Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Precision agriculture technologies can help reduce nitrogen losses and the associated negative environmental impacts. As the adoption rate of such technologies in small-scale farming systems is still low, additional policy measures are required to support their broader application. We provide an ex-ante assessment of policy measures (payments for reduced nitrogen, subsidy for the technology or area subsidies) to incentivize the adoption of sensing technologies for site-specific nitrogen fertilization with a specific focus on farmers' behavioural characteristics such as reluctance to change and their individual perception of the policy measures. We combine a bio-economic optimization model with data from a choice experiment, survey, and census data in an agent-based modelling framework. We simulate the impact of the policy measures on farmers' adoption decisions in Swiss wheat production. Simulations suggest that for the same level of nitrogen reduction a results-based payment (paying farmers for reduced nitrogen) is 1.5 times more cost-efficient than area-based subsidies and subsidies for technology use. Our results also suggest that considering how farmers perceive costs and benefits decreases the potential to reduce nitrogen input by ∼20%. We conclude that disregarding behavioural factors such as the perception of the instrument may result in a significant overestimation of the policy effect.