Variable Rate Application - How do we increase the user rate?

Summary

According to a report by the IPCC (2019), agriculture accounts for one-fourth of the total global CO2-emissions. Therefore, agriculture needs to reduce its use of non-renewable resources. Technological development is one thing that has made this a possibility. With the help of GNSS and GIS, different types of inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and pesticide can be varied according to the different conditions and needs. The number of inputs can thus be reduced and optimized to increase efficiency. Gradually, as farmers change their machines, the accessibility of the technology also increases. However, we observe that technology continues to remain unused despite investing in it. Why is that? In this study, we have conducted qualitative interviews with farmers who has invested in VRA-technic and investigated which factors influence their use of it.

The questions to the farmers have been formulated and the answers have been analyzed using the Technology Acceptance Model by Davis (1986). What we have found was that competence and interest were the two key reasons why farmers did not use VRA. Hence, machine sellers should make sure to educate the farmers when they have bought a new machine with the latest technology. It should also be in the advisor’s interest to provide the farmers with sufficient training and help to create proper VRA-files.