Does hands-on trial experience weaken the negative association between yield-security FoMO and digital nutrient-management technology adoption? Evidence from China

Excessive fertilizer use remains a major challenge for environmentally sustainable agricultural development in China, particularly in smallholder-based perennial production systems characterized by delayed feedback and production uncertainty. Although portable digital nutrient decision-support technologies may help improve fertilizer-use efficiency, their adoption among farmers remains uneven. Drawing on survey data from 675 kiwifruit farmers in Shaanxi Province, this study applies a multivariate probit model to examine the associations of cognitive evaluations, yield-security fear of missing out (FoMO), and hands-on trial experience with farmers’ adoption of soil testers, chlorophyll meters, and agro-advisory mobile applications. The results show that perceived ease of use and perceived relative advantage are positively associated with adoption, whereas yield-security FoMO is negatively associated with all three adoption outcomes in the baseline models. However, when the item most directly related to individual production-risk concerns is excluded, the negative association remains significant for soil testers and chlorophyll meters but becomes insignificant for agro-advisory mobile applications. Hands-on trial experience was positively associated with the adoption of soil testers and chlorophyll meters, but its association with agro-advisory mobile application adoption was not statistically significant. It was also associated with a weaker negative FoMO–adoption relationship for soil testers and chlorophyll meters, but no statistically significant moderating relationship was observed for agro-advisory mobile applications. These findings highlight the potentially important, but technology-specific, role of structured experiential learning in addressing behavioral barriers and supporting digital nutrient-management transitions in perennial smallholder agriculture.