FARMIND InnoFarm: Replication Package for the Application of the Agent-Based "Farm Interaction and Decision Model" in the context of the adoption of precision agriculture technologies

Abstract

The research project InnoFarm evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of policy programs supporting the adoption of precision agriculture technologies in Swiss agriculture. To do so, we applied the agent-based modelling framework FARMIND (FARM INteraction and Decision Model). This framework was developed by the Agricultural Economics and Policy Group at ETH Zurich (www.aecp.ethz.ch) to simulate farm level decision-making in the context of sustainable farming practices. More specifically, we provide an ex-ante assessment of policy measures (payments for reduced nitrogen, subsidy for the technology or area subsidies) to incentivize the adoption of sensing technologies for site-specific nitrogen fertilization with a specific focus on farmers’ behavioural characteristics such as reluctance to change and their individual perception of the policy measures. The here provided package allows for the replication of all the results in the article “A behavioural agent-based modelling approach for the ex-ante assessment of policies supporting precision agriculture”.