Locality Group Differences in the Adoption of New Farm Practices *

This study tests the hypothesis that the social organization and culture of locality groups are major factors influencing adoption of new farm practices. The differences in level of adoption for the townships studied cannot be explained by individual socioeconomic characteristics such as educational level, farm size, or net worth. A case study was made of a low-adoption and a high-adoption township to explore reasons for these differences. Farmers in the low-adoption township were of Calvinistic Dutch origin and those in the high-adoption township mainly of Norwegian and German Lutheran origin. Possible direct religious influences on adoption are discussed. These Calvinistic farmers consider themselves the stewards of God on the earth. This makes changes in farm practices a decision for which they need greater certainty than would usually be required. However, the difference in the adoption of the two townships seems to be due primarily to the greater social isolation and stronger social control characteristic of the Dutch township. The author is a research officer in the Department of Rural Sociology of the Agricultural University at Wageningen, Netherlands, and made this study during his leave as a research assistant at the University of Wisconsin.