Don’t even ask how much the global agriculture business is worth! Well, if you did ask, it would be $5 trillion and set to grow by a further 70% by 2050. Powering this enormous market and optimising agricultural production is the precision farming market worth $5bn in 2020 and forecast to grow at a CAGR of 13% out to 2027. Increasing investments in technologies such as driverless tractors, guidance system, and GPS sensing systems are expected to contribute to the growth of the precision agriculture market. Mahindra & Mahindra is an Indian tractor builder established over 50 years ago and now the world’s largest tractor company by volume, producing over 330,000 tractors annually (to March 2019) and sold in 40 countries.
There are over 2 million Mahindra tractors operating worldwide today. But what does tomorrow’s tractor look like? The precision farming division of Mahindra wanted to know what new technologies and solutions were coming down the line in terms of robotics and automation to help the farmer increase output without additional effort or cost. Furthermore, with a focus on smaller Indian and Chinese farms, any technologies should be relevant to the specific needs and operating models of those business.
Of the 12 shortlisted ventures and technologies, Mahindra chose to continue with 5, taking them to the next level of negotiation and relationship building.
