Adoption of Organic Agriculture in Europe:
Economic and Non-Economic Determinants

Michael Burton¹, Dan Rigby² and Trevor Young²

¹Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia, Nedlands 6907
²School of Economic Studies, University of Manchester, UK

Many "alternative" approaches to agricultural production have been established which seek to respond to the problems associated with conventional, intensive farming. What motivates producers to adopt these more sustainable techniques is the central focus of this study. Using farm survey data covering a large number of adopters and non-adopters in the UK, Spain and Brazil, we have investigated the economic and non-economic factors which determine horticultural producers’ choice of agricultural technology.

The main findings are:

• Empirical work on adoption of sustainable techniques requires some benchmark technology to be defined. Organic agriculture, which may be viewed as part of the transition to a sustainable agriculture, offers a number of advantages in this regard.
• The attitudes and opinions of the organic farmers in Spain and the UK were quite different from their conventional counterparts, while in Brazil these differences were minimal. In the UK and Spain attitudes and beliefs were found to be crucial, whilst in Brazil this was not the case. Only in the UK was gender significant, but here it exerted a powerful positive effect. The evidence points to non-economic factors having a primary role in the adoption decision in the European samples, but not in Brazil.
• Some factors which, on the basis of past studies, might have been expected to be important, were found not to be so in some of the study areas. Educational attainment was insignificant in both the UK and Spain, while gender, age, farm and household size were all found to be insignificant in the Spanish sample.
• A sharp distinction is observed between the determinants of the adoption decision and those of the timing of that decision. For example, in the UK managers of smaller holdings are more likely to convert to organic practices, but farm size per se does not explain the timing of that decision.
• It is important to target potential adopters in the first 4-5 years of management, as probabilities of adoption fall markedly after this period. In the case of the UK, the probability of adoption has increased markedly since 1986. This coincides with the establishment of the Organic Advisory Service.
• The analysis highlighted the presence of a group of conventional producers using many of the techniques associated with alternative agriculture but exhibiting few of the attitudes of the organic sample. This group may be representative of a section of the horticultural sector who might be induced into a change in production practices, but who will make this change on the basis of economic/marketing criteria.
• The paucity of producers who had converted to organic production for economic reasons points to a continued policy failure in providing a favourable economic setting for transition to alternative agricultural systems. These findings are particularly significant given current discussions of reform of the CAP and Agenda 2000 and the UK government’s imminent announcement of its review of aid to the organic sector.
• Any attempt to increase the uptake of organic techniques needs to take into account the different information sources currently prioritised by organic and conventional producers. Of crucial importance, if established conventional producers are to be targeted, is to adapt the information provided by traditional information sources, since many organic producers consider these sources to be of little relevance.

Our approach

One of the first issues that had to addressed was how to conceptualise the term "sustainable agricultural technologies" in order to conduct the empirical analysis. Following an extensive review of the literature we have come to the view that sustainable agriculture should not be regarded as synonymous with a particular set of production practices, but as a process. What is sustainable will vary both temporally and spatially. Producing yet more definitions of sustainable agriculture is unlikely to help practitioners.

Organic farming was chosen as the basis of our empirical analysis. This decision did not represent an acceptance of the argument that sustainable agriculture and organic farming could be equated but rather organic farming was accepted as one part of the development of sustainable agriculture in the three countries. It also had a number of advantages for our analysis: i) the organic tradition is one of the oldest approaches to agricultural production, pre-dating all other environmentally-aware approaches, ii) "sustainability lies at the heart of organic farming and is one of the major factors determining the acceptability or otherwise of specific production practices" (Lampkin), iii) organic production is regulated and inspected, and it exists as an international movement with continuing attempts to further coordinate national standards, iv) organic registration bodies hold detailed membership lists which facilitates the necessary fieldwork. A detailed examination of production practices suggested that the split between organic and conventional producers was not unreasonable, although the latter group could be further divided into those who use management-intensive techniques, such as intercropping or strategic planting, and those who do not.

Our research concerns two aspects of adoption:

• explaining what determines whether a farmer adopts organic practices or not. Here we cover a wide range of factors i) the socio-economic characteristics of the farmer, ii) the characteristics of the farm, iii) sources of information, iv) membership of organisations, and v) the farmer's attitudes.
• explaining the timing of that decision. Here, in addition to the factors just mentioned, we include factors which change over time, such as age, managerial experience, and policy interventions.

The Data

The investigation was based on the analysis of individual farm records in three countries, (UK, Spain and Brazil), chosen to give a range of geographical, economic and social conditions. In the UK, our sample included 86 organic and 151 conventional producers; in Spain, 97 organic and 125 conventional producers; in Brazil, 53 organic and 147 conventional producers. The horticultural sector is chosen because there are significant numbers of adopters of alternative technologies, farmers making intensive use of agrochemicals, and a wide range of farm sizes in that sector.

Results

Characterising the adopter

In our samples, organic producers, on average, were younger, managed smaller holdings and were less likely to be mainly reliant on income from agriculture than their conventional counterparts. In Brazil and Spain organic producers were typically better educated than conventional farmers. In the UK and Spain a much higher proportion of the organic interviewees were female, and the household size of the organic producers was typically larger.

In all three countries there was evidence of adopters and non-adopters using different information sources, with government agencies and buyers more often prioritised by conventional producers. In the UK other farmers were particularly important to organic producers, who appear to find conventional agricultural information sources (MAFF, NFU, ADAS) much less useful.

The probability of adopting

Only the producer’s wish to consume as much on-holding production as possible, and the prioritising of government agencies as information sources, were found to be significant in all three countries. In each case maximising own consumption had a positive effect on the probability of adoption, while the use of government agency information lowered the adoption probability.

Attitudes to the sustainability of conventional practices, the feasibility of organic production feeding society and the identification of environmental issues of concern were all found to have very strong impacts on the probability of adoption in the UK and Spain. None of these more "ideological" characteristics of the producer were found to have significant effects in the Brazilian sample.

In Brazil, the probability of adoption was seen to increase if the farmer had undertaken further education, tried to maximise the proportion of own-consumption of farm produce, and obtained information from a producer association or organic advisory service. The probability of adoption was reduced, however, if the farmer was a member of a farmers’ union, obtained information primarily from the radio or the extension service, and had a greater reliance on agriculture as an income source. The Brazilian sample was the only one in which higher levels of education were found to have a positive impact on the probability of adoption, despite this being a factor cited in much of the literature.

The results have highlighted the strong role of non-economic factors in the adoption of sustainable agricultural techniques in the UK and Spain, while in Brazil these factors have a much lesser role. Some factors which, on the basis of past studies, might have been expected to be important, were found not to be so in some of the study areas. Educational attainment had an insignificant effect on the probability of adoption in both the UK and Spain, while gender, age, farm and household size were all found to be insignificant in the Spanish and Brazilian samples.

The timing of adoption

The statistical investigation of "how long it takes to adopt" centred on the UK and Brazilian samples. These results indicated that factors which may affect the likelihood of a producer being an adopter (such as household and farm size in the UK, the importance of non-farm income in Brazil) provide little information regarding the timing of adoption. In both countries it was apparent that the first 4-5 years in which the producer managed the property were crucial. Other things being equal, the probability of producers’ adopting in these early years were never exceeded in the course of their management. It was also possible to identify an "epoch effect" in the UK from 1986, when the Organic Advisory Service was established, which increased the likelihood of adoption.

Our results point to horticultural producers either specifically setting up production to produce in this alternative manner, or converting very shortly after. Once this initial four to five year period has elapsed, the likelihood of conversion falls sharply, and only significant interventions at a level beyond the farm gate raise the probability of conversion to its former levels. The use of more innovative statistical techniques has indicated a sharp distinction between the determinants of the adoption decision and those of the timing of that decision.

Policy Implications

As the social and environmental benefits of moving to more sustainable farming systems are increasingly gaining recognition, policymakers are concerned to find cost effective ways of promoting the switch from conventional production practices. For example, in the UK recent interventions include the launch of the Organic Conversion Information Service in 1996 and the government’s current review of the structure and rates of organic incentives.

Our research suggests that targeting the relatively newly established producer will yield the most success. To persuade substantial numbers of conventional farmers that conversion is an economically viable option will be more of a challenge. The paucity of producers who cited economic reasons amongst their motives for adopting organic practices, and of producers who converted after a long period of conventional production, points to a continued policy failure in providing a favourable economic setting for the transition to alternative agricultural systems.

This has been coupled with a failure of traditional sources of farming information to provide adequate coverage of alternative production practices. This study has highlighted the use of different information sources by organic and conventional producers, with many of the former viewing traditional sources as of little relevance. This suggests that policy makers need not only to get the economic setting right but to ensure that the channels through which advice and guidance are given are appropriate.

About the research

This paper is based on the research undertaken as part of an ESRC Global Environmental Change project (L320253235). The research was conducted by Drs Burton, Rigby and Young, CAFRE, School of Economic Studies, University of Manchester. Our collaborators were Dr Philip Woodhouse, IDPM, University of Manchester, Professor Luis Miguel Albisu, Unidad de Economia y Sociologia Agrarias, Servicio Investigacion Agraria, Zaragoza, Spain and Dr Von Der Weid, AS-PTA National, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

SEA News Issue #2

The SEA News index is at http://welcome.to/seanews

Copyright © Michael Burton, Dan Rigby and Trevor Young, 1998
Last revised: May 21, 2003.