Despite a 24-percentage-point drop in spending sentiment, farmers remain open to innovation, McKinsey survey finds. Global survey of 5,500 farmers finds biologicals, gen AI, and digital insights gaining traction despite challenging economic conditions

New analysis released by McKinsey & Company (McKinsey) finds that farmers around the world are becoming more disciplined about spending as they navigate economic uncertainty, elevated input costs, extreme weather, and other pressures—but they remain willing to adopt innovations that can demonstrate value.

 Surveying 5,500 farmers in 10 leading agriculture markets across North and South America, Europe and Asia, McKinsey’s Global Farmer Insights 2026 details how farmers around the world are making choices in a fast-changing, complex environment. Debuted in 2020, the biennial survey is one of the few sources of longitudinal, global data on a breadth of farmer perspectives.

 Fielded between April and July 2026, this year’s survey was conducted during a period of significant disruption for the farming industry. Farm economics have been squeezed across the agricultural value chain. Fertilizer, energy, labor, equipment, and financing costs rose sharply during the last inflationary cycle—exacerbated by geopolitical uncertainty. 

 Yet, while the analysis finds that spending intent is down 24 percentage points since the 2024 survey, most farmers still say they are likely to increase spending over the next 12 to 18 months.

Farmers are responding to margin pressure by preserving cash, delaying some major purchases, and trading down in selected categories. A few categories are particularly hard hit: 36 percent of farmers identify fertilizer as the first area where they would decrease spending when profitability falls, however 50 percent would restore it first as profits recover. Farm equipment shows a similar dynamic. Sixteen percent of farmers cite equipment as an area to cut first, while 36 percent expect to prioritize funding as profits recover—the largest positive swing across categories.

 Farmers are also reconsidering how much they will pay for branded products. Thirty-five percent of North American and 30 percent of European row-crop farmers expect to shift toward generic crop-protection products, for example.

 Despite the spending pressure, farmers continue to adopt new products and technologies selectively. Biologics have become a staple of the farmer’s input portfolio: 41 percent of farmers report adopting biocontrols, and 48 percent report adopting biostimulants. Established agtech, meanwhile, presents a more uneven picture. Global adoption of at least one agtech solution rose four percentage points from 2024 levels to 49 percent, but growth is slowing in mature markets.

 By contrast, gen AI has quickly gained traction with 17 percent of farmers globally already using it for farm-related tasks including planning and crop management. This pace of adoption is notable in an industry where new technologies have historically faced a high bar for uptake due to upfront equipment or hardware investment and challenges integrating with existing systems. In the United States, both overall and paid gen AI use have increased at a pace on par with the fastest adopted technologies for agriculture.

 As the range of agricultural products and technologies continues to expand, the purchasing journey is becoming more complex. Digital channels increasingly support research and comparison with 32 percent of farmers using digital channels to research products and 36 percent using them to evaluate and compare them—up 14 percentage points from 2024. However, technical agronomists remain critical to trust and purchasing decisions with 56 percent of farmers saying agronomists are a top influence, particularly among younger farmers.

 Across spending, inputs, technology, and purchasing behavior, McKinsey’s research points to a common shift: farmers remain willing to spend and innovate, but increasingly on their own terms. For agriculture companies, the findings point to a need to clearly demonstrate the value of their innovation—or prepare to compete with simpler, lower-cost offerings.

David Fiocco, senior partner at McKinsey, said: “Geopolitical tensions and conflicts, most recently in the Strait of Hormuz, have shifted trade flows while contributing to higher energy and input costs. These forces—combined with local policy uncertainty, increasingly unpredictable weather, and labor shortages—are making farm-level decisions harder and more complex. Faced with this volatility, farmers are becoming more cautious, deferring spending in the near-term while planning to reinvest as profitability improves.”

Tom Brennan, partner at McKinsey, added: “Despite the turbulence that the agriculture industry faces, in nine out of 10 countries we surveyed, more farmers expect to increase versus decrease spending in the next 12 to 18 months. The agriculture industry’s success will depend on helping farmers make better decisions—about where to invest, where to innovate, and where value truly exists. Feeding the world ultimately depends on millions of local decisions made on individual farms, acre by acre and season by season.”

To read the survey findings in detail, click here.