Factors that determine the criteria farmers use when making decisions about precision farming technology

In the new millennium, rapid technological developments will increase pressure on farmers to make production decisions that will maintain the economic viability of the farm enterprise while simultaneously protecting natural resources. Increasing public awareness of farm pollution and emerging public policies designed to prevent degradation of soil and water resources require that policy makers understand why farmers are motivated to adopt specific types of farm production systems. To achieve this goal, information is needed to identify factors that motivate land owner-operators to use business ‘decision criteria’ when making farm level decisions. An understanding of why farmers make business-oriented production decisions would be beneficial for policy makers and theoretical modeling in research.; Data to address these issues were collected in the Autumn of 1998 and Winter of 1999. A total of 1,011 farm operators in three Midwestern watersheds in Minnesota, Iowa and Ohio were asked to complete a structured questionnaire designed to solicit information about the criteria they used in making farm level production decisions. Data were collected in the three watersheds using identical measurement devices. The sample watersheds were located in the east-central Iowa, in southeast Minnesota, and in central Ohio. Respondents were requested to indicate the importance of six decision factors in the adoption of precision farming technology identified from literature. The descriptive findings revealed that the ‘decision criteria’ decisions about precision farming technology. Elements of farm structure and diffusion theories were used to identify relevant predictors of farmers ‘decision criteria’. Regression modeling was used to build the best predictive models in the three study watersheds. Findings indicated that selected farm structure variables and conservation information were useful in predicting farmers' use of the ‘decision criteria’. The findings are discussed in the context of future conservation policy initiatives within the study watersheds.