The Adoption of Agricultural Innovations

Abstract

Technological change and innovation is a fundamental force shaping our lifestyles, our culture and our future. We devote a substantial proportion of our wealth to research activities that span all areas of society, including agriculture. We make this investment, at least with regard to agricultural research, primarily to create wealth and conserve our natural resources. The return to our investment in agricultural research, the wealth created and the resources conserved depends, in part, on the extent to which primary producers adopt the products of that research. Consequently, maximising the return to our investment in agricultural research involves identifying what research products are likely to be adopted by primary producers and by how many, and determining what processes are required to ensure the diffusion of research products among producers as rapidly as possible. All these depend on an intimate understanding of how the products of research can contribute to better satisfying the needs of primary producers in the conduct of their agricultural enterprises. The case was made in this thesis that established schools of thinking on the adoption behaviour of primary producers do not provide a rigorous, explicit procedure for discovering how innovations can contribute to satisfying the needs of primary producers as managers of agricultural enterprises. As a consequence, policy makers and investors in research and extension have lacked a rigorous method for identifying the population of potential adopters of agricultural innovations. This means policy making and investment in research and extension has sometimes lacked a thoroughly defensible foundation for setting priorities for agricultural research, and for designing and evaluating programs for promoting the adoption of agricultural innovations. The aim in this thesis was to describe a framework for discovering how agricultural innovations contribute to satisfying the needs of primary producers as managers of agricultural enterprises.