It is the buzzword in ag media: Agricultural innovation. Advances in technology and biology are generating a lot of excitement and talk about the ag tech revolution taking place.

When you get past the hype and talk with the men and woman who are actually working the land day in and day out, you hear a much different story. The geeks and the venture capitalists are quick to show off what their new ideas can do. Yet, the people who are actually involved in the doing are a bit more skeptical.

Farmers have demonstrated they can be quick to adopt new technology when it has an immediate benefit to their operations. Take glyphosate and the yield monitor, for example – within just a few years of its introduction, Roundup was being used exclusively on three-quarters of the soybean acres in this country, a decision we have now come to regret.

Likewise, yield monitors became standard equipment in combine cabs almost overnight. However, data tools and artificial intelligence are taking longer to catch on.

Today, a plethora of online tools and apps designed to give the producer more information and help with decision-making are available. One of the few to gain mass recognition is easy, simple, and practical. Farmers Business Network is a service that provides transparency to farmers on seed, chemicals, and other aspects of farming.

A recent survey by J.L. Farmakis showed that 75 percent of farmers have heard of FBN. According to the research, the majority use the service to compare prices of crop inputs (85 percent) or to negotiate a better price from the input supplier (55 percent).

Uncertainty and unprofitability in many sectors of agriculture have prompted many farmers to take a more sober and serious look at their operations. In some cases, adopting new technology can result in an improvement in efficiency and profitability; but more and more this is being measured against the reality of cash flow, balance sheets, and return on investment.

Advancements in technology and innovation will continue to change agriculture as we move forward, but not at the pace some believe. It took the telephone 55 years from its invention until it was in common use; social media took far less time.

Nevertheless, I feel the technological changes coming to agriculture will be more evolutionary than revolutionary.

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On a personal note, there is another evolutionary change coming to this column space. For the past 20 years, I have been writing this weekly; when I started, I never dreamed I would be doing it this long. I also never believed people would actually read most of my 1,020 columns.

While I will continue to write, beginning this month I will be cutting my column back to every other week. While this is a difficult choice, the challenging times in the ag media industry are forcing me to spend more time running my business and a bit less time running my mouth.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Gary Truitt may write to him in care of this publication.