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Duration Analysis, which allows the timing of an event to be explored in a dynamic framework, is used to model the adoption of organic horticultural technology in the UK. The influence of a range of economic and non-economic determinants is explored using discrete time models. The empirical results highlight the importance of gender, attitudes to the environment and information networks, as well as systematic effects that influence the adoption decision over the lifetime of the producer and over the survey period.

The determinants of the decision to adopt organic production techniques are examined by applying binomial and multinomial logit techniques to a sample of 237 horticultural producers from the UK. The analysis indicates that organic horticultural producers are more likely to be younger, run smaller enterprises and be female than their conventional counterparts, and that there are significant non‐economic aspects to the decision to adopt organic techniques which may be missed in comparative profitability studies. In addition, the analysis indicates that the registered and unregistered organic producers should not be regarded as a homogenous group, with significant differences in terms of the influence of gender and information sources observed.

This paper reports the results of a study of UK consumer attitudes to food safety as they relate to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and the extent to which they translate into a relatively high willingness to pay to avoid these products. The results indicate the relative importance of different aspects of the food system in forming preferences, and that GM food is only one of a number of concerns, albeit a significant one. The results also indicate that attitudes towards organic food may be taken as a useful indicator of attitudes towards GM technology, as the preference structure which underlies the former also appears to inform the latter. Significant differences are found between attitudes to GM food in which plants are modified by the introduction of genes from other plants and those in which they are modified by the introduction of genes from animals and plants.

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