ADOPTION OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES - DIFFUSION, FARM STRUCTURE, AND PROFITABILITY

This paper employs diffusion and farm-structure variables to explain v ariations in Montana farmers' adoption of two kinds of sustainable agr icultural practices: those involving intensive management and those wh ich require fewer purchased inputs. While perceived profitability was found to be the most important factor affecting adoption of both, the independent variables had different effects on beliefs about net econo mic returns as well as on adoption of the two practices. Type of farm enterprise played a larger role in adoption of the low-input practices than the management intensive ones; access to information was more im portant for the latter. Implications for policy are discussed.