Adoption of conservation tillage in Australian Cropping regions: An application of duration analysis

Abstract The diffusion of agricultural innovations is rarely rapid. As a result, adoption decisions over time are very likely to be influenced by changes in generic factors such as the price of complementary inputs and environmental conditions. Despite this, the vast majority of studies aiming to explain innovation adoption are limited to cross-sectional data and analysis techniques that cannot accommodate time-dependent variables. This study departs from these attempts by using a duration analysis technique to investigate the significance of time-dependent economic and environmental variables, along with cross-sectional variables such as technology-specific perceptions, on the adoption of soil-conserving cropping practices by grain growers in southern Australia over the period 1983–2003. Of particular interest is the possible trade-off faced by farmers where adoption of no-tillage cropping technology can lead to greater herbicide reliance and subsequently unsustainable weed management due to high risks of herbicide resistance. Results show that factors affecting the cost-effectiveness of herbicides are important in the adoption of the erosion-reducing cropping systems. Several factors relating to the availability and use of technical information are also shown to be influential. The duration analysis approach allowed changes in time-dependent variables, including the fall in the price of the herbicide glyphosate, to be identified as determinants of the timing of no-till adoption.

[1]  S. Batie,et al.  Virginia Farmers' Soil Conservation Decisions: An Application of Tobit Analysis , 1987, Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

[2]  D. Young,et al.  THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN PREDICTING ADOPTION OF WIND EROSION CONTROL PRACTICES , 2000 .

[3]  Philip G. Pardey,et al.  The time to adoption , 1979 .

[4]  D. Pannell,et al.  Social and economic challenges in the development of complex farming systems , 1999, Agroforestry Systems.

[5]  L. Drake,et al.  Soil and water conservation decision behavior of subsistence farmers in the Eastern Highlands of Ethiopia: a case study of the Hunde-Lafto area , 2003 .

[6]  Brian W. Gould,et al.  Conservation Tillage: The Role of Farm and Operator Characteristics and the Perception of Soil Erosion , 1989 .

[7]  A. J. Fischer,et al.  Information and the Speed of Innovation Adoption , 1996 .

[8]  David Zilberman,et al.  Adoption of Agricultural Innovations in Developing Countries: A Survey , 1985, Economic Development and Cultural Change.

[9]  David J. Pannell,et al.  The economics of risk, uncertainty and learning in the adoption of new agricultural technologies: where are we on the learning curve? , 2003 .

[10]  Dan Rigby,et al.  Modelling the Adoption of Organic Horticultural Technology in the UK Using Duration Analysis , 2003 .

[11]  N. Kiefer.  Economic Duration Data and Hazard Functions , 1988 .

[12]  Calogero Carletto,et al.  Sustainability in the Diffusion of Innovations: Smallholder Nontraditional Agro‐Exports in Guatemala , 1999, Economic Development and Cultural Change.

[13]  R. Gray,et al.  ECONOMIC FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ADOPTION OF REDUCED TILLAGE TECHNOLOGIES IN CENTRAL SASKATCHEWAN , 1996 .

[14]  A. Adesina,et al.  Technology characteristics, farmers' perceptions and adoption decisions: A Tobit model application in Sierra Leone , 1993 .

[15]  Tony Lancaster,et al.  A Stochastic Model for the Duration of a Strike , 1972 .

[16]  N. Meade,et al.  Modelling the dependence between the times to international adoption of two related technologies , 2003 .

[17]  David R. Cox,et al.  Regression models and life tables (with discussion , 1972 .

[18]  S. Powles,et al.  Multiple-herbicide resistance across four modes of action in wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) , 2004, Weed Science.

[19]  Michael Young.  Costing Dust: How much does wind erosion cost the people of South Australia? , 1999 .

[20]  FARMERS' DECISION PROCESSES AND ADOPTION OF CONSERVATION TILLAGE , 1997 .

[21]  G.A.A. Wossink,et al.  Farmer perceptions of weed control techniques in sugarbeet , 1997 .

[22]  Rui Baptista,et al.  Geographical Clusters and Innovation Diffusion , 2001 .

[23]  David J. Mulla,et al.  Agricultural Technology and Adoption of Conservation Practices , 1998 .

[24]  Christopher Preston,et al.  Evolved resistance to glyphosate in rigid ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) in Australia , 1998, Weed Science.

[25]  Gershon Feder,et al.  The adoption of agricultural innovations: A review , 1993 .

[26]  W. Huffman,et al.  The Adoption of Reduced Tillage: The Role of Human Capital and Other Variables , 1984 .

[27]  F. Anim.  A Note on the Adoption of Soil Conservation Measures in the Northern Province of South Africa , 2008 .

[28]  Keith O. Fuglie,et al.  Adoption and Diffusion of Natural-Resource-Conserving Agricultural Technology , 2001 .

[29]  V. Sadras,et al.  Production and Environmental Aspects of Cropping Intensification in a Semiarid Environment of Southeastern Australia , 2004, Agronomy Journal.

[30]  Rick Llewellyn,et al.  Economics of pre-emptive management to avoid weed resistance to glyphosate in Australia , 2005 .

[31]  R. Llewellyn,et al.  High Levels of Herbicide Resistance in Rigid Ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) in the Wheat Belt of Western Australia1 , 2001, Weed Technology.

[32]  Keith O. Fuglie,et al.  Adoption of Agricultural Production Practices: Lessons Learned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Area Studies Project , 2001 .

[33]  Allen M. Featherstone,et al.  Factors Influencing a Farmer's Decision to Invest in Long-Term Conservation Improvements , 1993 .

[34]  Stephen B. Powles,et al.  Simulating evolution of glyphosate resistance in Lolium rigidum II: past, present and future glyphosate use in Australian cropping , 2003 .

[35]  Rick Llewellyn,et al.  Resistance and the herbicide resource: perceptions of Western Australian grain growers , 2002 .

[36]  M. Burton,et al.  Factors influencing the adoption of sustainable agricultural technologies: Evidence from the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil , 1999 .