Farmer ambivalence toward agricultural research: an empirical assessment

Historical evidence and recent theory on the role of farmers as a support base for public agricultural research suggest that the rank-and-file of farmers tends to be ambivalent about agricultural research as a means for enhancing their welfare. Except for those early adopters of technology who are in a position to receive innovators' rents, most farmers receive little or no benefit from or suffer costs due to technologically induced increases in productivity and output which result in declining product prices. This research utilizes partial correlation analysis of survey data from a random sample of farm operators in New York State to test hypotheses concerning farmer ambivalence about agricultural research and the social bases of farmer orientations toward research. The results show that while farmers tend to express positive attitudes toward items reflecting generalized support for the role of science and technology in agriculture, they also express a considerable degree of criticism of or cynicism toward the responsiveness of public agricultural research institutions and the types of technologies they have developed. The correlates of two indexes of farmer orientations toward agricultural research, based on the two sets of items reflecting generalized support for this research and critism of its responsiveness or relevance, are examined. Structural factors most closely associated with support for and perceived relevance of agricultural research were indicators of farm size and wealth and contact with extension. Several attitudinal indicators--especially profit orientation, cynicism toward agribusiness, and concern with agricultural pollution--were found to have substantial direct effects on the two dependent variables when major structural correlates were controlled.