Abstract
AbstractThe objective of this research was to evaluate producers’ perspectives of four key precision agriculture technologies (variable rate fertilizer application, precision soil sampling, guidance and autosteer, and yield monitoring) in terms of the benefits they provide to their farms (increased yield, reduced production costs, and increased convenience) using a best-worst scaling choice experiment. Results indicate that farmers’ perceptions of the benefits derived from various precision agriculture technologies are heterogeneous. To better understand farmers’ adoption decisions, or lack thereof, it is important to first understand their perceptions of the benefits precision agriculture technologies provide.
Highlights
The promise of precision agriculture has been touted for nearly two decades
When evaluated for different farm sizes, corn farms with 1,700–2,000 acres, adoption rates of 54%, 60%, and 32% for GPS soil/yield mapping, guidance systems, and variable rate technology, respectively, were reported (Schimmelpfennig, 2016). These values are still lower than the adoption rates reported in our sample, it is important to note that these data are nearly 10 years old—the 2010 survey is the most recent version of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) survey for corn
It is important to keep in mind that our result are conditional on our sample, and results presented subsequently are representative of commercial crop farms, which tend to have higher rates of precision agriculture technology adoption than the general crop farm population
Summary
The promise of precision agriculture has been touted for nearly two decades. Based on the principle of applying the right amounts of inputs in the right places at the right times (Robert, Rust, and Larson, 1995), precision agriculture has long promised to revolutionize production agriculture through improved efficiency— increased yields with the same amount of inputs, equivalent yield with fewer inputs, or a combination of increased yield and fewer inputs. A plethora of studies evaluating the adoption rates of precision agriculture technologies in the United States have been conducted, including several in recent years (Erickson and Widmar, 2015; Schimmelpfennig, 2016; Torrez et al, 2016; Zhou et al, 2017). Results among these studies vary, adoption rates have generally increased over the last two decades. The value proposition presented by precision agriculture has yet to fully materialize in the eyes of many U.S producers
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