European farmers are too often portrayed as cautious adopters of new technologies. But Bayer’s latest research paints a very different picture.
Drawing on interviews with around 90 farmers across eight European markets, alongside economic analysis by Oxford Economics and consumer polling, the report highlights a sector wrestling with shrinking margins, climate volatility and a diminishing crop protection toolbox. It also reveals where future demand is likely to emerge, from climate-resilient crop genetics and gene editing to biological crop protection, automation and AI-powered decision-making.
The findings come as European agriculture faces a growing competitiveness challenge. According to the report, crop output growth averaged just 0.1% a year across the EU between 2011 and 2023, while the UK recorded no growth over the period. That compares with 1% annual growth in the US, a global average of 2%, and between 2% and 3% in China, Canada and India. Brazil was among the fastest-growing agricultural markets, averaging 3.3% annual growth. The longer-term picture is equally stark: average EU crop production was only 2% higher than in the previous decade, compared with increases of 16% in the US, 44% in Canada and 51% in Brazil.
Against this backdrop, Bayer’s research provides a valuable snapshot of what farmers say they need most to remain productive, profitable and competitive. For agtech investors, start-ups and established suppliers alike, it offers an important guide to where the biggest unmet needs, and future market opportunities, are likely to emerge.
1. Profitability is farmers’ most immediate concern
Mounting pressures are putting the future of family farming at risk, many interviewees warned.
Across Europe, farmers described soaring costs for fuel, fertiliser, labour and energy, while farm-gate prices have remained stubbornly low.
One Polish farmer summed up the frustration:
“In 25 years the minimum wage went up by 580 percent. Wheat remains at the same price.”
A French arable farmer added:
“There’s a permanent rise in costs and selling prices that are stuck, or even falling. It used to be one bad year every three or four years. Now it’s more like one good year every five or six.”
For technology providers, this reinforces the need for innovations that reduce costs, improve yields or increase operational efficiency.
2. Climate resilience is becoming a technology driver
Rising input costs are being compounded by the growing impact of climate change.
According to Bayer’s research, climate-related risks already account for an estimated €17.4bn in annual losses, equivalent to 6.4% of EU crop production. By 2050, those losses could rise to between €24.8bn and €28.9bn.
Interviewees reported longer droughts, more frequent heatwaves and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns.
A Belgian farmer said:
“We’ve had almost eight weeks without rain… climate change is clearly happening, but you don’t know which direction it’s going.”
Meanwhile, a vegetable grower in the Netherlands described how repeated heatwaves are already affecting production:
“This year was the fourth heatwave. You notice fruit-set fails in tomatoes and peppers, no new fruit forms.”
A French arable farmer was even more blunt:
“This year you can really see it: there’s very little harvest. Everything has been burned by the heat.”
For agritech companies, this points to growing demand for drought-tolerant genetics, water-efficiency technologies, predictive analytics and climate-resilient production systems.
3. Farmers believe their crop protection toolbox is shrinking
Of all the themes emerging from the interviews, concern over crop protection may be the most commercially significant.
Many farmers said products are disappearing from the market faster than replacement technologies are arriving.
The concerns mirror Bayer’s own analysis. More than 1,000 active ingredients were authorised in the EU in the early 2000s, compared with around 420 today. The company says farmers have lost access to 92 active ingredients in the last seven years, while only one new synthetic active ingredient has reached the market during the same period.
One arable farmer in Poland said:
“The list of crop protection products gets narrower every year, and sometimes we have no products at all that can deal with a pest or weed problem.”
The same farmer added:
“Because there are fewer of them, we can’t rotate, and pests become resistant to the active substances.”
A French cereal grower described a similar challenge:
“Flufenacet is banned for weed control in cereals. We are almost at a dead end now, because molecules have been taken away and there are no new ones to replace them.”
Meanwhile, a German mixed farmer pointed to unintended consequences:
“That tool has now been taken away, and in autumn we go out two or three times with a sprayer. I consider that absolutely unsustainable.”
The comments align with Bayer’s wider warning that access to crop protection innovation is becoming a major competitive issue for European agriculture.
4. Farmers don’t want to compete with one hand tied behind their back
A recurring theme throughout the report was frustration that competitors in countries such as Brazil, Canada, China and the United States often gain access to innovations more quickly.
Farmers repeatedly argued that European producers should have access to the same technologies and tools available elsewhere.
One UK farmer put it bluntly:
“If the science says it’s safe, and it’s used elsewhere in the world, we should have access to it. It’s as simple as that.”
Another Belgian grower highlighted the difference in approval timelines:
“In Brazil they can bring a biological product to market in six years. Here in Europe it can take ten.”
This points to opportunities not just in genetics and chemistry, but also in biologicals, precision agriculture and data-driven decision-making tools.
5. Gene editing is rapidly moving into the mainstream
For anyone wondering how farmers view new breeding technologies, the findings are striking.
Nearly two-thirds of those interviewed said they would either grow gene-edited varieties or seriously consider doing so.
The support was driven less by ideology than practicality.
A German farmer said:
“With CRISPR-Cas, within a species, if you find resistance or drought tolerance in a wild plant, why shouldn’t we use that?”
A UK arable farmer was even more direct:
“I really don’t have an issue with gene-edited seeds. You’re just adapting to what would have happened anyway.”
Meanwhile, a Romanian farmer highlighted the commercial reality:
“If a drought-resistant variety comes out tomorrow, I’ll buy it. It’s in my interest.”
6. Farmers are asking for smarter regulation, not less regulation
Interviewees were not calling for the removal of regulation.
Instead, they repeatedly called for regulatory systems that are predictable, science-based and consistent.
Many complained about constantly changing rules, lengthy approval processes and bureaucracy that feels disconnected from practical farming realities.
A Belgian fruit and vegetable grower said:
“You’re not even finished with one rule and the next is already on its way.”
A UK farmer argued:
“It should basically be based on science. And if the science says it’s safe, and it’s used elsewhere in the world, we should have access to it.”
The findings suggest that regulatory certainty may become just as important as technological innovation in determining future adoption rates.
7. Farmers often feel undervalued and misunderstood
Many farmers said they feel increasingly disconnected from the public and believe society underestimates the importance of domestic food production.
A Spanish grower remarked:
“It’s a very underestimated job, because people take it for granted. They go to the supermarket and see everything laid out on the shelves, but they don’t see the work behind it.”
A German farmer described a growing disconnect between urban and rural communities:
“The urban population has little idea about practical farming, and what they get from the internet or influencers is usually not quite right.”
Perhaps the most powerful comment came from a UK grower:
“We just have to value our farmers like we value our health service, we value the army, we value the police and the fire service, because we’re putting food on the table.”
The comments suggest food security is becoming a more prominent part of farmers’ thinking, particularly as geopolitical tensions and climate risks increase.
What does this mean for agritech?
Bayer’s research points to a farming sector that is far more innovation-ready than many policymakers, investors and technology developers might assume.
The unmet needs are clear: technologies that improve profitability, boost climate resilience, replace disappearing crop protection tools, reduce labour requirements and help farmers produce more with fewer resources.
The bigger question is whether Europe’s regulatory systems, investment environment and innovation ecosystem can deliver those solutions quickly enough to keep pace with the challenges farmers say they are already facing.
