Impact of Efficient Irrigation Technologies On Precision Agriculture Adoption in Texas

High-efficiency irrigation technologies like center-pivot and sub-surface drip are widely adopted by the cotton farmers in Texas. Since adoption of both high-efficiency irrigation technologies and Precision Agriculture (PA) technologies enables the farmers to improve input-use efficiency, there may be a relationship between the adoption of high-efficiency irrigation technologies and PA technologies. In this study, a binary logit model was applied to the 2009 Southern Cotton Precision Farming Survey data to analyze the impact of the irrigation practices used by Texas cotton producers on their likelihood of adoption of PA practices. The additional explanatory variables included other farm and farmer characteristics like age, farming experience, and number of years of formal education of the farmer, use of computers for farming operations, farm size, farm location, and farmer’s exposure to extension activities. Adoption of efficient irrigation technologies like center pivot and sub-surface drip was found to enhance the likelihood of adoption of PA. Farm size, farm location, age of the farmer and exposure to extension activities were also found to influence the likelihood of PA adoption.