It’s spraying season. And that has us thinking about field work—scouting, the types of spray applications going down to protect crops, and the ins and outs of sprayer equipment itself. We asked ourselves,“When it comes to spraying, how many farmers actually own their own sprayer? Where are they located, and what is the size of their operation?”
By aggregating millions of acres of real-world production data, we explored network trends in sprayer ownership by both farm location and farm enterprise size.
Farmers in the FBN network whose farming operations include 2,000 or more production acres are very likely to own their own sprayer equipment. Those farming smaller operations, 500 acres or fewer, are still choosing to own and operate their own sprayer as well—83 percent of FBN members who farm fewer than 500 acres own their sprayer.
Across the FBN network, 100 percent of farmers in Montana and North Dakota own their own sprayer, while 97-98 percent of farmers in Mississippi, Oklahoma and California own their sprayer equipment. Fewer FBN network farmers in Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa own their sprayers—79, 88 and 90 percent of farmers, respectively.
Have you purchased a new
recently? Or, maybe you’re considering the purchase of a new or used tow-behind or self-propelled sprayer? Then you may be thinking through the cost savings of do-it-yourself spraying options, as well as equipment features and accessories you want and need. If so, you aren’t the only one.
Across the FBN network, farmers are learning the benefits owning and operating their own sprayer equipment and spraying their own chem applications.