1,772 people took part in the current survey in winter 2025/26.