39-52

• Μέλφου, Κατερίνα
• Οξούζη, Ελένη
• Παπαναγιώτου, Ευάγγελος

The adoption of agricultural innovations depends on a variety of personal, social, cultural and economic factors, as well as on the farmer's subjective perceptions of the nature and the particular characteristics of an innovation. The objective of this paper is to look into the profiles of innovative and conventional farmers and study their motives for adopting or not adopting new production technologies. The intention is to identify differences between farmers who have adopted an innovative technology and those who state the reasons that would make them adopt it. For this purpose, two groups of apple farmers are chosen, one certified in Integrated Crop Management (ICM) and the other group farming conventionally. The study area is Western Macedonia and primary data were collected through personal interviews in the year 2010-2011. The sample was selected with random sampling and sample size consists of 12 ICM apple farmers and 63 conventional apple farmers. Research results show that innovative farmers are younger, more educated and with less farming experience. Farmers who have already adopted ICM ranked 'Improvement in quality' and 'easier distribution of product' as the two most important factors for adoption. Conventional farmers, rank 'better prices' and 'lower cost of production' as the two most important factors that would induce them to adopt that technology. Protection of the environment ranks last in importance for conventional farmers and one but last for ICM farmers. To encourage the adoption of ICM we need to change the perception of conventional farmers with the help of extension services, a steady information flow and lifelong training.

• Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries
• Economics and Business

• Agriculture
• Economics

innovations, Integrated Crop Management, adoption factors, apple farming, Greece

Περιέχει διαγράμματα, πίνακες και βιβλιογραφία

1. Abadi Ghadim, A.K. and Pannell, D.J. (1999), "A conceptual framework of adoption of an agricultural innovation," Agricultural Economics, 21, pp. 145-154 Adesina, A.A. and Baidu-Forson, J. (1995), "Farmers' perceptions and adoption of new agricultural technology: evidence from analysis in Burkina Faso and Guinea," West AfricaAgricultural Economics, 13, pp. 1-9 European Commission DG Environment, (2008), "Integrated crop management systems in the EU", European Commission DG Environment, Internal Report Feder, G. and Umali, D. (1993), "The Adoption of Agricultural Innovations A Review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 43, pp. 215-239 Gibbons, D.G., Chakraborti, S. (2005), "Nonparametric statistical inference", Marcel Dekker, Inc, New York Green, K. and Kremen, A. (2003), US organic farming emerges in 2000 - 2001: Adoption of certified systems. Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, available at: www.ers.usda.gov/publications Hollander, M. Wolfe, D.A. (1999), "Nonparametric statistical methods", Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics, 2nd ed Howley, P. Donoghue, C.O. and Heanue, K. (2012), "Factors Affecting Farmers' Adoption of Agricultural Innovations: A Panel Data Analysis of the Use of Artificial Insemination among Dairy Farmers in Ireland," Journal of Agricultural Science, 4(6), pp. 171-179 IOBC, (2010), International Organization of Biological Control of Crop Pests and Weeds Knowler, D. and Bradshaw, B. (2007), "Farmers' adoption of conservation agriculture: A review and synthesis of recent research," Food Policy, 32, pp. 25-48 Marra, M. Pannell, D.J. and Ghadim, A.A. (2003), "The economics of risk, uncertainty and learning in the adoption of new agricultural technologies: where are we on the learning curve?", Agricultural Systems, 75, pp. 215-234 Ministry of Rural Development and Food, (2010), Statistics on farmlands under organic and integrated agriculture (In Greek) Mzoughi, N. (2011) , "Farmers adoption of integrated crop protection and organic farming: Do moral and social concerns matter?" Ecological Economics, 70, pp. 1536-1545 Negatua,W. and Parikhb, A. (1999), "The impact of perception and other factors on the adoption of agricultural technology in the Moret and Jiru Woreda (district) of Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, 21, pp. 205-216 Oxouzi, E. Melfou, K. and Papanagiotou, E. (2012), "Conventional and ICM apple farming.A comparative technical and economic analysis", to be presented in the 12th Conference of the Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, Thessaloniki Pannell, D. J. Marshall, G. R. Barr, N. Curtis, A. Vanclay, F. and Wilkinson,R. (2006), "Understanding and promoting adoption of conservation practices by rural landholders," Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 46(11), pp. 1407-1424 Sauer, J. and Zilberman, D. (2010), "Innovation Behaviour At Farm Level - Selection And Identification," 114th EAAE Seminar'Structural Change in Agriculture', Berlin, Germany, April 15 - 16, 2010 Siardos, G.K. (1997), "Research methodology for rural sociology ", Thessaloniki, AUTH Editions Siegel, S. and Castellan, N.J.Jr. (1988), "Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences" New York: McGraw-Hill.Random, 2nd ed Sunding, D. and Zilberman, D. (2001), "Handbook of Agricultural Economics", Volume 1, Edited by B. Gardner and G. Rausser,Elsevier Science B.V.