Specialty Crop Market Opportunity

Specialty Crop Market Opportunity December 9, 2010 Dana R. Lonn, PE Managing Director, Center for Advanced Technology The Toro Company

What is the market opportunity?
What is needed to make a potential new market successful?
Meets an identified customer need either articulated or unarticulated
Solves a customer business problem where value exceed the cost
Has sufficient scale to be worth the investment to develop the product
Has geographic diversity

Hypothesis
Mid-sized acreage sites represent a larger opportunity
25 acres to 1,000 acres
<25 acres too small to justify automation
Hobby farm
Large garden
Low revenue
>1,000 acres large enough to justify custom automation

Acres Specialty Crops

Medium Operations Larger Market of Farms & Total Acres Percentage, Strongest Area of Potential Source: 2007 Census of Agriculture

Farms 25-1000 Acres Potential Market Spotted: Greater Amount of Farms, With Largest Amount of Acreage

Large Operations Not Enough Farms to Make This Market a Feasible Choice Source: 2007 Census of Agriculture

Small Operations Largest Market of Growers, Yet Acreage Small & Logistics Potentially Not Feasible Source: 2007 Census of Agriculture

Worldwide Statistics *Includes: Pecans, Almonds, Walnuts, Pistachios

Next Steps
Test the hypothesis
Watch customers to identify automation opportunities
Better understand business model
Are there opportunities to combine across crops to increase the scale?
Develop proof of concept prototypes to test innovation

Questions??

Specialty Crop Market Opportunity December 9, 2010 Dana R. Lonn, PE Managing Director, Center for Advanced Technology The Toro Company

Specialty Crop Market Opportunity

by Comprehensive Automation for Specialty Crops

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