Chemical herbicides have been widely used in agriculture since the middle of the 20th century since they limit the competition of resources between crops and weeds. Herbicides are known to cause environmental degradation and to risk organisms and human health. Herbicides are chemical compounds that target weeds in different ways due to their chemical structures and concentrations. There is a growing concern with the usage of herbicides and the opposition to herbicides is growing due to the many risks the substances. There is an increased demand for sustainable options to chemical herbicides. Mechanical weeding has been used traditionally for weed management but has been forgotten due to the high efficiency of chemical herbicides. Precision agricultural technologies (PATs) can limit weeds mechanically. In this thesis PATs refer to robots equipped with AI, sensors, and other autonomous functionalities. This thesis studies how farmers perceive PATs and their ability to limit herbicides. The focus is on which factors need to be considered for farmers to adopt PATs for weed limitation, as well as what outcomes farmers expect from weeding tools. This research is a qualitative study conducted with semi-structured interviews with farmers. The most prominent themes were the business of agriculture, weed management, environmental perspectives, and perception of tools. These themes were used to find the farmers’ perceptions of PATs, and what outcomes a tool is expected to deliver. The theory of mediated activity (MAT) is used to analyse what the farmers want from their tools and how they perceive the PATs. Diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) is used to analyse the adaptability and willingness to adopt innovation, such as PATs. The key factors affecting adaptability are profit, efficiency, flexibility, and environmentally sustainable outcomes. These factors affect the farmers the most when adopting new tools and these are what the farmers are looking for in tools. To increase farmers' adoption of novel innovations they need to be presented with proof that the tools will bring the key factors. If PATs can offer the farmers the key factors the PATs can help to limit herbicide usage and therefore become a tool of sustainable transition.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-531143 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Nordell, Ossian |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Examensarbete vid Institutionen för geovetenskaper, ISSN 1650-6553, ISSN 1650-6553 ; 2024/26 |
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