Precision and Digital Agriculture: Adoption of Technologies and Perception of Brazilian Farmers

Édson Luis Bolfe,Lúcio André De Castro Jorge,Cinthia Cabral Da Costa,Ariovaldo Luchiari Júnior,Ieda Del’Arco Sanches,Andrea Restrepo Ramirez,Célia Regina Grego,Ricardo Yassushi Inamasu,Victor Rodrigues Ferreira,Daniel De Castro Victoria

doi:10.3390/agriculture10120653

Abstract

The rapid population growth has driven the demand for more food, fiber, energy, and water, which is associated to an increase in the need to use natural resources in a more sustainable way. The use of precision agriculture machinery and equipment since the 1990s has provided important productive gains and maximized the use of agricultural inputs. The growing connectivity in the rural environment, in addition to its greater integration with data from sensor systems, remote sensors, equipment, and smartphones have paved the way for new concepts from the so-called Agriculture 4.0 or Digital Agriculture. This article presents the results of a survey carried out with 504 Brazilian farmers about the digital technologies in use, as well as current and future applications, perceived benefits, and challenges. The questionnaire was prepared, organized, and made available to the public through the online platform LimeSurvey and was available from 17 April to 2 June 2020. The primary data obtained for each question previously defined were consolidated and analyzed statistically. The results indicate that 84% of the interviewed farmers use at least one digital technology in their production system that differs according to technological complexity level. The main perceived benefit refers to the perception of increased productivity and the main challenges are the acquisition costs of machines, equipment, software, and connectivity. It is also noteworthy that 95% of farmers would like to learn more about new technologies to strengthen the agricultural development in their properties.

Highlights

Digital innovation in agriculture represents, according to the United Nations Food and AgricultureOrganization [1], a great opportunity to eradicate poverty and hunger and mitigate the effects of Agriculture 2020, 10, 653; doi:10.3390/agriculture10120653 www.mdpi.com/journal/agricultureAgriculture 2020, 10, 653 climate change
For the researcher’s methodological definition, it was based on aspects applied: (i) in the evaluation of the factors of adoption of remote sensing images in the precision management of cotton producers in the United States [34]; (ii) in assessing the adoption and future prospects of precision agriculture in Germany [35]; (iii) in who evaluated the adoption of precision agriculture technologies in the sugarcane sector in Brazil [29], (iv) in who evaluated the adoption of precision agriculture under the perception of farmers and service providers in Brazil [30], and (v) in who evaluated different perspectives of American rural producers regarding the benefits of precision agriculture [26]
The digital agriculture can be understood as a set of technologies for communication, information, and analysis that allows farmers to plan, monitor, and manage the operational and strategic activities of the agriculture production systems, from pre-production, in production, and post-production

Summary

Introduction

Digital innovation in agriculture represents, according to the United Nations Food and AgricultureOrganization [1], a great opportunity to eradicate poverty and hunger and mitigate the effects of Agriculture 2020, 10, 653; doi:10.3390/agriculture10120653 www.mdpi.com/journal/agricultureAgriculture 2020, 10, 653 climate change. All parts of the agri-food production chain will be modified, since connectivity and the processing of large amounts of information in an instant allows for more efficient work, greater economic return, greater environmental benefits, and better working conditions in the field. Implementing these changes will require governments to increasingly strengthen rural infrastructure and promote the development of rural communities [1] and small rural businesses, so that they can adopt and implement innovative solutions. The conceptual basis of “Smart Farming” or “Digital Agriculture” comes from scientific knowledge, techniques, and equipment from Precision Agriculture [4] started from

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