How do small farms usually decide which new equipment to buy?

From my experience researching this segment, word of mouth and peer observation (seeing a neighbor use it) dominate the decision process — often 60-70% of the influence in studies I've seen. Online research is growing but still secondary, especially for farms under 50 acres. I'd recommend doing in-person ethnographic interviews or accompany-along studies rather than surveys — farmers tend to underreport how much neighbor influence actually drives their decisions.