Emerging technologies (ETs) are being applied on farms to promote efficiency, productivity and automation. However, their low maturity, small-scale application and high investment costs impede further implementation in more farming areas. The total factor productivity (TFP) associated with China’s agricultural mechanization rate has grown exponentially, reaching 71.25% in 2023, largely due to applications of ETs on farms. Thus, grounded in a technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework, we develop an inductive, qualitative approach to explore factors affecting Chinese farms’ ET adoption. We conducted in-depth interviews with knowledgeable farmers who have applied ETs, followed by thematic analysis to identify factors. Our findings make novel theoretical and managerial contributions. First, we identify 14 factors facilitating adoption of ETs on farms, most of which have seldom been mentioned by previous scholars, such as the hierarchical cultural environment, wide deployment of digital platforms to disseminate information, increasing farm size and development of high-quality farmland. Second, the technological, organizational and environmental dimensions collectively determine successful adoption of ETs. The environmental dimension is responsible for providing resources (e.g., technology, policy and finance) to develop ETs, disseminating information and fostering competition between farms. The organizational dimension prepares farms to apply ETs, and the technological dimension is responsible for developing reliable and easy-to-use technologies. Based on the TOE decision framework, our findings have managerial implications for farmers, suggesting that increasing farm size (e.g., more than 200 acres of farmland) may facilitate ET deployment.