Exploring Barriers and Needs in the Adoption of Digital Farming Technologies: Insights from Italian Stakeholders in the Food Supply Chain

Digital agriculture technologies represent a solution for improving productivity levels and environmental sustainability by collecting, integrating and analysing data with great potential from different sources. The potential disruptive impact of digital agriculture makes it particularly important to understand the mechanisms of adoption and diffusion of digital farming technologies. Indeed, the existing literature clearly shows that multiple factors involved in the decision-making process are responsible for farmers' technology adoption rate. However, their knowledge is still incomplete. Individual, technological, social, and economic factors influencing technology adoption at both farm and system levels can depict the overall decision-making process. The approach of this paper is to explore farmers' adoption process from the Italian stakeholders' perceptions of needs and demands for digital technologies. The main objective is to analyze the barriers to adoption and drivers to the diffusion of system innovations by using a combined qualitative research method with focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Results from content analysis point out that a crucial precondition for embracing digital transformation is the interaction between different stakeholders, promoting cooperation as a key strategy. Collaborative efforts through technical support and training activities have the potential to moderate business risks, foster individual competitiveness and strengthen overall investment capacity in the agricultural sector.