Field observation and verbal exchange as different peer effects in farmers’ technology adoption decisions

Anna Massfeller and Hugo Storm

Agricultural Economics, 2024, vol. 55, issue 5, 739-757

Abstract: Farmers’ adoption of novel technologies is influenced by other farmers’ behavior, a phenomenon known as peer effects. Although such effects have been studied intensively, the literature does not clearly distinguish between those that result (1) from verbal exchanges with other farmers and (2) from field observations, including the application of technology, its outcomes, and field conditions. We extend existing theoretical concepts and hypothesize that verbal information exchanges and field observations are two types of peer effects. Using data from an online survey of German sugar beet farmers’ application of mechanical weeding from early 2022, we find that the likelihood of adopting mechanical weeding increases across all model specifications by around 26%–28% if at least one adopter is known and by approximately 30%–32% if at least one field is observed. The two types of peer effects complement and reinforce each other in explaining adoption decisions. The effects increase with the number of adopters known and fields observed but decrease with larger distances to the observed fields. The findings can support designing extension services and future peer effects research that should consider the distinction between peer effects arising from verbal exchanges and field observations.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12847

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:agecon:v:55:y:2024:i:5:p:739-757

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0169-5150

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Economics is currently edited by W.A. Masters and G.E. Shively

More articles in Agricultural Economics from International Association of Agricultural Economists Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().