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The barriers to further adoption of organic farming and genetic engineering in Australia: views of agricultural professionals and their information sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2008

Sarah Ann Wheeler
Sarah Ann Wheeler*
Affiliation:
Research Fellow, Centre for Regulation and Market Analysis, University of South Australia, City West Campus, North Terrace, Adelaide, 5001, Australia.
*
*Corresponding author: sarah.wheeler@unisa.edu.au
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Abstract

Research has shown that agricultural professionals are one of the major influences on farmer adoption of agricultural innovations. Genetic engineering and organic farming represent two vastly different innovations in agriculture, and both assert to have important sustainability outcomes. This paper presents the views from a telephone survey of agricultural scientists, extension officers and academics in Australia (n=185) on the barriers to further adoption of organic farming and agricultural genetic engineering, as well as exploring where they obtain their information about the two innovations. Many professionals believe that market issues (in terms of small market size and the extent that consumers are willing to pay premiums) will limit the size of farmer adoption of organics in Australia, while on-farm issues (in terms of production difficulties and pest and disease problems) are named as the second largest barrier to further adoption. On the other hand, professionals from the targeted sample, who were more knowledgeable about organic farming, named information needs and lack of government support as the major barrier facing further diffusion of organic farming. In contrast, public attitudes and negative media portrayal are named as the largest barrier facing further adoption of genetic engineering in Australia. The uncertainty surrounding the research into genetic engineering (and the lack of long-term research) is believed to be the second largest barrier facing further diffusion of genetic engineering while market problems are seen as the third largest barrier.

Keywords

organic farminggenetic engineeringagricultural professionalsbarriersinformation sourcestechnology adoption
Type
Research Papers
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 161 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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