Almost priceless: how internet access impacts U.S. farmer leaders’ precision agriculture technology perceptions

Despite a recent narrowing of the digital divide, there remains a lag in adopting Precision Agriculture Technology (PAT). Based on structuration theory and diffusion of innovations theory, the present study uses semi-structured interviews with forty board members from two U.S. national agricultural boards to determine how internet access impacts farming leaders’ knowledge and perceptions of farming PAT innovations. Farming leaders’ responses suggest a lack of competition among internet service providers within areas, a reliance on cellular data to complete farming operations, limits to available internet infrastructure, and low perceived technology knowledge. Farming leaders, especially those with high perceived knowledge, noted using various farming technologies that assisted with business operations, entertainment, and social communications. Overall, many participants were willing to adopt more farming technology if they had better internet services and more technological knowledge. Farming PAT diffusion is limited by a lack of access to resources, such as knowledge, workforce, and infrastructure, even among those who tend to be more resource-rich, like farming leaders. These findings highlight how a lack of resources limits a farmer’s ability to express agency over the technology they adopt and, by extension, their business operations. These findings have implications for policymakers and stakeholders.