The adoption of Precision Farming (PF) in Germany has been studied by several mail surveys, telephone interviews and personal interviews with farmers, advisors, teachers and representatives of the PF industry. The intention was to monitor how PF techniques have entered the German market over the years and geographic location. The farmers were interviewed about their experiences with PF technology and their attitudes and barriers towards it. Those farmers who had not yet used PF technologies were asked for the reason and on which condition they would probably start with PF. Although the number of PF users slightly increased between 2001 and 2006, the results of all the surveys indicate that there are still various barriers regarding PF. Those farmers who had already used some PF technologies struggled with many problems at the beginning, but after overcoming these problems, they were generally content with the introduction of PF technologies. However, the majority of the interviewed farmers hesitated to introduce PF techniques mainly because of the high costs of the technology. Most of the interviewed teachers at vocational and technical schools stated that PF was not yet a subject in courses. The interviews with the advisors show that most of them do not offer any advisory service in the field of PF. Finally, the results of the interviews with representatives of the agricultural engineering industry confirm the statements of the other surveys.
The adoption of precision farming (PF) was studied on the basis of personal interviews conducted at several agricultural exhibitions in Germany. Between 6.65% and 11% of the interviewed farmers used PF. The majority used data collection techniques such as GPS-based area measurement and soil sampling rather than variable rate application techniques such as site-specific sowing and fertilising. Roughly half the farmers interviewed knew about PF. About 7-10% of them intended to start using PF in the future. The results indicated that a large number of farmers did not even know what PF meant. In order to get more insight into this situation, several interviews were conducted with farmers already using PF techniques. A further study in 2005 of PF education in Germany indicated that, especially at vocational and technical schools, the subject was only covered to a small extent although the aim was to give a better coverage in future. At higher education levels, such as at universities and technical colleges, the teaching of PF was clearly better established. In order to promote awareness of PF among farmers, information and teaching materials adapted to the relevant educational levels were developed and tried out at training events. The main topics addressed were parallel tracking systems, site-specific nitrogen fertilising, yield mapping in grain production and the use of PDAs in crop farming. Finally, preliminary survey results are presented showing how knowledge about PF can best lead to its adoption and transfer into daily practice.
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