Smart farming in mountain areas: Investigating livestock farmers’ technophobia and technophilia and their perception of innovation

Abstract

Smart farming technologies, such as information and communication technologies, can provide many advantages for farm management. Nevertheless, their diffusion is still limited, especially in mountainous areas. For this reason and considering the crucial role of mountain farming, public policies have begun to increasingly support innovation practices in these areas. The purpose of this study was to investigate how attitudes and the characteristics of farmers and farms influence the use of technological devices (i.e., smartphones, tablets and computers). The case study was set in the rural area of Valtellina in the Italian Alps, where 63 dairy farmers were interviewed. Cluster analysis was used to classify farmers, considering their levels of technophobia and technophilia as well as their perceived obstacles and motivations to use new technologies. Three different classes of farmers were thus identified: technophobes, insecure technophiles and technophiles. The results show that attitudes towards new technologies are affected by a farmer's age, education level, farm size, actual smartphone usage for professional duties, and optimistic behaviour towards the future of the farm. This study supports policy makers in developing tailored policies in support of mountain farmers and service providers, indicating future directions for the design of their products.