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This number ("one in three") is really ambiguous[0], as I haven't seen them state what they consider a farm to be. It could be the Ag Census data (~2.2 million

by wooster 11y ago

This number ("one in three") is really ambiguous[0], as I haven't seen them state what they consider a farm to be. It could be the Ag Census data (~2.2 million farms), or along some subset (say non-family farms at ~90 thousand), or some farm type (I believe I've previously seen them say "row crop farms"). I'm sure it seems like an impressive stat to throw out there, but it's a lot like saying they're offering a million shares of options to new employees; without the total number of shares we don't know what that means. [0] http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/ag101/demographics.html http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/ag101/demographics.html

Bjorkbat 11y ago
Yeah, as a former farmer I'm a little bit skeptical. Last I checked the vast majority of farms out there aren't large operations, but incredibly small family-owned "hobby farms" or market gardens (what most of us would identify as a small vegetable farm). Having known many farmers over the years, I can only think of one who would really have a use for this. The rest would probably just dismiss it without much thought.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- fanquake 11y ago
  In Australia we've seen nothing but farm getting larger over the last 15-20 years. It's also interesting to compare the size of farm he's talking about to what we have here. On our property we have single fields 2x the size of what they consider a small farm (600acres).
  - csirac2 11y ago
    The economics of farming certainly do seem different in the US. Is land really that much cheaper/higher-yielding? Is that why hobby farms in the US can break-even on such small areas? Or is the difference just in the subsidies they get? Or is high/consistent-yielding farmland simply locked away from smaller operators in Australia nowadays? A combination of everything?
    - fanquake 11y ago
      Land may be cheaper, but probably not higher yielding. When your buying land your essentially buying rainfall. We could easily find and buy xx'000 acres of really cheap land, but it if only gets 200-300mm of rain every year, your not going to be seeing serious yields. The other thing to remember is that irrigation is impossible for a lot of West Australian farmland.
  - wooster 11y ago
    What crops do you grow? Growing up near the Salinas Valley, I always associated row crops with produce and not grains, so a <600 acre "row crop" farm can generate pretty massive revenue.
    - fanquake 11y ago
      Predominately wheat. The rest is lupins and a small amount of canola (~750ha this year).
wooster 11y ago
Also worth noting that the Ag Census likely overstates the number of farms in the US, so it's not out of line for FarmLogs to come up with their own number for their target market.
kbenzle 11y ago
This number of course applies to only their targeted market, farms of a certain size and then only those growing two or three specific crops, but that's a long ass headline.
kfcm 11y ago
The question isn't how big the farms are. The question is how are those who are "using" Farmlogs, using FarmLogs. Are they active? Are they using just the basic functionality, or are they using more advanced features? I'm still involved in farming, and the guys I know who are "using" it, just are using the basic functionality. Unless they have partnerships, FarmLogs is going to have a difficult time competing with Deere, Case/IH, other equipment manufacturers who are developing their own built-in products with similar feature sets and deeper pockets. Not to mention the local cooperative monopolies, seed companies, etc who are also in the game.
vollmarj 11y ago
Happy to clear that up. We don't count hobby farms as they aren't our typical users. We are focusing on the ~280k row crop farms in the US of which over 90k have started using FarmLogs. Most of our customers have between 600 and 10k acres of land each.
- ChuckFrank 11y ago
  Thank you. I think that's a fair representation of your marketshare. When you say 'started', what exactly do you mean? Used trials versions, previously engaged, or full time active members?
- wooster 11y ago
  Thanks! That's helpful for clarifying what your target market is.
- johnchristopher 11y ago
  Slightly off-topic but I am dumbstruck by the size of US farms. Where I live it's common for farmers to manage 10 hectares fields and these are considered big fields.
  - Totoradio 11y ago
    Same here, my father has a ~80 ha (~200 acres) farm in Brittany, and that's a medium sized farm in the area.
  - fanquake 11y ago
    Every year we take on workmen/students normally from outside Australia, who need to spend time actually working on a farm to finish their agricultural degrees or similar. It's always interesting to see their reactions after they finish telling us about their "big" farms back home, when they realise we can fit their entire farm + change into a single paddock here.
    - gadders 11y ago
      In some cases you can fit Israel into one of the farms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Creek_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Creek_Station

by wooster 11y ago

Bjorkbat 11y ago

Yeah, as a former farmer I'm a little bit skeptical. Last I checked the vast majority of farms out there aren't large operations, but incredibly small family-owned "hobby farms" or market gardens (what most of us would identify as a small vegetable farm). Having known many farmers over the years, I can only think of one who would really have a use for this. The rest would probably just dismiss it without much thought.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
fanquake 11y ago
In Australia we've seen nothing but farm getting larger over the last 15-20 years. It's also interesting to compare the size of farm he's talking about to what we have here. On our property we have single fields 2x the size of what they consider a small farm (600acres).
- csirac2 11y ago
  The economics of farming certainly do seem different in the US. Is land really that much cheaper/higher-yielding? Is that why hobby farms in the US can break-even on such small areas? Or is the difference just in the subsidies they get? Or is high/consistent-yielding farmland simply locked away from smaller operators in Australia nowadays? A combination of everything?
  - fanquake 11y ago
    Land may be cheaper, but probably not higher yielding. When your buying land your essentially buying rainfall. We could easily find and buy xx'000 acres of really cheap land, but it if only gets 200-300mm of rain every year, your not going to be seeing serious yields. The other thing to remember is that irrigation is impossible for a lot of West Australian farmland.
- wooster 11y ago
  What crops do you grow? Growing up near the Salinas Valley, I always associated row crops with produce and not grains, so a <600 acre "row crop" farm can generate pretty massive revenue.
  - fanquake 11y ago
    Predominately wheat. The rest is lupins and a small amount of canola (~750ha this year).

wooster 11y ago

Also worth noting that the Ag Census likely overstates the number of farms in the US, so it's not out of line for FarmLogs to come up with their own number for their target market.

kbenzle 11y ago

This number of course applies to only their targeted market, farms of a certain size and then only those growing two or three specific crops, but that's a long ass headline.

kfcm 11y ago

The question isn't how big the farms are. The question is how are those who are "using" Farmlogs, using FarmLogs. Are they active? Are they using just the basic functionality, or are they using more advanced features? I'm still involved in farming, and the guys I know who are "using" it, just are using the basic functionality. Unless they have partnerships, FarmLogs is going to have a difficult time competing with Deere, Case/IH, other equipment manufacturers who are developing their own built-in products with similar feature sets and deeper pockets. Not to mention the local cooperative monopolies, seed companies, etc who are also in the game.

vollmarj 11y ago

Happy to clear that up. We don't count hobby farms as they aren't our typical users. We are focusing on the ~280k row crop farms in the US of which over 90k have started using FarmLogs. Most of our customers have between 600 and 10k acres of land each.

ChuckFrank 11y ago
Thank you. I think that's a fair representation of your marketshare. When you say 'started', what exactly do you mean? Used trials versions, previously engaged, or full time active members?
wooster 11y ago
Thanks! That's helpful for clarifying what your target market is.
johnchristopher 11y ago
Slightly off-topic but I am dumbstruck by the size of US farms. Where I live it's common for farmers to manage 10 hectares fields and these are considered big fields.
- Totoradio 11y ago
  Same here, my father has a ~80 ha (~200 acres) farm in Brittany, and that's a medium sized farm in the area.
- fanquake 11y ago
  Every year we take on workmen/students normally from outside Australia, who need to spend time actually working on a farm to finish their agricultural degrees or similar. It's always interesting to see their reactions after they finish telling us about their "big" farms back home, when they realise we can fit their entire farm + change into a single paddock here.
  - gadders 11y ago
    In some cases you can fit Israel into one of the farms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Creek_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Creek_Station