This paper addresses the question which factors influence a farmer in deciding to adopt an innovation. We differentiate between innovations that are new to the farmer, but already well established in the sector, innovations that are early in their process of diffusion, and innovations that are new to the farmer's sector. We use an ordered probit approach to relate adoption behaviour to variables that capture characteristics of the farm (labour and financial resources and market position), of the business environment of the farm (type of production and market, degree of regulation) and of the farmer (access to information, capabilities, preferences). We use data on 865 Dutch farms and find that innovation adoption is positively related to labour resources, market position, access to information and past adoption behaviour, and negatively to solvency and the degree of market regulation.
Cet article analyse les choix possibles pour un exploitant agricole face à l'adoption des innovations disponibles sur le marché, il peut être : précurseur, suiveur oui retardataire. Dans cette perspective, un modèle logit emboîté est estimé en utilisant un échantillon important d'agriculteurs néerlandais. Les résultats empiriques montrent que les caractéristiques structurelles (taille de l'exploitation, âge et solvabilité de l'exploitant) expliquent les différences de comportement d'adoption entre, d'une part, les précurseurs et les suiveurs, et, d'autre part, les retardataires. Cette étude montre également que les précurseurs et suiveurs ont des réactions similaires au regard des variables structurelles. Ils se différencient cependant pour ce qui est des variables de comportement : les précurseurs utilisent davantage les sources externes d'information et ils sont bien plus impliqués dans le développement actuel des innovations.Summary -This paper analyses the choice of a farmer to be an innovator, an early adopter or a laggard (an adopter of mature technologies or a non-adopter) in the adoption of innovations that are available on the market. We estimate a nested logit model with data from a large sample of Dutch farmers. We find that structural characteristics (farm size, market position, solvency, age of the farmer) explain the difference in adoption behaviour between innovators and early adopters on the one hand and laggards on the other. We also find that early adopters and innovators do not differ from each other regarding these structural characteristics. However, they appear to differ in behavioural characteristics : innovators make more use of external sources of information and they are more involved in the actual development of innovations.
With rising public concern over animal welfare, food safety and GM crops, Europe's farmers, breeders and food processors are caught in the eye of a storm. While some are 'returning to the soil' with traditional organic methods, others are breeding crops and animals using biotechnology, for markets as diverse as power generation and pharmaceuticals. For Europe's policymakers social and ecological sustainability are paramount, but public information is also a prerequisite for meaningful debate.
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