Publicly Funded Agricultural Research and the Changing Structure of U.S. Agriculture (2002) / Chapter Skim
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3. Structural Implications of Technology Transfer and Adoption
3. Structural Implications of Technology Transfer and Adoption
Pages 52-68
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From page 52... ...
The first part of this chapter examines how the heterogeneity of producers and farm operations influences adoption of technology and innovation, and one approach for responding to this heterogeneity is offered. The second part of this chapter examines the way in which extension, the public-sector arm for transferring agricultural research results, can influence adoption and hence structural change—through its public education and information programs.
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From page 53... ...
Some innovations, such as management-intensive rotational grazing intensively grazing a portion of a pasture followed by a rest period to allow the forage to regrow are used more by smaller farms than by larger farms. Larger farms tended to adopt others, such as total mixed-ration equipment and the use of milking parlors.
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From page 55... ...
Regional Differences in Land Quality The literature emphasizes the effect of differences in land quality and weather on technology adoption (Caswell and Zilberman, 1986; Green, 1995~. Drip irrigation expanded California grape and avocado production to the foothills of the central and southern coasts and to sandy soils in Kern County.
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From page 56... ...
Integrated pest management (IPM) , for example, involves designing context-specific pest treatment as opposed to following a prescribed regimen of chemical pesticide application.
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From page 57... ...
For example, there is such a diversity of small and medium-sized farms that it is difficult to generalize the essence of what they share in terms of research needs. It is much easier for a public research system to respond to the needs of underserved populations if it can target concrete production systems that have promise and can be funded readily.
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From page 58... ...
Recommendation 5 Public-sector outreach, including extension, should take a proactive role in assessing the research and development and technology transfer needs of a variety of producers, including u~cderserved and minority groups; designing appropriate strategies, such as applied, on-farm research, for serving those constituencies; and providing production assistance and other appropriate services, such as market development education' for differentiated product markets, entrepreneurship education', f nancial strategies, value-added processing, and identif cation of opportunities for those working part time in agriculture. The committee acknowledges that there are publicly funded research, extension, and education programs and projects for specific underserved populations, among them the U.S.
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From page 59... ...
More effective communication with these groups would help research institutions move toward conducting research and extension that are relevant to their circumstances. TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER The previous section addressed heterogeneous producer characteristics that affect adoption of technology, and it proposed a public policy approach for responding to this heterogeneity.
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From page 60... ...
The survey also shows that a greater percentage of pest management advice was provided by chemical dealers than by local extension for corn, cotton, potatoes, soybeans, and wheat (Caswell et al., 2001~. Survey data from the 1993-1995 Chemical User Survey indicated that chemical dealers were also the most-used source of pest management information for a variety of fruit crops (USDA, 2000a)
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From page 61... ...
have been at least as important as private R&D and market forces for changing livestock specialization, farm size, and farmers' off-farm work participation from 1953-1982 (discussed in Chapter 2~. A survey relating herd size and five dimensions of contact with extension among Wisconsin dairy farmers reported that farmer use of extension services was highly variable and appeared to be correlated with the size of the farm (Ostrom et al., 20004.
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From page 62... ...
The study also reported that, as herd sizes increased, farm operators were more likely to report that extension programs had been beneficial to their farm business. A disproportionately large share of the dairy farmers who were "unsure" whether they had benefited from extension came from farms with smaller herds.
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From page 63... ...
University or USDA researchers sometimes start private businesses based on work conducted in the public sector. In other cases, public-sector employees serve as consultants to private enterprises.
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From page 64... ...
from the University of Hawaii to develop nematode control strategies. Cooperative Extension forms partnerships with the private sector, particularly for the production of public goods.
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CSREES has operated to connect other federal agencies with its state extension parkers (Box 3-2~. A more broadly defined extension service in terms of constituencies and stakeholders can ensure that structural dimensions of research results and technologies are considered.
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From page 67... ...
The SARE program (see Box 3-3) demonstrates that extension processes are increasingly engaging stakeholder participation.
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From page 68... ...
Different degrees of adoption can be signaled by characteristics of producers or farm operations, such as farm size, regional differences in land quality, availability of human capital, producer age, and tenure arrangements. Some research innovations are more likely to be adopted by specific groups of producers, with structural implications.
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