The Precision Farming Revolution by James E. Addicott

Author:James E. Addicott
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811396861
Publisher: Springer Singapore

This was increasingly the case with precision farming systems because many farmers, especially older farmers, lacked the technical and IT skills required for setting up systems, updating operating systems or repairing faults. In offering backup support, certain degrees of facework between farmers and experts were essential to cultivate trust and brand loyalty. Many of the farmers I interviewed seemed more likely to be persuaded to invest into particular brand if they could secure personal or face-to-face contact with company representatives. Farmers appreciated working with ‘people that you trust’ (James Tilley) or ‘get on with’ (Adam Hayeswood), ‘someone you like’ or someone who is ‘easy to get hold of’ (Charlotte Tilley), or ‘people who actually deal with that problem because you can phone them direct… I think you tend to form a relationship with a machinery manufacturer, and you appreciate their advice’, as Peter Willow told me (Sept. 2015). Greater levels of trust and confidence in, and therefore loyalty to, a particular brand was inspired by a familiar voice on the telephone or a pair of wellington boots on the ground. The farmers had developed a long-standing friendship with their agronomist who was often invited to the group’s meetings or attend games at Bath Rugby Club. In 2014, one of the Big-6 agrochemical firms invited the farming cooperative for a day of fly-fishing with sales representatives, agronomists and other company experts and competing firm took the farmers to the local pub for fish and chips following a crop trial led by the group’s agronomist. Face-to-face visits such as these secured trust and added value to company products, as long as experts’ farm visits were timely and not too bothersome.

Facework commitments inspired more confidence in farmers seeking to invest into precision farming systems . The agribusinesses more likely to win farmers’ trust were regional firms with concentrated local or regional range or transnational firms with wider global outreach. Most of the farmers had been using a reputable family firm based in England’s South West for soil mapping and soil zoning sciences. The company had built a good reputation with the farmers because ‘they come with a soil scientist [who…] get on their hands and knees, and basically improve the soil indices’ (Jack Wilmington: Jan. 2014). Farmers valued the levels of face-to-face commitment and groundwork the company offered over the years. From around the year 2000 onwards, the same local family firm began supplying several family farmers within the group with satellite scans, precision farming data, which was shared using an online software package. The consistent levels of facework commitments that the family firm offered helped to secure farmers’ trust in systems that involved less facework and more faceless commitments.

Distrust or lack of trust was also an issue in adoption or non-adoption of precision farming. Technical frustrations or a lack of evidence that precision farming was saving farmers’ money, encouraged a lack of trust in certain brands, led farmers to change suppliers or opt out of certain sub-systems of precision farming. At focus

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