Agricultural Economic Insights

What Agricultural Economic Insights does

Agricultural Economic Insights, LLC (AEI) is a privately held, founder-owned agricultural economic analysis and subscription content business founded in 2014 by Dr. Brent Gloy and David Widmar, both former Purdue University agricultural economists. The company is headquartered at 1281 Win Hentschel Blvd, West Lafayette, IN, and operates with a small core team of four named individuals. AEI produces weekly insights articles, a podcast (currently in Season 3), and a premium subscription membership (AEI Premium) that provides in-depth research articles, curated content, expert interviews, and the Ag Forecasting Network (AFN), a crowdsourced crop production forecasting tool with subscriber scoring.

The company's underlying technology centers on proprietary statistical modeling of county-level acreage and yield estimates for corn and soybeans, with datasets covering approximately 3x as many counties as other publicly available sources and spanning 2012–2025, plus forward acreage forecasts. These datasets are sold as standalone products at $3,000 per drop (e.g., State and County Level Production Data; Solar Panels and U.S. Farmland report). The product portfolio also includes Corporate AEI Premium (custom research reports, speaking engagements, educational webinars, licensed articles, and serialized video summaries of events like WASDE and FOMC), the AEI Podcast, and forthcoming AEI Education Courses.

AEI generates revenue through a diversified mix of individual and group/corporate subscriptions (pricing not publicly disclosed, quote-based for groups), one-time data purchases ($3,000 each), custom research projects, speaking engagements, and webinars. Customers span five horizontal personas: savvy farmers, agribusiness decision-makers, ag lenders, ag policy professionals, and commodity market observers, plus corporate organizations procuring bundled enterprise access. Distribution is primarily digital via the aei.ag website with self-serve individual signup, email-driven corporate sales ([email protected], [email protected]), and event-based speaking. The company is self-funded with no disclosed external investment, M&A activity, or parent company.

Name

Agricultural Economic Insights

Legal name

Agricultural Economic Insights, LLC

Website

https://aei.ag

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Agricultural Economic Insights is a privately held subscription research and data firm that delivers in-depth agricultural economic analysis, proprietary county-level crop yield and acreage datasets, and a crowdsourced forecasting tool to farmers, agribusinesses, ag lenders, and commodity market observers via its AEI Premium membership and corporate services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Economic Research and Data

NAICS

Farm Management Services (115116)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Farm Technology Enablement & Data Integration Advisory (FMIS/ERP, IoT, Decision Support) (AFACAJAG)

Keywords

• Agricultural economic research
• Farm economy analysis
• Agricultural data products
• Crop budget forecasting
• Agribusiness intelligence

Headquarters

HQ city

West Lafayette

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Individual Premium Subscription: Monthly or annual subscription providing access to premium articles, curated content, and the Ag Forecasting Network tool. Subscription-based recurring revenue with individual self-serve purchase through website.
2. Corporate Subscriptions: Group subscriptions at discounted rates for small to mid-size teams, and corporate open access plans for entire organizations. Includes discounts on corporate content offerings such as speaking engagements.
3. Custom Research Reports: Bespoke research reports tailored to client needs on topics including technology adoption, crop protection, crop budgets, on-farm decisions, and ag finance. One-time project-based revenue.
4. Speaking Engagements: Expert speakers (Brent Gloy and David Widmar) available for trade shows, academic lectures, company conferences, and other events. Topics include farm economy, 1980s farm crisis, farmland values, and interest rates.
5. Educational Webinars: Customized webinars on ag economy topics for internal teams or external clients and customers. Can include monthly/quarterly web series combining AEI team expertise with on-farm challenges.
6. One-Time Data Purchases: State and County Level Yield and Acreage datasets for corn and soybeans ($3,000) and Solar Panels and U.S. Farmland report ($3,000). One-time purchase with delivery via email in 5-7 days after payment.
7. AEI Premium + Data Bundle: Bundle subscription with data purchase for discounted dataset rates. Subscribers get instant access to datasets and premium content through online portal.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Agricultural Economic Insights provides subscription-based agricultural economic research, county-level production datasets, and custom research and speaking services. Its core products are AEI Premium (a subscription membership delivering weekly insights, expert interviews, and access to the Ag Forecasting Network), AEI Data (proprietary county-level acreage and yield datasets for corn and soybeans), and Corporate AEI Premium (custom research reports, educational webinars, speaking engagements, licensed articles, and serialized video summaries). The company is positioned as an independent, ad-free source of in-depth farm-economy analysis for farmers, agribusinesses, lenders, and policy professionals.

Product overview

Agricultural Economic Insights (AEI) operates a platform-plus-subscriptions model centered on AEI Premium, a subscription membership offering premium agricultural economy content including articles, the Ag Forecasting Network tool, and the Ag Yield Model Project. The portfolio includes AEI Data products delivering county-level production datasets for corn and soybeans with proprietary modeling; Corporate AEI Premium services encompassing custom research reports, speaking engagements, educational webinars, licensed articles, and serialized video summaries; the AEI Podcast in Season 3; and AEI Education Courses (forthcoming). The AEI Data offering includes historic datasets, in-season updates, and acreage forecast tools, while corporate clients can bundle group subscriptions with discounted corporate content services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AEI Premium: Subscription membership providing in-depth research, data-driven insights, interviews with experts, and the Ag Forecasting Network tool for farmers, agribusiness decision-makers, ag lenders, and commodity market observers.
• AEI Data
• AEI Corporate

Products and services

• AEI Premium (Individual Subscription) Individual subscription membership providing access to all premium content—articles, curated content, and the Ag Forecasting Network tool—for farmers, agribusiness decision-makers, ag lenders, ag policy professionals, and commodity market observers.
• Corporate AEI Premium

Quantifiable outcome

• County-level data available for 3x as many counties as other publicly available sources

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Farmers Business Network (FBN): Farmer network and ag data platform providing input procurement, agronomic data, and analytics to U.S. farmers. Comparable to AEI in serving data-hungry farmers, but with broader commerce and input procurement offerings and a member-network model.
• AgFunder News: Ag-tech focused media and research outlet covering investment, technology adoption, and the ag economy. Comparable to AEI on agricultural economic content distribution and thought leadership, but oriented toward ag-tech investment themes.

Broad incumbents

• DTN (DTN Progressive Farmer): Long-established agricultural data, weather, and market analytics provider serving farmers, agribusiness, and traders. Overlaps with AEI on ag-economic content, market insights, and subscription-based delivery to the same farmer/agribusiness buyer.
• Granular (Corteva): Farm management software and analytics platform (acquired by Corteva) providing agronomic and financial planning tools for row-crop operations. Comparable to AEI on data-driven farm planning and crop budgeting, but as enterprise software owned by a major input supplier.
• Successful Farming / Agriculture.com: Meredith/ Dotdash ag media brand producing articles, market data, and farmer-facing content. Overlaps with AEI's weekly articles and ag-economy commentary for farmer and agribusiness readers, but free and ad-supported rather than subscription.
• Farm Journal: Established agricultural media company producing magazines, TV, digital content, and data products for the U.S. farming audience. Comparable to AEI in delivering recurring ag-economic content and market intelligence, but as a multi-brand incumbent with broader reach.

Direct peers

• Gro Intelligence: Data analytics platform producing proprietary agricultural forecasts, supply/demand models, and crop production estimates for global commodities. Direct overlap with AEI's county-level yield/acreage modeling and ag-economic forecasting, but at much larger scale and with enterprise positioning.
• Terrain (American Farmland Trust): American Farmland Trust's research and policy arm producing agricultural economic analysis and commentary on farmland values, conservation, and farm finance. Direct overlap with AEI on farmland value research and ag-economic outlooks aimed at policy and ag lender audiences.
• Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture: University-based applied research and economic outlook center (co-founded by Brent Gloy before AEI). Direct peer on ag-economy outlook, crop budgets, farmland values, and farm finance research aimed at farmers, lenders, and agribusiness decision-makers.

Others

• HighQuest Partners: Agribusiness consultancy and event company serving clients across the food and ag value chain with strategic advisory and custom research. Adjacent peer to AEI's corporate custom research and speaking engagements business line.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AgEconomists
• Facebookfacebook.com/AgEconomists
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/agricultural-economic-insights

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Agricultural Economic Insights