Smart farming technology innovations – Insights and reflections from the German Smart-AKIS hub

Abstract

Digitalisation in agriculture is considered the fourth revolution in farming, which is expressed by a broad range of available digital technologies and data applications. Politicians and experts assume that smart farming technologies (SFT) have a strong potential to enhance economic performance of farming and will contribute to agricultural sustainability as they may increase precision of inputs to crops and soils based on site-specific needs, and link these aspects to farm management systems. This paper explores farmers' and other stakeholders’ perceptions and attitudes towards SFT in Germany with a multi-actor approach. Quantitative and qualitative data show that while there are generally positive attitudes, farmers are less enthusiastic with regard to expected positive effects of SFT for the environment. Also, there is still a number of adoption barriers on the technology level as well as due to an unfavorable institutional and infrastructural environment. Although a multi-actor approach was practiced, close cooperation of practitioners with developers were not frequently observed nor could they be easily supported through action-research. Notwithstanding, through the multi-actor approach, a comprehensive situational picture of SFT appraisal was composed and, a general raise of awareness among the respective AKIS actors generated.