Farmers’ Willingness to Adopt Smart Agriculture Practices: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment on the Visualization System in China

This study examines Chinese farmers’ stated preferences and the compensation they would be willing to accept (willingness to accept; WTA) in return after adopting the Visualization System (VS), a promising method of smart agricultural technology. Using discrete choice experiments and a mixed logit model, we investigate farmers’ preferences under uncertain price premiums. Specifically, premium is defined as the additional price increment associated with VS adoption, reflecting the potential market reward for improved transparency, traceability, and other benefits. Uncertainty is measured by different fluctuation levels of this premium. We also assess the impacts of farmers’ individual characteristics on their WTA. Results (n = 348) show that farmers prefer higher premiums and lower fluctuations. Better VS knowledge reduces farmers’ WTA by 0.439 CNY/kg, and younger farmers tend to be more tolerant of fluctuations. Among younger farmers, those without off-farm income are more sensitive to fluctuations than those with off-farm income. Importantly, enhancing farmers’ VS knowledge leads to a 50.3% decrease in the implied price relative to the reference price, suggesting it may be more effective than mitigating fluctuations or targeting younger farmers. Overall, our findings highlight the potential of smart agriculture in China and suggest that enhancing farmers’ awareness and understanding of the VS is key to accelerating adoption.