Hands-on demos help farmers overcome fear of new farm tech
Soil Health
The soil tester or leaf-scanner gadget that could cut fertilizer runoff from your local orchard or farm only gets used if the grower trusts it, and this study shows just letting them touch and test the tool first can flip that decision.
Farmers growing kiwifruit in China were surveyed about why they do or don't use digital tools that tell them exactly how much fertilizer their plants need. Turns out a nagging worry about missing out on maximum yield actually made farmers less likely to adopt these helpful tools, kind of like how fear of missing a trend can make you avoid trying something new. But when farmers got to physically test the devices themselves before committing, that fear lost much of its grip, especially for handheld soil testers and chlorophyll meters, though not so much for phone apps.
Key Findings
Among 675 kiwifruit farmers in Shaanxi Province, yield-security FoMO (fear of missing out) was negatively associated with adoption of soil testers, chlorophyll meters, and agro-advisory mobile apps.
Hands-on trial experience was positively associated with adoption of soil testers and chlorophyll meters, but not significantly with mobile app adoption.
Trial experience weakened the negative FoMO-adoption link for soil testers and chlorophyll meters, but showed no significant moderating effect for mobile apps.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Kiwifruit growers in China who feared falling behind on yield were less likely to adopt digital fertilizer tools like soil testers and chlorophyll meters, but letting them physically try the devices first weakened that fear-driven resistance.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Does hands-on trial experience weaken the negative association between yield-security FoMO and digital nutrient-management technology adoption? Evidence from China
Excessive fertilizer use remains a major challenge for environmentally sustainable agricultural development in China, particularly in smallholder-based perennial production systems characterized by...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Kiwifruit, or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus Actinidia. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit is oval, about the size of a large hen's egg: 5–8 centimetres in length and 4.5–5.5 cm in diameter. Kiwifruit has a thin, fuzzy, fibrous, lig...