FARGO, N.D. – April 8, 2025 – Bushel, a software company serving the agricultural supply chain, has released its 2025 State of the Farm Report, offering insight into how U.S. farmers make business decisions, use technology, and business preferences in the supply chain.

Bushel’s State of the Farm report is one of largest farm surveys with more than 1,300 respondents. This year’s report emphasizes a consistent theme: Trusted relationships remain at the core of how farmers do business—but digital tools are gaining ground, and age 50 is now the tipping point for stronger digital preferences.

“Relationships have always been at the heart of agriculture. What we’re seeing now is that farmers aren’t choosing between relationships and technology—they expect both. The tools that stick are the ones that remove friction and make it easier to work with the people they already trust,” said Jake Joraanstad, CEO of Bushel. “The conversation about farmer adoption is no longer if they’ll adopt digital tools—it’s about which ones will actually help them run their business.”

Key findings from the 2025 report include:

• In-person interactions still matter. 39% of farmers prefer to submit grain offers face-to-face, and 34% prefer to order inputs the same way. But there are growing preferences for being able to take care of tasks such as making offers or paying for inputs digitally. 35% of farmers under age 50 said they would be willing to make a grain offer through a mobile app, but only 15% currently have that option available.
• Record-keeping has gone digital. Pen and paper use has dropped to just 21%, while 76% of farmers now use some form of farm management software. The average number of software programs used for farm business is three.
• Farmers remain optimistic despite uncertainty. Only 15% plan to exit, retire, or scale down—unchanged from last year. Meanwhile, 35% intend to grow, and 50% expect to stay the same size.
• Digital payments are on the rise. While paper checks are still the most common form of payment, farmers under 40 and early adopters show a strong preference for mobile payments and direct deposits. 61% of farmers under 40 prefer making payments or transferring funds via mobile app, and 64% of farmers under 40 said they would prefer to deposit checks via a mobile app. 
• Profitability remains a top concern—and a key area farmers feel they can influence. Many are using software to track costs, margins, and field performance to make more informed decisions. Farmers under 50 value software to help with improved decision making (25%), while farmers older than 50 are more interested in software for managing costs (18%). 

The full 2025 State of the Farm Report is available at bushelfarm.com/state-of-the-farm-report.