Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to play an important role in the future of farming. Because UAVs can provide precise, real-time information on biotic and abiotic stressors in agricultural production while they can also carry out autonomous operations to counter them, they can enhance farm profitability while reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture. Yet little is known about the current adoption of UAVs in agriculture or about the profile of the adopters. In this study we report actual and expected adoption of UAVs for a rich cross section of crop farmers and examine the factors that shape such adoption. In our empirical analysis we describe the inherent farmer heterogeneity – as shaped by differential awareness of UAV applications, perceptions of technical complexities, expectations of economic and environmental benefits and various socioeconomic factors – and analyze which of all these factors shape individual farmer adoption of UAVs. We also estimate and describe a small number of farmer segments that might adequately describe general population tendencies in the adoption of UAVs.

中文翻译：

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农民对无人机的认识，看法和采用：密苏里州的证据

无人机有望在未来的农业发展中发挥重要作用。由于无人机可以提供有关农业生产中生物和非生物胁迫源的精确，实时信息，同时还可以进行自主操作来应对，因此它们可以提高农场的盈利能力，同时减少农业的环境足迹。对于目前无人机在农业中的采用情况或采用者的概况，人们知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们报告了UAV在大量农作物中的实际和预期采用情况，并研究了影响这种采用的因素。在我们的经验分析中，我们描述了农民固有的异质性-由对无人机应用的不同认识，对技术复杂性的认识，对经济和环境效益以及各种社会经济因素的期望–并分析所有这些因素中的哪一个会影响农民对无人机的采用。我们还估计并描述了少数农民群体，这些群体可能足以描述采用无人机的总体人口趋势。