On-farm research network ecosystem increased awareness and use of digital agriculture

Digital agriculture (DA) can help meet the 2030 United Nation Sustainable Development Goals. In this study, a survey was deployed to characterize farmers? knowledge, adoption of DA technologies, barriers to their adoption, and perceived value of DA in the state of Nebraska (Nebraska Farmers) and among the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network (NOFRN) annual meeting attendees (NOFRN). The results were contrasted to understand the impact of NOFRN on DA understanding and adoption. The questions included the definition of DA, technologies adopted, barriers to adoption, and perceived value of DA. The results show that NOFRN attendees have a better understanding of what DA is (more unique words and words to define DA), and a larger proportion identifies and measures DA benefits. Of the 34 DA technology options, NOFRN attendees used 6% more technologies than Nebraska farmers. The NOFRN was shown to be an effective program to increase awareness and adoption of DA technologies for more sustainable farming systems.