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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 44(8)

Increasing the economic benefits from agricultural research: the case of enhancing the diffusion of a pasture weed technology

D. T. Vere A B , R. E. Jones A and P. M. Dowling A
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- Author Affiliations

A NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange Agricultural Institute, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia.

B Author for correspondence; email: david.vere@agric.nsw.gov.au

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 44(8) 779-786 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA03035
Submitted: 16 January 2003  Accepted: 7 November 2003   Published: 20 September 2004

Abstract

The process of enhancing the diffusion of a new technology attempts to shorten the time between the completion and adoption of an agricultural research programme, as well as to increase the overall level of adoption. The economic benefits of introducing a new technology are influenced by the technology development lag, the adoption lag and the maximum, or ceiling, level of adoption. Technology diffusion embodies these issues and concerns the uptake of a new technology across a population of potential adopters. Diffusion enhancement is now considered to be a desirable component of pasture research programmes in Australia. This paper evaluates the economic benefits of enhancing the diffusion process for new technology in the management of Vulpia, which is a prominent annual grass weed of Australian temperate pastures. Differences in economic benefits were calculated for a range of scenarios, by varying the values of the main elements of the diffusion process relative to those of a base scenario which represented the most optimistic adoption expectations for the technology. The discounted total benefits to the Australian wool industry, calculated for a 15-year period from reducing Vulpia in temperate pastures, were between A$31.9 million and A$287.3 million, according to differences in the pasture's Vulpia content. While the 2 main time components of the diffusion process both had strong effects on the potential benefits, the technology lag had a much larger influence than the adoption lag. This result emphasises the importance of agricultural research programmes that are able to quickly diffuse such technologies to the potential adopters.


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