Why a Farmer Adopts – or Doesn’t Adopt – Precision Technology
Past research has proven that precision agriculture (PA) helps increase farming efficiency and crop production, enhancing economic viability and reducing environmental problems, reports Future Farming. Despite the advantages, some farmers are still hesitant to adopt these technologies. A new study gives farmers’ viewpoints on the most influential factor behind adopting new technologies and practices: profitability.
Tong Wang, associate professor in South Dakota State University’s Ness School of Management and Economics, has been conducting research on precision ag technologies and their adoption rates over the past few years to understand why a farmer adopts — or doesn’t adopt — these practices. The full study was published in the academic journal Ecological Economics. Professor Wang said. “In this study, we compared precision ag adopters’ rated profit changes for a range of technologies, and we studied a variety of factors that potentially affect profit changes to understand the source of variance in precision ag profitability.”
In this study, researchers highlighted eight widely adopted precision ag technologies, including auto-steering and guidance, automatic section control, satellite/aerial imagery, unmanned aerial vehicle/drone imagery, variable rate fertilizer application, variable rate seed and application, variable rate pesticide application and variable rate irrigation application.
To understand farmers’ viewpoints regarding profitability and adoption, the research team sent out surveys to 6,000 regional farmers in 2021. The surveys asked farmers in eastern South Dakota, eastern North Dakota, western Minnesota and eastern Nebraska to rate their profit change after adopting, or not adopting, each of the listed precision ag technologies.
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The most widely adopted precision ag technologies include auto-steering and guidance, which fit under the ‘georeferencing technology’ category. This technology helps farmers navigate their fields and use resources more efficiently, a system that helps boost profitability.
Read more at Future Farming.
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