Smart Harvest Market - A Global and Regional Analysis: Focus on Product and Application, Value Chain, and Country Analysis - Analysis and Forecast, 2022-2027

Smart Harvest Market - A Global and Regional Analysis: Focus on Product and Application, Value Chain, and Country Analysis - Analysis and Forecast, 2022-2027

Global Smart Harvest Market Industry Overview

The global smart harvest market was valued at $8,380.0 million in 2021 and is projected to reach $16,850.0 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 12.50% during the forecast period 2022-2027. The growth in the global smart harvest market is expected to be driven by the increasing adoption of smart agriculture practices, labor shortage in agriculture farms, and increasing need for sustainable agriculture.

Market Lifecycle Stage

The smart harvest market is in the introductory growth phase. Increased research and development activities in agriculture, rising awareness of tech-based farming, and shortage and aging of agricultural workers in many countries are expected to increase the demand for smart harvesters such as robotic harvesters and automated tractors among farmers and other agriculture companies. Increasing crop production costs and increasing need for workforce automation are further supporting market growth.

Increasing adoption of robotic technology in agriculture practice and the implementation of several sensors as well as 3D imaging in smart farms are some of the major opportunities in the global smart harvest market. Moreover, the smart harvest market has huge opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region since most of the countries located in this region have huge agricultural sectors, which contribute to the nation’s GDP.

Impact

• North America generated the highest revenue of $2,290.0 million in 2021, which is expected to reach $4,540.0 million by 2027. The region has been experiencing rapid growth in the smart farming industry in the past few years owing to increasing technological advancements and increasing government support for the usage of smart equipment. Owing to several benefits of smart farming, farmer and growers in this region are adopting different technologies on their farms, such as GPS, drones, robots, smart controllers, monitors, and others. All these factors are further influencing the market growth of smart harvest technologies in North America.
• Furthermore, Europe generated a revenue of $1,740.0 million in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.37% from 2022 to 2027. High revenue generation was majorly attributed to increasing the use of smart farming systems and increasing investments from the European Commission for IoT-based smart farming. Most of the growth is expected to be driven by Eastern Europe countries in the forecast period.

Impact of COVID-19

The COVID-19 impact on the smart harvest market was there for a short term in 2020 and in 2021. However, the market is anticipated to witness robust growth and recovery with increasing demand for the installation of smart harvest equipment in agricultural farms throughout the world to make optimum utilization of resources with the shortage of skilled labor in the agriculture fields. Hence, the demand for smart harvesters in the agriculture sector is expected to increase during and post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Market Segmentation:

Segmentation 1: by Application

• Site of Operation
• Controlled Environment Agriculture
• On-Field Agriculture
• Crop Type
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Others

The global smart harvest market in the application segment has been segmented into the site of operation and crop type segments. Mostly smart harvesters are utilized in controlled environment agriculture to produce fresh fruits and vegetables under artificial conditions with limited labor. Autonomous tractors and other robotic harvesters are further used in the field to harvest cotton, apple, asparagus, and many other crops.

Segmentation 2: by Product

• Hardware
• Software
• Services

Among the three segments, the hardware segment is expected to dominate the global smart harvest market; in 2021, this segment was worth $6,645.0 million. The dominance of the hardware segment is due to the higher usage of robotic arms, robotic chassis, end-effectors, and automation systems, along with monitoring and sensing systems in smart harvest equipment.

Segmentation 3: by Region

• North America - U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Rest-of-North America
• Europe - Germany, Spain, France, and Rest-of-Europe
• China
• U.K.
• Asia-Pacific - Japan, India, Australia, and Rest-of-Asia-Pacific
• South America - Brazil, Argentina, and Rest-of-South America
• Middle East and Africa - Turkey, South Africa, and Rest-of-Middle East and Africa

The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing market in the smart harvest industry. The rapid change in the climatic conditions, increasing government support, rising need for food security, and increasing need for smart farming are the factors supporting the growth of smart harvest in the region.

Recent Developments in Global Smart Harvest Market

• In June 2022, Dogtooth Technologies introduced its latest fleet of strawberry-harvesting robots, mainly in the U.K. and Australia, to ease growers’ labor woes.
• In November 2021, Iron Ox launched Grover, an all-new autonomous mobile robot. Grover is a durable, hygienic as well as highly capable autonomous mobile robot that allows Iron Ox to save water, land, and energy.
• In November 2021, Fieldin acquired Midnight Robotics to advance its autonomous platforms. This acquisition was aimed at creating a brand-new sensor-based platform with driving technologies to improve the day-to-day management of the farm.
• In February 2019, OCTINION launched a strawberry-picking robot named Rubion. Rubion navigates through the strawberries, detects the ripe ones, picks the fruits without bruising, and places them in its punnet.

Demand – Drivers and Limitations

Following are the demand drivers for the smart harvest market:

• High Adoption of Smart Agriculture Technique to Optimize Crop Yield
• Need for Reducing Crop Production Cost
• Lack of Sufficient Workforce

The market is expected to face some limitations due to the following challenges:

• High Cost of Smart Harvesting Equipment
• Less Adoption among Small-Scale Farmers
• Technical Complexities Affecting Smart Harvest Adoption

How can this report add value to an organization?

Product/Innovation Strategy: The product segment helps the reader understand the different types of smart harvest products available to be used in agriculture fields. Moreover, the study provides the reader with a detailed understanding of the different smart harvesters by application (controlled environment agriculture and on-field) and by component (hardware, software, and services). The use of autonomous harvesters can solve the issue of labor shortage on farms and help in the selective harvesting of fruits, vegetables, and crops by reducing the wastage of produces. A combination of different technologies in the smart harvester, such as IoT, AI, sensors, monitors, 3D cameras, and robotic arms with end effectors, is making harvesting easy for farmers.

Growth/Marketing Strategy: The global smart harvest market has seen major development by key players operating in the market, such as product launches, business expansions, partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures. The favored strategy for the companies has been product launches to strengthen their position in the smart harvest market. For instance, in January 2022, John Deere launched the new John Deere 8R autonomous robotic tractor. This tractor is suitable for large-scale production and will be available for farmers at the end of 2022. John Deere raised the bar for a new level of smart agriculture practice and agriculture autonomy from one of the most trusted as well as recognizable brands worldwide.

Competitive Strategy: Key players in the global smart harvest market analyzed and profiled in the study involve smart harvest manufacturers that provide different types of hardware and software to be used in autonomous harvesters. Moreover, a detailed competitive benchmarking of the players operating in the global smart harvest market has been done to help the reader understand how players stack against each other, presenting a clear market landscape. Additionally, comprehensive competitive strategies such as partnerships, agreements, and collaborations will aid the reader in understanding the untapped revenue pockets in the market.

Key Market Players and Competition Synopsis

The companies that are profiled have been selected based on inputs gathered from primary experts and analyzing company coverage, product portfolio, and market penetration.

The key market players are offering smart harvesters for controlled environment agriculture and on-filed agriculture. Autonomous tractors and smart harvesters are used on-field for harvesting crops such as cotton, nuts, wheat, hemp, and others. These harvesters are fully automated and can automatically set harvesting schedules by collecting data from different software regarding the maturity of crops. Sometimes only one human labor is required along with the robotic harvester during the harvesting cycle. Apart from saving the cost of labor, there are several advantages of using robotic harvesting. The on-field segment captured about 55.56% share in the global smart harvest market in 2021. Also, controlled environment agriculture captured about 44.44% share in the global smart harvest market. Indoor farms, aquaponic and hydroponic farms, vertical farms, greenhouses, nurseries, and hybrid farms come under controlled environment agriculture. Most of these farms run with the help of artificial lights, humidifiers, sprinklers, controllers, monitors, drones, and robots. Since farmers and growers are looking for sustainable ways of agriculture, indoor farming or tech-based farming is gaining popularity. To reduce operational costs, these farms prefer robots to human labor for their operation. Hence, harvesting robots are quite beneficial for these farms.

Some of the established players in this market are:

Controlled Environment Agriculture: Companies Offering Smart Harvesters

• Agrobot
• Harvest Automation
• Iron Ox
• Dogtooth Technologies Limited
• MetoMotion
• Mycionics Inc.
• Panasonic Holdings Corporation
• TORTUGA AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

On-Field: Companies Offering Smart Harvesters

• AVL Motion B.V.
• Harvest CROO
• Cerescon BV
• Deere & Company
• Energid Technologies Corporation
• FFRobotics
• Ripe Robotics
• Robert Bosch GmbH
• Vision Robotics Corporation

Companies that are not a part of the previous pool have been well represented across different sections of the report (wherever applicable).

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