Conceptualization of How Adopting Novel Technology Induces Structural and Behavioral Changes on Farms

Predicting the effects of technology adoption, particularly smart farming, is challenging as farmers often alter their behavior and farms once using a new technology. We derive incentives for structural and behavioral change triggered by technology adoption by considering features of smart farming technology and economic theory. As a result, we contribute a conceptual framework describing processes of change linked to technology features. Specifically, we focus on rebound effects, economies of size and scope, and risk balancing. To provide examples of how our framework applies, we conduct a literature review of previous research studying farm-level effects of smart farming.