Mind the Market Opportunity: Digital Energy Management Services for German Dairy Farmers

Theresa Theunissen (), Julia Keller and Heinz Bernhardt
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Theresa Theunissen: Agricultural System Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Duernast 10, 85354 Freising, Germany
Julia Keller: Agricultural System Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Duernast 10, 85354 Freising, Germany
Heinz Bernhardt: Agricultural System Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Duernast 10, 85354 Freising, Germany

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: The adoption of farm management information systems (FMIS) is on the rise at German dairy farms given their benefits in supporting and automating decision-making processes. However, the offering scope of FMIS for dairy farmers is limited, with digital services mostly focusing on animal-related data and overall economic insights. By contrast, digital energy management services (DEMS) are not yet established as an integral part of FMIS despite their expected positive contribution to a dairy farm’s ecological sustainability and profitability. Against this background, the aim of this study was to find out if there is a hitherto undetected market opportunity for FMIS providers offering DEMS to German dairy farmers. To achieve this aim, the as-is market offering was screened looking at seven pre-defined DEMS, and customer preferences were investigated based on online survey responses from 74 German dairy farmers. Results of the survey indicate a high relevance of DEMS, which especially applies for optimization-oriented energy data analyses. The market coverage of such digital services, on the other hand, is not yet adequate. Hence, for providers of FMIS, we see a promising market opportunity to expand their offering by starting to deploy selected DEMS to German dairy farmers.

Keywords: digital farming; farmer survey; FMIS; profitability; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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