Precision farming: characteristics of its adoption in the southwest region of Goiás – Brazil

ABSTRACT Brazilian Cerrado is a perfect region to develop precision agriculture. However, there is a lack of information about the state of the art of this new technique, already in use by some farmers in this region. Therefore, the aim of this study was to make an analysis of the adoption and use of this technology in the southwest region of the state of Goiás, with real information on the intensity and form of usage and limitations of its adoption. For this purpose, a questionnaire was given to the farmers who used some form of precision agriculture, analyzing the problems encountered with the technology, sources of information and the difficulties encountered by them. It was used a non-probabilistic sampling method. Data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis and the results presented as graphs. The technique of precision agriculture in the analyzed region is in initial adoption phase. The most used technologies are soil sampling grid and distribution of fertilizer in variable rate. The use of sensors and precision irrigation technologies are not being adopted yet. The main obstacles are lack of specialized employees and high costs of equipment.