Technologies towards climate-neutral farming: Drivers of adoption and intentions across four European regions

Technological innovations are central to reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. This paper investigates both the current uptake and intended future use of climate-mitigating technologies among farms in four European NUTS-1 regions: Wallonia (Belgium), Switzerland, Grand Est (France), and Ireland. Using survey data from 195 farms across diverse production systems, including arable-livestock and grass-based farming systems, we estimate Generalized Poisson (GP) regression models to assess technology uptake intensity. We also apply Multivariate Probit (MVP) models to identify technology-specific determinants and capture interdependencies among technology choices. The results suggest that structural characteristics such as land area, livestock units, and farmer age have limited practical relevance in explaining technology uptake. Instead, the strongest and most consistent associations are observed for behavioural traits, peer networks, and advisory exposure. Current uptake is primarily associated with technological knowledge, peer exposure, and productivity orientation. In contrast, intended future use is more closely associated with labour availability, business-oriented advice, formal training, and peer norms. The MVP results further indicate that current uptake is only partially coordinated, with patterns consistent with complementarity concentrated among specific technologies. Intended future use, by contrast, exhibits broader patterns of complementarity, suggesting that farmers more frequently envisage technologies as part of coordinated technology portfolios. Overall, these findings highlight the potential relevance of peer exposure, advisory and training systems, labour availability, and policy approaches supporting complementary technology portfolios for facilitating the transition towards climate-neutral farming systems.