Welcome to the 73rd Edition of Upstream Ag Professional!
I want to begin the 51st and final edition of 2024 with a thank you.
Your curiosity and engagement are what make Upstream possible, and I’m fortunate to wake up every day with the opportunity to explore the world of agribusiness.
Every read, share, reply, and insight you have shared has fueled this newsletter and helped create unique conversations within the agriculture industry.
I’m grateful to have such a thoughtful and engaged community, and it’s a privilege to to follow my curiosity for the ag industry and write this newsletter each week. None of it would be possible with your continued support.
As we head into the holiday season, I hope you get to relax and enjoy some down time with family and friends.
I’m excited for what lies ahead for the industry in 2025 and looking forward to learning alongside you throughout the year.
The first edition of 2025 will be Sunday, January 12th.
Index:
AGCO 2024 Analyst Day Highlights and Analysis
Pivot Bio Launches New Retail Distribution Partnerships
Buy vs. Build in Agronomic Software
The Rise of Digital Platforms: A Reflection on Past Challenges and a Vision for the Future
Bayer and Trendlines Dissolve AgTech Fund
Sound Agriculture Raises $25 Million
Upstream Ag Stats and Most Popular Articles of the Year
I Have a Few Questions
Other Interesting Ag Articles
1. AGCO 2024 Analyst Day Highlights and Analysis - Upstream Ag Professional
For the full breakdown with images from the event along with other charts and images, check out the link above.
Highlights and Key Takeaways
The 2024 year has been challenging in the equipment industry, with AGCO coming off its Q3 2024 financial results of $2.6 billion in revenue, a 24.8% decrease compared to $3.5 billion in Q3 2023, decreased production and margins, plus forecasts for continued challenges throughout 2025 with large ag equipment units forecast to decline 25%, margins to be 7% (12% in 2023) and production hours to be upwards of 20%.
AGCOs retrofit strategy is a significant point of emphasis. When AGCO initially announced the Trimble acquisition, they forecasted >$2 Billion in revenue by 2028. Now, given the downturn, they have pushed that back become ~$2 Billion by 2029, a year later.
AGCO wants to change the service model from having the farmer come to the dealership, to be more focused on going to the farm— most dealerships already do service at the farm, but AGCO is emphasizing a few other changes that can shift how a farmer accesses support:
Rethink Dealer and Network Coverage — Instead of larger footprint, asset heavy stores, they want dealers to focus on smaller, asset light foot print and almost hub and spoke, with even parts only locations
Mobile First, On-farm Mind Set through Mobility - AGCO wants dealers to have upgraded service trucks to ensure technicians can do exactly what is needed on farm.
“Service the farm, not the product” - Part of being brand agnostic and emphasizing a retro-fit strategy means their dealers will be near a lot of non-AGCO brands and AGCO wants to be able to service any brand of equipment once on farm.
Digital Experience — AGCO emphasized digital experiences to access financing, support, buy parts etc. And what caught me by surprise were the stats they shared in they expect 25% of their parts business to be executed online by 2029
They went on to state that average cart size is 25% bigger online than in-person because they can make suggestions to ensure all adequate part needs are purchased at a time.
