Totally Digital? Adoption of Digital Farm Management Information Systems

Abstract

Digital applications are widely used in agricultural practice and offer opportunities to increase agricultural productivity and safety. In recent years, especially digital farm management information systems (FMIS) combined with mobile applications have made technical progress, which has significantly increased their potential to e.g. enhance sustainability, facilitate networking processes, reduce working time or cut costs. However, the low number of active FMIS users shows that their potential has not yet been fully exploited in practice. This study examined the factors that influence agricultural adaptation behaviour of FMIS using data from a survey of 285 German farmers. Results show that the actual use of FMIS was determined particularly by the assessment of the suitability of the systems for the respective farm, economic efficiency and compatibility of the systems were the main factors that affected intended use. To transform farmers from intended to actual users, the providers of FMIS should work on overcoming these barriers.