Digital farming could spell shake-up for crop chemicals sector

A screen placed in a tractor shows the output of liquid applied over a field in Irlbach near Deggendorf, Germany, April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

IRLBACH, Germany: Global pesticides, seeds and fertiliser companies may be forced to re-engineer their business models as farmers adopt specialist technology that helps maximise harvests while reducing the use of crop chemicals. 

New businesses are springing up that promise to tell farmers how and when to till, sow, spray, fertilise or pick crops based on algorithms using data from their own fields.