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Farmers' opinions about third-wave technologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2009

Paul Lasley  and
Gordon Bultena
Paul Lasley
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011.
Gordon Bultena
Affiliation:
Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011.
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Abstract

This paper examines farmers' opinions about eight relatively new technologies. Data from a statewide sample of Iowa farmers provide the basis for examining the correlates of support for new technology. Evidence from a series of statewide surveys indicates that farmers are becoming concerned about environmental problems associated with conventional agricultural practices and are interested in alternative production systems. The data show that some new technologies are widely supported among farmers; in other cases farmers expressed considerable hesitancy or opposition to them. This paper draws on previous adoption research to examine the differential support of these technologies among farmers. From this earlier research two sets of variables, personal characteristics and farm characteristics, have been found to be important predictors of farmers' opinions about new technology. The analysis from new data shown here finds generally weak relationships between personal and farm characteristics with level of support for new technologies. Given the generally weak relationships between personal and farm characteristics and support for new technology, the paper argues that other factors need to be included in future research on the adoption of new technology.

Type
Articles
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , Summer 1986 , pp. 122 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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