This articles aim was to investigate why smart farming technologies (SFT) had such a slow adoption in Ireland. SFT is an extension to precision farming. There was particular emphasis on cloud computing (CC) which is more management technology that is saved on a cloud and easily shared if needed. The reason for this study was because of the rising food demand which can be aided by technology use as it can help increase yields, efficiency and production. The solution to this problem was more education, financial support and awareness about these technologies as many older farmers would not have the IT skills.
A survey and interviews were conducted during this research. They showed that more than half of the farmers questioned used technology already on there farm and many were willing to adopt it. Over ¾ of the participants used smart phones on the farm and many farmers agreed that more SFT were needed in different areas of farming. The study showed that most farmers preferred in face group meetings but the farmers who had technology had more communication with others in the same community.
From this survey it was evident that the main barriers contributing to the poor adoption to SFT was age, costs, knowledge, infrastructure and farm size. The farmers were asked to give suggestions on what would enhance them to use more technologies on their farms, some ideas were more discussion groups, to perfect utilization of media to inform farmers, to educate the younger generation on the importance of technology use, a cost reduction and grants which will aid them to adopt.
The adoption of SFT in Ireland is very low compared to many other countries with a major reason being that Irelands average farmers age is 56 years old. If the use of technology became more popular it would aid increase the production, efficiency and yields of each farm. There are many SFT apps on the market at current but there is a need for more agro-tech companies in varies areas which can visit farms, outline the benefits of the technology and even a free trail which would be a big encouragement for investment in these systems.
Notes: Katie Noonan, MSc Agri-food Sustainability & Technology student, K.noonan3@nuigalway.ie
Source: (V., Sharma et al. 2019).