We surveyed more than 125 farmers to benchmark where weather ranks among their challenges, which weather tools they find useful, and what steps they would like to take next to scale up their use of data-powered agriculture.
Our key findings include...
- Weather cost almost half (48%) of farmers more than $10,000 over the last year
- The number of farmers using in-field weather monitoring has grown about 7% over the last two years
- The most common strategy farmers aren't currently using but would like to try is soil moisture monitoring
- There are five thematic areas today's monitoring-minded farmers have targeted to increase weather resilience
...To get the lowdown on all five and much more, be sure to download your copy of the report today!
We had some important questions, so we surveyed the experts: You!
AEM and Davis Instruments (an AEM brand) are dedicated to making it easy for farmers across the world to practice precision agriculture, make the best possible use of resources, and reclaim control of the bottom line in the face of variable and unpredictable weather conditions.
That’s why, this winter, we surveyed subscribers to our AgInsider newsletter to better understand how farmers are feeling the pain of weather, what they’re doing to fight back, and how we can support their evolving needs better as a provider of weather and in-field monitoring solutions.
We received submissions from 128 active farmers and growers across the globe. Nine different countries were represented in the survey, with the vast majority coming from the United States (105). Survey respondents included...
- 70 family farms
- 26 commercial farms
- 14 farm management and services providers
- 13 homesteads
- 3 vertically integrated vineyards
- 2 government agriculture agencies
Where does weather rank among agriculture challenges?
We asked farmers to rank six of agriculture's biggest challenges to profile what's creating the most friction in the industry. Our scorecard shows that - depending on how you look at it - weather is either the #1 or #2 challenge facing today's farmers.
In the full report, we provide a side-by-side comparison against the scorecard from when we asked the same question in our 2023 survey. To uncover deeper insights into which challenges are growing and how their relationships are evolving, download your copy.
Quantifying weather's yearly impact on farmers
Just under half of our farmers (48%) indicated weather cost them over $10,000 in the last year. For farms over 100 acres in size, two-thirds (67%) lost ten grand due to weather. To see how that compares against data from 2023, be sure to get the full report.
Key finding: In-field monitoring continues to grow
When we asked farmers where they were getting their weather data, we noticed a few trends since our last survey in 2023:
- 7% more farmers are using on-site weather stations and sensors (79%)
- 5% fewer farmers are using TV and radio forecasts (49%)
- 4% fewer farmers said they don't use environmental monitoring data at all (15%)
We're seeing a continued shift away from legacy sources of weather information, like traditional media, and toward making decisions based on location-specific data and more precise forecasting tools.
We're also seeing monitoring-minded farmers using their data for additional applications:
- 11% more farmers are calculating Growing Degree Days
- 10% more farmers rely on station data to optimize fertilizer use
...But there's still huge opportunity for growth
Key finding: Farmers say moisture monitoring is next
We asked:
"What's a weather-related product, service, or tool you're not currently using that you feel could make a difference for your operations? (It could be something you're aware of others using but haven't tried yet or a hypothetical tool you wish was available.)"
Without any further prompting or suggested responses, 30% of everybody who answered the question said soil moisture monitoring. That tells us that irrigation management and moisture monitoring are key topics to track in the next year.
There were four more common responses for difference-making next steps, but to hear about those, you'll need to...
Get your copy of the full 2025 agriculture report
The statistics and infographics above are just a preview of the incredible variety of data stories inside our 2025 State of Agricultural Weather Challenges Report!
The full version contains deeper insights and more actionable takeaways, including:
- All five next steps that data-powered farmers want to take
- Additional data on types of weather challenging farmers
- Detailed breakdowns of financial impacts based on farm scale
- Insights into farmers' attitudes on climate and weather trends
- Further side-by-side comparisons to our 2023 report
- More emerging use cases for in-field monitoring