A comparison of precision agriculture technologies adoption in 2005 and 2018 in Florida

The concept of precision agriculture (PA) is becoming an interesting idea for managing natural resources and realizing modern sustainable agricultural development. The general objective of this study is to better understanding of the current use of PA practices in Florida, USA. Specific objectives were to identify PA trends, information source preferences and the constraints to wider use of PA technology. Online and in-person survey results were collected and analyzed to provide an overview of the adoption for specific PA technologies in Florida and compared grower-reported challenges of adoption and attitudes to those found in 2005. In 2018, the plant tissue sampling was the highest PA technic that grower used (81.6%) while in 2005, the highest rate was for using GPS receivers and Soil variability mapping (16.1%). In the meantime, growers had plan to use remote sensing as well as sensor based variable rate applicator (77.3 and 77.7%) in 2005 whilst the more demanding technic for grower in 2018 was yield mapping (27.27%). And the main reason for not adapting PA technology was vary based on the technics individually for both years. However, the most common response for not using PA in general referred to the producer satisfaction with their current production practices, for all of the investigated technologies in 2005 and 2018. The second most common reason for not adapting PA technology was lack of information in 2005 while it was lack of capital in 2018. Respondents were also questioned on their “adoption attitude”. In 2018, 37.29 % described themselves as the first one who like to try new technology and method while in 2005, 16.1% showed their interest to work with new method and technology. In both years, the best description of starting new technology was “normally wait to see other's success with new technologies and production methods” which were categorized at “coat-tailors”.