Farmers’ Perception of Smart Farming Technologies: Critical Aspects to Enhance Agriculture Digitalization

Smart Farming Technologies (SFTs) comprise a set of technologies that can increase the sustainability of agricultural production and farmworkers’ safety. However, the demand for and adoption of these technologies seem to be quite far. The present study aims to contribute to the current literature by investigating the main perceived barriers to adoption and aspects to be improved in two different SFTs: the decision support systems and the innovative vehicles. A questionnaire was provided to a sample of farmers from North-West Italy. Participants were asked to choose between two main types of SFTs: drones, sensors and apps for data acquisition (SFT#1) and agricultural robots, autonomous machines, and tractors equipped with electronic systems and sensors (SFT#2). Based on their choice, participants had to rate aspects related to costs, training, usefulness and easiness of use, which may hinder the adoption of the selected SFT. Then, they had to rate how much some aspects related to safety, infrastructure, data collection and treatment should be improved to increase the adoption of the selected SFT. The results showed that the two types of SFTs significantly differed in six out of twelve perceived barriers considered. Results also highlighted more difficulties in implementing agricultural robots, autonomous machines and tractors equipped with electronic systems and sensors compared with the other technologies investigated. Much effort and targeted interventions are needed to overcome the existing difficulties in implementing the wider adoption of the considered technologies and to make farmers more aware of SFTs long-term benefits and reliability.