Mobile devices in agriculture: attracting new audiences or serving the tech-savvy?

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThe latest wave of ICT-innovations are based around mobility (smart phones, tablets, wireless networks etc.). Mobility can be a decisive success factor of ICT-adoption, because of the spatial, local and remote nature of farming. New generation mobile devices can also have a lower barrier to entry in terms of skills and cost for the user/farmer. The question is whether these new devices, especially smart phones and tablets are adopted by the farmers who are already using computers and Internet or they are attracting new audiences as well? The author's research in Hungary on the supply and demand side of the phenomenon shows that the "agri-app-economy" is still in its infancy, and both the supply and demand side are reflecting the current state and the earlier development of ICT-usage in agriculture. At the moment, new generation of mobile devices are not acting as a tool to overcome earlier and existing barriers of adoption, rather as an indicator of the general level of ICT-use in agriculture. Mobile devices are mainly used by "tech-savvy" farmers, as a general purpose technology -partly because of the lack of relevant applications in agriculture.

Smartphone Applications Targeting Precision Agriculture Practices—A Systematic Review

“…The use of ICT can play a key role in agriculture [10] as they allow to improve the production chains, the management and marketing of the production, as well as the management of land and its natural resources [1]. The role of ICT in agriculture can be summarized as follows [11]: "[...] it may be safely stated that modern large scale farming technology [...] controlled by state of the art information and communication technology has the potential for substantial reductions of the production costs for agricultural commodities.…”

Developing a Web-based Agro-Application

“…These applications help Mr. Shinpuku in crop surveillance and detecting crop problems like infection. Research by Csótó (2015) showed that 45% of farmers in Hungary use a smartphone, 14% use tablets, and 72% use a desktop or laptop computer for agricultural purposes, just like Mr. Shinpuku. A survey conducted in the United States, reported by Nelson (2019), showed that 49% of farms use computers and around 80% have internet access.…”