7.1.6.2Vertical

Crop Scouting & Field Services

Companies providing crop scouting, tissue testing, and field diagnostics.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Agricultural Services & Consulting (7.1.6), the segment that Crop Scouting & Field Services sits within. They are not figures for Crop Scouting & Field Services on its own.

Market size
~$35B
Growth
N/A
Companies
~9,729 firms
Firms by employee count

91.7% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 8,913 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe812 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
57971%
100–499
16020%
500+
739%

Custom application, soil testing and agronomy make up an outsourced-labor business that grows as farms consolidate and stop owning specialized equipment. The classification was rebuilt in 2022, so there is no clean five-year comparison to draw a trend from.

NAICS 115111, 115112, 115113, 115114, 115115, 115116, 115210. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Custom operations, farm management, and consulting fees

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$3,591,880
Revenue per employee
$141,563
Employees per firm
9.9
Recurring revenue
Moderate

recurring seasonal and management services

EBITDA margin
Service- and expertise-driven
Capex intensity
Moderate

Characteristics

  • Balanced cost base: payroll is 26% of revenue, leaving room to scale margin without cutting staff
  • Moderate strategic-buyer pool: 73 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has buyers, but not many
  • Custom field operations, labor, and farm management.
  • Labor scarcity and outsourcing drive demand.
  • Agronomic expertise and data increasingly valued.

NAICS 115111, 115112, 115113, 115114, 115115, 115116, 115210. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Geographic concentration

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaColoradoFloridaGeorgiaIndianaKansasMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaOklahomaPennsylvaniaTexasWyomingConnecticutMissouriWest VirginiaIllinoisNew MexicoArkansasCaliforniaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiKentuckyMarylandMichiganMississippiMontanaNew HampshireNew YorkOhioOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsinNebraskaSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode IslandNorth DakotaSouth DakotaIowa

Custom application and agronomy concentrate in North Dakota, Iowa and South Dakota, where farms are largest, because scale is exactly what makes owning the equipment uneconomic.

North DakotaIowaSouth Dakota

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 115111/115112/115113/115114/115115/115116/115210. Concentration shown by location quotient.

M&A deal context

Deal activityModerate

Who’s acquiring

  • Farm-management & agronomy platforms
  • Ag-services consolidators
  • Precision-ag-integrated providers

What’s driving deals

  • Consolidation of farm-management and agronomy.
  • Labor-scarcity-driven outsourcing.
  • Precision-ag and data-service integration.

Find Crop Scouting & Field Services acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Crop Scouting & Field Services (7.1.6.2) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

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