This paper investigates the factors affecting adoption of new irrigation technologies and also addresses the linkage between this type of technology and production risk. The risk-premium associated with the use of water is estimated by adapting a momentbased approach. Farm-level data were collected from a sample of 187 wheat farms, located in the three major districts of Fars province of Iran during the years 2002 and 2003. Results of this study demonstrate that the risk premium decrease with new irrigation technology. Also, it is concluded that the farmer-specific relative risk premium has positive and significant effect on the decision to adopt the new irrigation technologies. So, farmers that are more risk-averse with respect to their use of water are more likely to adopt new irrigation technologies that allow them to save water and decrease their production (yield) risk.

Problem statement: One of the main targets of Iran's economic development plans in agricultural sector during the recent years was to augment agricultural exports and establish a positive trade balance in this sector. In this research the impact of macroeconomic indicators of Iran and its 20 trading partners on Iran's agricultural trade balance had been investigated. Approach: The ARDL approach was applied during the period of . Results: The domestic real income had the highest effect on the agricultural trade balance relative to other indicators both in the short-and longrun period. On the other hand, domestic money supply and foreign real income had the lowest effect in long-run and short-run respectively. In addition, real exchange rate had the positive impact on trade balance indicating that the depreciation will improve trade balance. But this is not a robust political instrument for establishing long-run equilibrium. Finally, the ECM results implied the fairly high speed of adjustment to equilibrium. Conclusion: The policies that tend to increase domestic income should be planned in such a way that the increased purchasing power of people will be directed to domestic goods rather than foreign goods.

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