Marginal impact of sales consultant visits and financing opportunities on adoption of variable-rate fertilizer application

Precision agriculture has been practiced since the early 1990s, but the adoption rate of this technology has been slower than experts had predicted. This study explores the role of public- and private-sector financial assistance in the adoption of variable-rate fertilizer application. Public- and private-sector financial assistance are modeled to show the marginal impacts of changes in the traditional flow of government assistance, sales consultant visits, and financial risk. Results indicate that deviation from traditional Aone stop shopping@ has a negative and significant impact on the adoption of alternative fertilizer application technology. However, sales consultant visits, in conjunction with conservation and environmental quality incentive programs and the availability of financing opportunities, significantly favor the adoption of variable-rate fertilizer application. Changes in business risk produced opposite movements in financial risk to facilitate increased adoption of variable-rate fertilizer application technologies.