Timing of Farmer Decisions to Adopt Four Cotton Precision Agriculture Technologies

A single technology or a suite of technologies used to manage variability of soils, yields, pests, fertilizers and other factors affecting crop production within a field by collecting spatial data throughout the field known as precision agricultural (PA) technology. A few literatures studied about timing influencing PA technology adoption. The objective of this research was to evaluate and compare factors influencing timing for Southern cotton farmers’ decisions to adopt yield monitoring (YMR), passive remote sensing (RMS), grid soil sampling (GSS) and management zone soil sampling (MSS) at different points in time by using univariate and multivariate Tobit model. Data of this study were obtained from the Cotton Incorporated Southern Cotton Precision Farming Survey conducted in 2009 for the 2008 crop in 12 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia). The number of years a farmer adopted each PA technology were used as the dependent variables. Farm characteristics; farmer characteristics; adoption of other PA technologies; farmer perceptions; information sources; and regional characteristics in the 2009 survey were used as independent variables. Both expected and unexpected differences between univariate and multivariate Tobit model in the factors influencing the timing of adoption were revealed. The results will be useful for farmers to make decisions on technology adoption now and in the future, and can help research scientists put PA technology adoption and diffusion into a historical perspective for future research. Additionally, the results can provide information for researchers and agricultural support personnel in helping farmers make decisions to improve input efficiency, increase profit and decrease negative environmental impacts.