Agricultural inputs

Fast facts: Farm inputs

• Farming is purchasing inputs from specialized companies. In mature farming systems, the costs for farm inputs can reach 90% of the farm revenues. In years with low market prices for products, the costs for farm inputs can be higher than the revenues. This means an annual loss. In subsistence focused farming, this can be less than 10% or even nil. Such farms cannot risk losses in farming, because they need to have to pro-duce food for their livelihood.
• Only nine seed companies had a global market share of 60% (2022). Patents and hybrids are standard today on the seed and clone market, The first Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) came 1983 on the market (Tobacco). The big story became GMOs with soybeans, which were resistance to Glyphosate and maize, which had the Bacillus thuringiensis ability to prevent against insects. In 1917, about 94 million ha are planted with GM crops. Many countries still ban the cultivation of GM. CRISP/Cas9 is a game changer. Only one company covers 3/5 of all global layer chicken market.
• Mineral fertilizer allows high yields in crop production. Ammonium fertilizer, using the energy intensive Haber-Bosch-production, are the most sold chemical product worldwide. Phosphate fertilizer is mainly from Morocco. Human feces have a lot of unused recycling potential of nutrients. Guano fertilizer has made Nau-ru, a small island in the Pacific, the richest country per capita on the world, for a short period.
• Global feed market came with the production of soy and maize in Americas. Pig, chicken and even dairy cattle farming in Europe and Asia depends on imported feedstuff. 90% of all soybeans are used as feed.
• 3.5 million tons of pesticides are used 2021 worldwide. That are about 2.26 kg per hectare and year. Both are about 100% more than 1991. About 73% of all antibiotics are used in livestock. Resistant germs are a human health risk.
• Tractors and other machines have a global market of 181 billion USD. Only some regions of the world are very mechanized. Many regions still use animal draught (horsepower).
• Buildings and infrastructure are important for high productive farming. Stables, greenhouses and stores are the main cost block on the farm input market.
• In mature farming, more than 90% of the revenues are spend for farm inputs, and even more (costs are high-er than return in bad production and/or market years). Subsistence farming is more resilient to market dis-ruptions, but low yielding.

Farm inputs like seeds, breeds, fertilizer, machines, fences, buildings and others have been invented and produces by farmers itself. In the recent high productive agriculture, these farm inputs are produced off-farm by specialized companies. they are purchased by farms.

Figure: The four biggest farm input companies have big shares of the global farm input mar-kets (sales 2020, in US-Dollar)
Source: Designed by data from Bodenatlas (2024)