Precision Farming Adoption by Florida Citrus Producers文档格式.docx

Precision Farming Adoption by Florida Citrus Producers文档格式.docx

《Precision Farming Adoption by Florida Citrus Producers文档格式.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Precision Farming Adoption by Florida Citrus Producers文档格式.docx（10页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

Thereisalargepotentialfortheadoptionofprecisiontechnologiesincitrusproduction.Floridacitrusproductionhasexperiencedarathervolatiletrendincostofproductionperunitarea.ThepremisebehindSSCMtechnologieswouldlenditselfperfectlytotheproductionscenarioincitrus.Ifgrowerswereabletomanagetheirinputapplicationsonasite-specificbasis,thenthecostofproductioncouldbemaintainedatan"

acceptable"

level.Severalstudieshaveshownthattheadoptionofprecisionagriculturetechnologiesandpracticeswouldbebiasedtowardscropsorcommoditiesthatareinput-intensive（Daberkow,1997）;

citrusmaybealikelycandidateaswell.

Objectives

ThereareseveralitemsthatneedtobeidentifiedbeforeadditionalresearchregardingprecisionagricultureincitrusproductioncanproceedbasedonthecurrentstatusofprecisionagricultureadoptioninFloridacitrus.Thisstudywillidentifythecurrenttrendofadoptionforcitrusproducersinthetop10countiesinFloridaandwillinvestigatethecurrentattitudesofadoptersversusnon-adopterstowardstechnologyingeneral.Wealsowanttodeterminewhatthedecisioncriteriaarefortechnologyadoptionandwhich,ifany,arebeingused.

Theenumeratedgoalsforthisresearchareasfollow:

1.Determinewhatthebarriersforentry/adoptionofprecisionfarmingare.

2.Quantifytheadoptionratebasedonresponsestoasurveyquestionnaire.

3.Identifythedemographiccharacteristicsthatmaydescribeadoptersandnon-adopters.

4.Determineiftheadoptionofprecisionagriculturetechnologiesisbasedon"

some"

demographicfactor.

Inaddition,wewanttoascertainiftechnologyadoptionwillfollowsimilartrendstothoseseenin"

traditional"

commodities,andifwecancategorizeadoptersandnon-adoptersintogroups,suchas:

∙Early-adopters.

∙Coat-tailors.

∙Slow-to-adopt.

∙Doitbecauseitisthere.

∙Non-adopters.

Inidentifyingasample,weselectedthetop10citrus-producingcountiesinthestatebasedontheareaincitrusproduction.ThesecountiesandtheirrespectivepercentageoftotalcitrusproductionareainthestateareitemizedinTable1.Althoughthe11ththrough13thrankedcountiesareprovidedinTable1,theywerenotsampledbecausethetop10countiesrepresentedmorethan80%oftheproductionareainthestate,whichwassufficientforsamplingpurposes.

Therewere2,391growersidentifiedinthis10-countysamplingregion.Ofthatgroup,1,232wererandomlyselectedtoreceivethequestionnaire.Thequestionnaireinvestigatedthefollowingtechnologiesandtheircurrentuseorplanneduse（thefollowingreferencestocompaniesandtheirproductsarenotanendorsementbytheauthorsortheUniversityofFlorida）:

∙Sensor-basedvariablerateapplicators（e.g.,"

TreeSee"

）.

∙Prescriptionmap-basedvariablerateapplicators（e.g.,"

Legacy6000"

∙Pestscoutingandmapping（e.g.,"

EntoNet"

∙Weedscoutingandmapping.

∙Remotesensing（e.g.,aerialorsatelliteimagery）.

∙GPSreceiver（e.g.,boundarymapping）.

∙Soilvariabilitymapping.

∙Watertablemonitoring（e.g.,automatedirrigationscheduling）.

∙Harvestinglogistics（e.g.,mappingbrix,acid,andsugarlevelstodeterminepeakharvesttime）.

∙Yieldmonitoring（e.g.,GOATyieldmonitoringsystem）.

Table1.Top14citrusproducingcountiesinFlorida（FloridaAgriculturalStatisticsService,2002）.

AllCitrus

Rank

County

ProductionArea（acres）

%ofTotal

1

Polk

100,202

12.57

2

Hendry

94,139

11.81

3

St.Lucie

92,490

11.60

4

Highlands

77,391

9.71

5

Desoto

70,365

8.83

6

IndianRiver

56,012

7.03

7

Hardee

54,961

6.89

8

Martin

42,208

5.29

9

Collier

33,567

4.21

%Acresby:

10

Hillsborough

23,734

2.98

80.91

Top10Counties

11

Manatee

21,922

2.75

83.66

Top11Counties

12

Charlotte

20,493

2.57

86.23

Top12Counties

13

Lake

18,835

2.36

88.59

Top13Counties

14

AllOthers

90,894

11.41

Total（acres）

797,303

100.00

Asecondmatrixwasusedtodeterminethecauseofnegativeresponsestoadoption.Respondentswereaskedtoplaceacheckmarkinthefieldstoidentifytheirattitudestowardeachoftherespectivetechnologies.Theselectionsprovidedtotherespondentsfor"

NOTAdopting"

or"

NOPLANTOAdopt"

were:

∙Notenoughinformation.

∙Notprofitable.

∙Lackofcapital.

∙Process/equipmentnotreliable.

∙Process/equipmenttoocomplexforlaborers.

∙Satisfiedwithcurrentpractices.

∙Other（pleasespecify）.

Additionalinformationwascollectedforthepurposeofestablishingdemographicprofilesforadoptersversusnon-adopters.Inaddition,thesequestionswillprovideinformationpertainingtofutureresearchonthecostofproductionestimatesforthesegrowersinconnectionwiththeprofilethatisbuilt.Thesequestionsincluded:

∙Growerdemographicinformation（age,highesteducationlevelachieved,andgrovemanagementexperience）.

∙Personalwillingnesstoadopttechnology.

∙Theirabilitytoidentifythecurrentlevelofin-grovevariability.

SurveyResultsandDiscussion

Todate,304questionnaires（24.7%oftotalmailed）havebeenreceived,with211ofthosereturnedcompleted.Thecompletedresponsesaccountedfor17.1%ofthetotalmailed.Themodifiedresponserateaccountingfortheexclusionswascalculatedtobe18.5%,whichwasconsideredtobeasufficientpercentageofcompletedquestionnairesforanalysis.

Aresponsematrixwasusedinthequestionnairestoidentifywhichtechnologieswerecurrentlybeingused,aswellasplannedfutureusage.Currently,themostcommonlyusedprecisionagriculturetechnologiesarethesensor-basedvariable

WorldMarketsforOrganicFreshCitrusandJuice1

JamesJ.Ferguson2

Internationalmarketsfororganicfoodshaveincreasedfrom$16billionin2000to$20billionin2001,withtheInternationalTradeCenter,FoodandAgriculturalOrganization（FAO）oftheUNforecasting$23to25billionin2003and$30billioninretailsalesby2005.Thisrapidexpansion,combinedwithpricepremiumsfororganicproduce,hasattractedfarmersfacedwithdecliningpricesforconventionallygrownproduce.However,withorganicsalesnowlessthan2%oftheoverallfoodmarketandestimatedgrowthceilingsof3.5to5%indevelopedcountriesby2010,economicandmarketinformationisneededtoguidegrowerdecisionsaboutpossiblyconvertingtoorganicproduction.

Giventhelackofofficialforeigntradedataonorganicsales,PascalLiu,CommoditiesSpecialist,TheFoodandAgricultureOrganization,hasinterviewedtradeandindustryfiguresandreviewedavailablesourcestodevelopaperspectiveonthecurrentmarketsituationandmedium-termprospectsforfreshorganiccitrusandjuices.InformationpresentedhereisbasedonhisMay,2003paperonWorldmarketsforOrganicCitrusandCitrusJuices,availableathttp:

//www.fao.org/es/ESC/common/ecg/28303_en_CitrusorganicEN.pdf.ThisfactsheetsummarizestheaboveFAOpublicationasageneralaidtoFloridaorganiccitrusgrowersandothersinassessingtheirexportpotentialforinternationalmarkets.

FreshOrganicCitrusMarkets

Worldproductionoforganiccitrusinapproximately30countrieswasabout600,000metrictons（661,200UStonsor14,693,33390-lbboxes）in2001,0.6%oftotalcitrusproduction.TheEuropeanUnion（EU）marketforbothcertifiedorganicfruitandvegetableswasestimatedat$1.7billionin2002,withfreshorganiccitrusrepresenting5-7%ofallfreshfruitandvegetablesalesand37%ofallorganicfruitsold.However,consumptionoffreshorganiccitrusintheEUisstillrelativelylowcomparedwithoverallfreshfruituse.Majorconstraintsonadditionalmarketshareincludepoorfruitqualityandpackaging,shortshelflife,andinefficienciesinthemarketingchain.

MajorexportersoforganicfreshcitrustotheEUincludeItaly,Spain,Argentina,theU.S.,andGreece.Brazil,Israel,CostaRica,theU.S.,Italy,Mexico,andCubaaremajorexportersoforganiccitrusjuice（Table1）.