Determinants of Farmers’ Adoption and Expansion of Automated Greenhouses in Korea

The present study investigated the factors that affect farmers’ adoption of automated greenhouses in Korea. In particular, we examined various effects of such factors on whether to adopt automated greenhouses and, if so, to what extent. To this end, a double-hurdle model was applied to the pooled data of the Korean Census of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries for the years 2010 and 2015. The empirical results show that farmers are more likely to adopt and expand automated greenhouses when they are capable of using IT devices for farming and have related social networks. Farmers’ age and education were also crucial in the adoption of automated greenhouses. Farmers who cultivate the crops supported by the smart greenhouse dissemination policy have a high likelihood to adopt automated greenhouses and augment the adopted areas. Taken together, our results imply that targeting young and educated farmers, providing IT training, and enhancing farmers’ networks regarding agricultural technologies would greatly contribute to the rapid dissemination of automated greenhouses.