Indiana Farmers' Adoption of Mobile Applications for Agricultural Management
This study examines the level of adoption and perceptions of mobile applications as agricultural management tools among Indiana farmers. Research findings shed light on the potential benefits and challenges faced by farmers in integrating mobile technology into their operations, offering valuable insights into the evolving agricultural landscape.
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Presentation Transcript
Indiana Farmers Level of Adoption and Perceptions of Mobile Applications as Agricultural Management Tools Jackie Leeuw
Contents Background Research Questions Literature Technology Acceptance Model Research Design Findings Conclusions Questions
Background Mobile Applications Adoption Agriculture applications Open Ag Technology and Systems Group
Research Questions The purpose of this study is to describe the level of adoption that Indiana farmers have when it comes to mobile applications as management tools -To what extent do farmers use mobile applications for farm decision-making? -What factors are associated with increased use of mobile applications for farm decision-making? -What technological capabilities and features of mobile applications do farmers consider most important? -What factors hinder use of mobile applications for farm decision-making? -What mobile applications are most commonly used by farmers?
Literature Mobile applications Diffusion of Innovation Theory-Everett Rogers (1962) Adoption Curve
Research Design Structured interview (n=55) Participants: Indiana Farmers Paradigm: positivism Field Test Quantitative study with qualitative aspects Two Indiana Farm Bureau Conferences Recruited to participate Instrumentation Demographics Open ended questions Technology Acceptance Model Questions
Farmer Characteristics Years actively farming: Mean 25.63 Male: 46 Female: 9 Ownership: Owner 52.7% Age: 22-34 15 35-49 17 50-64 13 65 + 10 Co-Owner 18.2% Not Owner 25.5%
Farm Operation Characteristics Acres farmed: 0-499 34.5% Employees: 43.6% have employees 500-1,499 30.9% 1,500 + 32.7 % 50.9% no employees Renting: 27.3% renting ground 70.9% not renting ground Type of operation: Crop 67.3% Livestock 7.3% Crop/Livestock 21.8%
Most used mobile applications Weather Ag Related Social Media Other 41.8% Most used mobile applications-farm decisions 34.5% 23.6% 50.9% Ag Related Media 56.4% Weather Other 40.0% Social 7.3% 41.8%
Most used applications AgLeader Climate Field View Feed Scan John Deere MyOperations Weather AgMobile Dropbox FieldNET Premier Crop Systems Weather Bug Ag PhD DTN Google QuickBooks Weather Underground AgWEB Ebay Google Docs Salesforce WinField R7 Tool Amazon Encirca Pro Grainger Spray Smart AQHA Facebook Granular.AG Successful Farming Bunge Mobile FARMServer Growers Edge TD Ameritrade Calculator FBN Mobile App Hoosier Ag Today Twitter
Reasons to use mobile applications Easy/ease of use Speed/efficiency Convenience/accessible Other 38.2% 29.1% 29.1% 16.4%
Applications that make job & life easier I would say my irrigation one is one I use a lot in the Summer, which is a Field Net that it s through. Then like in the Fall, I use my dryer one a lot. Then Granular. Those are the main ones. We use weather a lot -Farmer, 35 Well the app that does the Controller, it makes it easier that I don t have to generate actual paperwork for reports. I can just, well the controller fills them out for me and I just forward it to the office. So, if there is an error, it s the controller that made the issue and not myself. -Pork Producer, 54 All of them. I wouldn t use them if they weren t making life easier -Farmer, 30
Positive and negative attributes of mobile apps Positive, just the ease of use and having everything at your negatives would be, the amount of time that you can consume with the amount of information that is on there fingertips. The Positive attributes are going to be timeliness, ease of use. Downsides, privacy might be one as far as where is the data going, who is getting all the data? Could it come back to haunt them? That concern. could be a Positives are I would say being able to access information quickly and easily. Negatives, I run into a lot of times, they don t always work 100 percent of the time. Not 100 percent reliable. I think they are getting better, but you get network problems or just apps can be down.
Purchased Mobile Applications 65.5% had never purchased a mobile application in last two years
Privacy 76.4% Concerned with how Ag companies are using shared data 21.9% Not concerned with how Ag companies are using shared data
Are there any mobile apps you wish you had to utilize on your operation? Yeah, there are some. I believe they re already developed for plant health and it involves the app looking at the crop leaf and then it gives you feedback on it. Whether it is satisfied from a nitrogen standpoint. Maybe other mineral deficiencies or you re possibly in good shape. That is one I m going to have to start figuring out how to use or learn about 43.6%
Mobile Application Use 5 years-21.8% 6 years- 7.3% 7 years- 3.6% 8 years- 9.1% 9 year-12.7% 10 years- 14.5% 15 years- 3.6% 28 years- 1.8% 1 year- 1.8% 2 years- 7.3% 3 years- 5.5% 4 years- 5.4%
Willingness to Adopt in the Future 76.4% willing to adopt more mobile applications 10.9% not willing to adopt more mobile applications 9.1% possibility of adopting more mobile applications
Technology Acceptance Model-Ease of Use 1-strongly disagree 2-disagree 3-slightly disagree 4- slightly agree 5- agree 6- strongly agree It is easy for me to remember how to perform procedures using mobile applications. Mean: 4.45 SD: 1.37 Learning to operate mobile applications is easy for me Mean: 4.49 SD: 1.14 I find it easy to get mobile applications to do what I want them to do Mean: 4.04 SD: 1.12 My interaction with mobile applications is clear and understandable Mean: 4.24 SD: 1.21 Reliability: .92 Overall, I find mobile applications easy to use Mean: 4.36 SD: 1.25
Technology Acceptance Model-Perceived Usefulness 1-strongly disagree 2-disagree 3-slightly disagree 4- slightly agree 5- agree 6- strongly agree Mobile applications support critical aspects of my farm Mean: 4.63 SD: 1.14 Using mobile applications makes it easier to do my job Mean: 5.20 SD: .85 Using mobile applications increases my productivity Mean: 5.00 SD: .98 Using mobile applications allows me to accomplish more work than would otherwise be possible Mean: 4.85 SD: 1.16 Overall, I find mobile applications useful to my job Mean: 5.33 Reliability: .91 SD: .72
Adopter Categories Early Adopters 14.5% Early Majority 58.2% Late Majority 25.5%
Perceived Ease of Use & Perceived Usefulness by Adopter Category __________________________________________________________ Perceived Ease of use Perceived Usefulness N Adopter category _______________________________________________________________ Early adopters Early majority Late majority _______________________________________________________________ 25.88 (2.36) 25.50 (3.42) 21.72 (4.80) 24.28 (4.75) 19.29 (6.58) 26.38 (2.90) 8 32 14
Have you ever heard the phrase open source technology? Yes: 23.6% No: 72.7% Heard of: 3.6%
What do you think open source technology means? Open source means that the original code is free to edit and that it is a not billed system where you can take, if you re smart enough, you can modify it to what you need it to and you don t have to pay for it because it is free -Farmer & Engineering Consultant, 36 I hope it doesn t mean that anybody can see everything you have, being open. Because that is my information -Farmer, 66 Instead of having something closed with fewer individuals, it seems that it would be more open to the public -Farmer, 65
What are some impressions you have about open source? I m highly optimistic about open source. That concept is what drives innovation and adoption. Usually it s more to what the user needs. They re not trying to make money so you re not getting caught up in someone s scheme of trying to get something else from you to do it. You don t have to pay for more than what you want. At times, it can interface easier than some of the other stuff I think it leads to more efficient advancement of technology.
I like it, the problem is, youre limited on the open source by the people that are developing the open source. Until the people that are developing it move forward, you can t move any further than what they move. The benefit of close source is that they are able to, there is a monetary tie to it so they can do what they want with it and then charge for it. Open source tends to be free. There is very little in open source that is charged. There is a limiting factor there. Some people see it as a negative, some see it as a positive
Conclusions Applications are important farm management tools Ease of use is an important factor Privacy is a concern To buy or not to buy? Farmers are not familiar with open source Research needs to be replicated with additional audiences and regularly
