Understanding Adoption of Innovations and Behavior Change to Improve Agricultural Policy

Abstract

Research on the adoption of new practices and new behaviors in agriculture continues to grow and evolve, and its relevance to policy remains high. This special issue presents 10 papers that provide overviews of important aspects of the recent adoption literature, or identify gaps and opportunities in the literature. Adoption research has been innovative in a number of ways, including its recognition of adoption decision making as a process, not an event; its emphases on heterogeneity and learning; and its strong multidisciplinary flavor. There is scope for further innovation through efforts to enhance predictions of adoption, better understanding the balance between profit and non-profit motivations, and better recognizing the influence on adoption of characteristics of the innovations, not just characteristics of the potential adopters and their contexts. Opportunities for policy include effort to support women farmers' adoption of beneficial innovations in developing countries, and use of tools and approaches from marketing in public extension programs.