Abstract Agricultural innovations can emerge from multi-actor cooperation and so actors, their roles, and their activities will likely influence the character of novel farming practices. Recent studies suggest that such cooperation might be particularly relevant for the digitalization of farming, reflected in the transition from mechanical to data-based agricultural tools and practices, collectively referred to as smart farming technologies (SFT). Here, we aim to understand which actors are involved, the roles they have, and how they contribute to the innovation processes leading to SFT use in farm management. To do so, we selected 6 SFT innovations from different European regions. Timeline and constellation analyses were used to study the actors and their contribution to different phases of the innovation processes. We observed 13 different categories of actors that had three different types of actor roles: developer, supporter, and end-user. We found the highest number of both actor diversity and number of roles during the initiation phase, with a subsequent decrease over the next two phases. Farmers were the only actors who took on all 3 roles, and most actors were supporters. Farmer and IT-experts made up the most common constellation for agricultural apps. Constellations made up of farmers, advisors, and agri-tech actors were the most common in innovative practices dependent on GPS. The divide in the technological complexity and the degree of required learning and change for farmers in SFT innovation processes was reflected by the two innovation categories we studied, namely agricultural apps and in-field practices dependent on GPS. These could therefore constitute a defining difference in how to determine actor constellations in SFT innovation processes.

中文翻译：

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探索参与者、他们的星座以及在数字农业创新中的作用

摘要 农业创新可以从多方合作中产生，因此参与者、他们的角色和他们的活动可能会影响新型农业实践的特征。最近的研究表明，这种合作可能与农业数字化特别相关，这体现在从机械到基于数据的农业工具和实践的转变，统称为智能农业技术 (SFT)。在这里，我们旨在了解涉及哪些参与者、他们所扮演的角色，以及他们如何为导致 SFT 在农场管理中使用的创新过程做出贡献。为此，我们选择了来自欧洲不同地区的 6 项 SFT 创新。时间线和星座分析用于研究参与者及其对创新过程不同阶段的贡献。我们观察了 13 种不同类型的参与者，它们具有三种不同类型的参与者角色：开发人员、支持者和最终用户。我们发现在初始阶段，演员多样性和角色数量最多，随后在接下来的两个阶段有所减少。农民是唯一扮演所有三个角色的演员，大多数演员都是支持者。农民和 IT 专家构成了最常见的农业应用程序群。由农民、顾问和农业技术参与者组成的星座在依赖 GPS 的创新实践中最为常见。我们研究的两个创新类别反映了技术复杂性以及农民在 SFT 创新过程中需要学习和改变的程度的差异，即农业应用程序和依赖 GPS 的田间实践。