Adoption of win-win, environment-oriented, and profit-oriented practices among livestock farmers

Abstract

Previous economic studies that analyzed adoption of environment-oriented practices used adoption theories that are primarily developed for profit-oriented practices. The objective of the current analysis is, by simultaneously incorporating win-win, environment-oriented, and profit-oriented practices into the econometric analysis, to analyze the similarities and differences regarding signs and relative magnitudes of the factors affecting adoption. A survey of livestock farmers in Missouri and Iowa was conducted. The probit regression results show that there are more similarities than differences in the factors affecting adoption of environment- and profit-oriented practices. For example, the environmental benefits of Roundup Ready soybeans positively affected adoption while perceived profitability positively affected adoption of every practice. Overall, perceptions about the practices, manure handling systems, and species are the most common factors that had a strong impact on adoption.