An Overview of Farmers' Interests Regarding Smart Farming Technologies throughout Europe.

Agriculture and rural regions in Europe face a number of economic (e.g. farm income), social (e.g. abandonment), and environmental (e.g. soil degradation, biodiversity loss) challenges. Smart farming technologies (SFT) are one of many options that may support farmers in overcoming these challenges. SFT include farm information management systems, precision agriculture, and agriculture automation and robotics. Given the development of SFT, it is particularly interesting to explore how they play a role - or not - in supporting farmers’ and their farms. Therefore, the goal of this study is to understand farmers’ interests regarding farming and SFT throughout the EU. Within the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 project Smart-AKIS, we will conduct surveys with farmers in France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Serbia, the Netherlands, and the UK. Farmers will be selected according to their cropping system (arable crops, open field vegetables, tree fruits, and vineyards) and farm size class (<2, 2-10, 11-50, 51-100, 101-500, >500 ha), for a total of approximately 180 farmers. Surveys will be conducted from August to October, and will gather information related to farm characteristics, perceptions of SFT, and farmers’ experiences and values. Based on existing literature, we expect farmers’ region, cropping system, farm size, information sources, and life-stage to inform their values and interests related to agriculture and SFT. Likert-scale data will provide insight to subjective perceptions of SFT and how they may help overcome challenges in agriculture. Ordination and cluster analyses will highlight patterns amongst European farmers and show how different factors shape patterns of interests regarding farming and SFTs. Based on our results, we will discuss the contexts in which certain SFT could be relevant for farms and farmers.