Innovative capabilities of users of agricultural R&D services

Abstract

Innovation at farms is crucial to face technological, environmental and social challenges of the agricultural sector. Our hypothesis is that access from farmers to research & development services (RDS) is enhanced by certain entrepreneurial attributes (market orientation and learning orientation) as well as by their innovative attitude and human capital, as innovation capabilities. We explore the role of these factors in a sample of farmers in a region of Spain (Valencian Community), which is a context dominated by small and medium-sized farms. Through a logistic equation modelling approach, we tested the conditions that increase the likelihood to be users of RDS. Our findings suggest that both strategic and innovation capabilities, as well as a high level of formal education, are positively correlated with farmer's willingness to make use of RDS, while the largest group of farms shows a lower probability of adoption of RDS. Policies promoting knowledge intensive support services can pay attention to the fact that more innovative and educated farmers are also those who interact more with RDS, even in a context where small and medium-sized farms prevail.