Adoption and Nonadoption of Precision Farming Technologies by Cotton Farmers

We analyzed data obtained from the 2009 Southern Cotton Precision Farming Survey of farmers in twelve states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) to identify reasons for adoption/nonadoption of precision farming technologies. Farmers provided cost, time constraint, satisfaction with the current practice and other as reasons for not adopting precision farming technology. Profit, environmental benefit and to be at the forefront of agricultural technology are main reasons for adopting precision farming technology. Results from a nested logit model indicated that formal education, farm size, and number of precision farming meeting attend by farmers have positive effect on adoption of PF technologies. Moreover, spatial yield variability increases probability of adopting precision farming technologies for profit reasons.