Adoption and Diffusion of Natural-Resource-Conserving Agricultural Technology

Abstract

A national sample of U.S. farms is used to estimate the long-term trends in adoption and diffusion of conservation tillage, IPM, and soil fertilizer testing, technologies designed to reduce environmental externalities from agriculture. Results from a duration model show that diffusion of these technologies has been relatively slow, with long lags in adoption due to differences in land quality, farm size, farmer education, and regional factors.