Skip to Main Content

Setting the Record Straight on Precision Agriculture Adoption

There is a perception that adoption of precision agriculture (PA) has been slow. This study reviews the public data on farm level use of PA in crop production worldwide. It examines adoption estimates for PA from completed surveys that utilized random sampling procedures, as well as estimates of adoption using other survey methods, with an objective to document the national or regional level adoption patterns of PA using existing data. The analysis indicates that Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) guidance and associated automated technologies like sprayer boom control and planter row or section shutoffs have been adopted as fast as any major agricultural technology in history. The main reason for the perception that PA adoption is slow is because PA is often associated with variable rate technology (VRT)—just one of many PA technologies, one of the first adopted by many farmers, but that now rarely exceeds 20% of farms. This level of adoption suggests that farmers like the idea of VRT, but are not convinced of its value. VRT adoption estimates for niche groups of farmers may exceed 50%. The biggest gap in PA adoption is for medium and small farms in the developing world that do not use motorized mechanization.

Download journal article aj-0-0-agronj2018.12.0779.

Digital Agriculture Posts

Songlin Fei, director of Purdue’s Institute for Digital Forestry and professor in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, standing among the trees in Martell Forest.
The Society of American Foresters honors Purdue professor with Award in Forest Science

The Society of American Foresters (SAF) annually recognizes individuals for their outstanding...

Read More
Different varieties of rice growing in a field
Machine-learning model demonstrates effect of public breeding on rice yields in climate change

Climate change, extreme weather events, unprecedented records in temperatures and higher, acidic...

Read More
Adam Shanks - calculating data
Private databases for your farm

Private databases have many applications in agriculture and beyond, such as home life and...

Read More
uav data on a monitor
Data-Driven Seminar Series

Purdue College of Agriculture presents a seminar series featuring experts in data science,...

Read More
From centuries-old, hand-drawn maps to LiDAR lasers & the role of both in forestry
From centuries-old, hand-drawn maps to LiDAR lasers & the role of both in forestry

An army of bow saws and boots march through dense thickets of forest patches in the Chicago...

Read More
The walnut plantation at Martell Forest.
Detection & Prediction: How technology is fighting a future of tree diseases and invasive insects

The black walnut tree (Juglans nigra), prized for its rich, dark color in hardwood furniture and...

Read More
To Top