Digital Agriculture (DA) can be defined as the use of new technologies, combining multiple data sources and advanced analytical methods integrating systems that allows farmers and stakeholders of the agricultural value chain to improve food production system. 

DA includes the use of sensors, drones, satellite imagery, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), precision agriculture, and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize farming operations, increase yields, improve resource management and enable data-driven decision-making. DA offers numerous benefits that can revolutionize farming practices and enhance the agricultural sector (Puntel et al., 2023, Balboa et al., 2023). 

The Digital Farming Lab, led by Dr. Guillermo Balboa, conducted a statewide survey to assess the status of DA in Nebraska. This is the first of a 10-article CropWatch series that will highlight the findings of this survey. Paper and digital surveys were distributed among 2,500 farmers in Nebraska. To ensure statewide representation, farmers’ samples were drawn from counties in proportion to the number of farms in each county. The response rate was 13%.

The 10 facts about DA flyer (Figure 1) shows that five out of 10 farmers do not have a clear definition of DA, and 20% never hear about it. This poses a challenge to increasing our research and extension efforts to continue building Nebraska Digital Agriculture. The top 10 words used to define DA (Figure 2) were computer (48), GPS (37), precision (23), technology (21), variable rate (21), data (20), phone (16), expensive (13), internet (13), auto steer (12). The top five DA technologies adopted in Nebraska are: phone applications, GPS, soil grid sampling, autosteer and yield maps. In contrast, the five DA technologies with less adoption are: robotics, LoRa Network, blockchain, virtual fencing and automatic feeding. 

Only 28% of Nebraska farmers who used DA technologies measured their benefits. Reduction of inputs and increase in profits were the top two benefits identified by Nebraska farmers. An increase in production quality and better commodity input prices were the categories with fewer responses. The top three barriers for adoption are lack of information about DA value, lack of qualified labor to manage DA and lack of time. Technology cost was positioned number six in the list.

In the next digital agriculture CropWatch article series, we will be sharing more results of this survey to characterize the status of digital agriculture in Nebraska. 

This research was conducted with the support of the Precision Nitrogen Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG – USDA NR203A750013G014). The survey was run in cooperation with the UNL Bureau of Sociological Research. 

References 

Balboa, G. R., Puntel, L. A., & Thompson, L. (2023) On-Farm Research Network Ecosystem Increased Awareness and Use of Digital Agriculture in Nebraska [Abstract]. ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO. https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2023am/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/150933 

Puntel, L. A., Bolfe, É. L., Melchiori, R. J. M., Ortega, R., Tiscornia, G., Roel, A., Scaramuzza, F., Best, S., Berger, A. G., Hansel, D. S. S., Palacios Durán, D., & Balboa, G. R. (2022). How digital is agriculture in a subset of countries from South America? Adoption and limitations. Crop and Pasture Science, 74, 555–572. https://doi.org/10.1071/CP21759