Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Publication Title

Agricultural & Environmental Letters

Abstract

Precision agriculture technologies (PATs) have revolutionized agriculture production and provide many benefits to farmers. Among these benefits is the ability to conduct experiments using PATs and collaborate with researchers in a process known as on-farm precision experimentation (OFPE). OFPE is a citizen-science approach that fosters relationships and knowledge-sharing to address challenges of mutual interest. While the literature on precision agriculture is extensive, little research has addressed farmers’ willingness to conduct OFPE with researchers. Interviews with 11 Illinois farmers revealed high adoption rates of PATs. Interest in collaborating with researchers to conduct OFPE was mixed, with farmers identifying clear channels of communication as the most important factor in their decision to collaborate. While additional study is needed among the larger farming community, these initial insights may contribute to the larger effort to encourage greater collaboration between researchers and farmers to find real-world solutions to agronomic, economic, and environmental challenges.

Funding Source

The authors acknowledge the support of the USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant, On-Farm Trials Program, Award No. NR213A7500013G021, “Improving the Economic and Ecological Sustainability of U.S. Crop Production Through On-Farm Experimentation."

DOI

10.1002/ael2.20130

Comments

First published in Agricultural & Environmental Letters 9, no. 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.20130.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC BY 4.0 Deed | Attribution 4.0 International | Creative Commons.

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