Article
April 2, 2026
By Vanessa Sapino, Kristin Hollins and Shelly Kessen
At this year’s World Agri-Tech Summit in San Francisco, several key insights cut through all the AI, robotics and data ecosystems discussions with one clear stand out: Trust and relationships form the foundation of successful technology adoption and meaningful connections in agriculture.
We took away from the conversations that the future of successful ag tech isn’t built in boardrooms. It starts at the farm level, with credible voices, practical solutions and farmers who see themselves as partners in innovation. It’s shaped by people who deliver not only technology, but who understand the market, the mission and the opportunity for real change.
As a proud co-sponsor with Western Growers within the California Delegation of the Ag Tech Alliance, FleishmanHillard was on the ground hearing directly from farmers, food leaders, agribusinesses and tech innovators, along with global policy, industry and academic leaders about what’s working and what’s not.
What we heard repeatedly was striking. While innovation and disruption drive today’s ag tech conversation, farmers still rely most heavily on word of mouth, recommendations from trusted advisors, and partnerships built over years. From the tech company perspective, the conversation centered on differentiation and how to stand out in a crowded market while competing for limited investment and customer attention.
This creates a fundamental challenge: While ag tech companies seek to differentiate in an oversaturated market, farmers seek clarity amid piecemeal options. As one farmer panel pointed out, there is no “Good Housekeeping seal of approval” for ag tech. Farmers face a bewildering array of options, each claiming to solve different pieces of the puzzle. The result? Adoption stalls.
Farmers need holistic solutions that work immediately, reliably, practically, and profitably. That demand for certainty is where trust becomes currency. Without a credible source vouching for a solution, many farmers find themselves in analysis paralysis. But trust shortens the decision cycle. When a farmer trusts a source, they can move faster.
Relationships Are Infrastructure
In agriculture, relationships aren’t soft. They’re structural. A trusted agronomist, equipment dealer or financial advisory team becomes part of operational infrastructure because that person understands the farm’s specific challenges, geographic weather patterns, soil conditions, financial constraints and business goals.
New technology that arrives without relationship context is just noise. Conversely, technology that arrives with a trusted recommendation becomes an asset.
To keep that infrastructure intact, farmers, food companies, agribusinesses and investors across every panel kept emphasizing the same characteristics for technology that actually gets adopted: practical, reliable, immediate ROI, user-friendly, easy to operate, and easy to service. The key takeaway: functional innovation earns credibility.
The Communications Parallel: Moving Forward
The same principle that governs farmer tech adoption also governs communications strategy. Just as farmers need advisors and relationships from day one, organizations across every industry — from scrappy startups to established enterprises — need a trusted communications partner embedded in their growth journey from the beginning to help craft their narrative.
When an organization partners with a communications advisor from day one rather than after launch or when they need crisis response, something powerful can happen. As the ag tech ecosystem faces a challenging commercialization gap, the answer isn’t just deeper partnership with farmers. It’s recognizing that breakthrough ideas only scale when translated into stories that farmers, investors and the entire market can understand, believe in and ultimately adopt. That translation work happens early, or it doesn’t happen at all.
That’s how you build understanding and credibility. That’s how you scale. And in agriculture — as in communications — trust is everything.
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