Technology Diffusion in Agriculture

 Extract from WIPO report:

Precision agriculture technologies

PATs use sensors, satellite navigation, and data analytics to optimize farming operations. In general, there are three broad categories for PATs: (i) the data collection (sensors, satellite navigation), (ii) the data processing and/or analysis (yield monitoring, soil mapping), and (iii) the decision-making guidance (auto-steering tractors, variable-rate applications of fertilizers and pesticides). (23)

Farmers in Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States lead in the adoption of PATs. (24)

The US pioneered PATs in the 1980s, with adoption accelerating once global positioning systems (GPS) became widely available after 1983. (25) Most of the technologies used were related to grid sampling, fertilizer mapping, and pH as well as yield measurement. Since the 2000s, American farmers have been adopting auto-guidance system and variable rate technologies (VRTs) to reduce the cost of managing their farms. (26)

However, the adoption of PATs remains gradual. Studies show that farmers typically adopt individual PAT components rather than a complete system. (27) This is partly due to the high upfront cost of purchasing PATs.

Less than one-third of US farmers use any PAT tools whatsoever and adoption occurs in modules rather than complete systems. (28) In Europe, for example, entry level PATs include automatic milking systems, digital field records and automatic steerage systems. (29)

In addition, the PATs predominantly adopted vary according to agricultural need. Water scarcity led to the adoption of micro-irrigation in India, for example, whereas farmers in the US and Australia focus more on adopting guidance systems for large-scale cropping.