Report on factors affecting innovation, adoption and diffusion processes

Abstract

The European agriculture is subject to an ongoing process of technological progress and innovation and during the last 30 years the development of digital innovations in agriculture increased unlikely. Smart farming technologies (SFT), as a part of this digital evolution, are appraised to have an important effect on the development of a sustainable European agriculture and thus, their broad dissemination and adoption is considered as key for future competitiveness. In this context, the goal of this study was to identify socio-demographic, economic, political and societal factors that foster and/or hinder the innovation, adoption and diffusion processes of SFT. In total, we conducted 22 expert interviews in 9 countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia, Spain). The interviewees belong to three different actor groups (research, industry, practice) with a comprehensive expertise on influencing factors along the process chain of innovation development, adoption and dissemination in the European context. To extract and analyse the information from the interviews the qualitative content analysis (QCA) with a deductive categorisation and coding method was utilized. Influences of farm and farmers' characteristics were unevenly rated by the experts, a finding that confirms the results of the smart-AKIS farm survey (Kernecker et. al 2016). Beyond these, the experts identified multiple additional aspects affecting the speed and direction of innovation implementation and development. Major dynamics mentioned are relating to economic and political strategies varying noteworthy throughout Europe. Differences can be mainly perceived between North-Western and South-Eastern Europe also reflected by societal demands and interests. The role of the European Union and its political decisions are considered essential for the future development of sustainable agriculture as supported by SFT. Most experts' opinions correspond on the increasing importance of SFT and their likely adoption by more and more ...