The Adoption of Best-Management Practices by Louisiana Dairy Producers

Abstract

This study examines the adoption of best-management practices (BMPs) in terms of the total number of practices implemented up to a certain period, using count data analysis. Poisson and negative binomial regressions were used to examine the likely determinants of producers' decisions to adopt greater numbers of technologies, and the specific case of dairy producers' adoption of BMPs was explored. Our results emphasize the significant effect of producers' awareness of the efforts to control non-point source pollution, information about BMPs, farm size, producer's educational attainment, and risk aversion on the number of BMPs adopted.