Heloise-Marie Leloup from INRAE, France, is telling a story of Pierre, a farmer that faces a lot of challenges adopting new technologies. ”I entered the AgriLink project after having worked for several years with smallholder farmers, working on small plots and connected to basic technologies. Although I was aware of the digitalisation of agriculture, I had to catch up with all the information regarding new technologies in precision farming. While I was doing my readings and feeling each day more overwhelmed about how complex and connected agriculture can be, I read the interview of a particular farmer, let’s call him Pierre. He explained his journey through adopting precision farming and the difficulties he encountered through his several attempts to embark on new technology over the years. I had the impression that he was going through the same feeling of being overwhelmed as I did. Learning about his struggles, I discovered new layers of complexity: the compatibility between the software and the hardware; the cost of these tools; the precision of the machinery equipment that is hard to maintain and finally the diversity of actors and companies that offer the services of advice. Pierre had a long history with digital equipment. He first started in the 90s through a decision support tool for nitrogen inputs via satellites, and left the service because the results were not satisfying. More recently, he took part in an experiment for a drone advice service on fertilisation. It was a free trial and he thought “the only thing I have to invest is a bit of time, I’m not taking any risk in trying”. He was quite happy with the information he got from the drones and thought that this would help him having a more homogenous crop. But the trial wasn’t followed by a concrete implementation, and he never got additional information about subscribing to the service. A bit later, under the advice of the technician from his cooperative, he tried another service of information via satellites. He dropped the experience after a few months, because of a problem of compatibility between the software and his equipment. He is not equipped with the right console to perform the modulation. His machinery dealer assists him and explains that in order to activate the compatibility; he has to pay a service fee of 8,000 euros. In his interview, Pierre then said “I invested in a quality tractor, not to add 8000 euros to activate a function”. I empathised with Pierre and his feeling that sometimes adding new technologies can be consuming both in time and in money. Even if I wasn’t here in person doing the interview, by learning about his struggles I felt that I was experiencing myself the difficulties of adopting new technologies. I realised that there is still improvement to be made in order to support farmers adopting these technologies. A better organised offer of advice may be a key to reach this objective.”

This story is part of the AgriLink project results’ dissemination plan. https://www.agrilink2020.eu

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