Farming systems are becoming more complex as farms increase in size but have less available labor and management attention. This widens the gap between efficient and inefficient farms. Embodied innovations that directly provide benefits through use are adopted more readily than information-intensive innovations requiring ongoing management decisions. The value of innovations that increase convenience is growing. Agricultural advisors play a key role in supporting the adoption of complex innovations. Research must consider both relative economic advantage and management convenience to facilitate adoption of new technologies and farming systems changes.

1. Reducing the cost of complexity for greater
farming system change
Rick Llewellyn
CSIRO, Waite Campus

2. Increasing value of convenience
• Trends in farm businesses and management
• Implications for agricultural innovation and technologies
• Value of convenience
• Cost of complexity
• Challenge for R&D
• Shift in drivers of relative advantage
• Potential for innovation-advisor synergy
• Expanding research role in innovation development process

3. Farm business trends
Increasing farm size
Less managers per hectare
Greater land use intensity
More management demands
Less available labour & management attention

4. Management constraints affecting farm
productivity
- Management constraints a major factor limiting farm
productivity growth and technical efficiency
- Management constraints leading to widening gap in
farm efficiency
(ABARE, 2010; Hughes et al., 2011)
Increasing research recognition of complexity and
labour constraints in farming systems
(Kingwell 2011; Doole et al 2009)
Lucerne increases whole farm profitability by 3% but increases
management time by 9%

5. Examples from Australian crop-livestock farming
No-shear sheep
(or no sheep)
Autosteer/ GPS Guidance

6. Convenience in a bag:
Herbicide tolerant soybean, US
Non-
pecuniary
embodied
benefits:
simplicity;
flexibility
Piggot and Marra 2008

7. Embodied innovations
Embodied innovations:
The benefits are obtained relatively simply through its direct use.
Benefits can be attributed simply and directly
(e.g. new disease resistant crop; autosteer)
Non-embodied innovations:
Usually information-intensive. Ongoing decisions and management
are needed to benefit from the technology
Require higher levels of management capacity to gain full value -
skills, education, advisory support
(e.g. monitoring tools; variable rate technology; soil tests)

8. RR Soybean: the growing value of convenience
• Evidence that growers
become accustomed to
convenience
• More inelastic demand
• Willing to pay higher prices
for embodied convenience
• Less willing to shift away
from embodied convenience
• Shifts in farm labour
allocation; IWM reluctance
Piggot and Marra 2008 +Uematsu et al 2010; Fernande z-Cornejo et al 2005.

9. No-till adoption in Australian cropping regions
100%
90%
80%
70%
% no-till adoption
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
96
98
00
02
04
06
08
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
20
20
WA Central / Eastern Wheatbelt WA Midlands
Llewellyn & D’Emden 2010
WA Northern Wheatbelt WA SE Central Wheatbelt

10. No-till adoption in Australian cropping regions
100%
90%
80%
70%
% no-till adoption
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
96
98
00
02
04
06
08
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
20
20
Llewellyn & D’EmdenEastern Wheatbelt
WA Central / 2010 WA Midlands

11. Factors influencing no-till adoption rate
Use of crop consultant From
Logit &
Higher education Duration
analysis
Higher participation in extension activities
Years since first awareness of nearby no-till adopter
Prior year much drier than average
Perceived soil moisture conserving benefits and improved seeding
timeliness
Effectiveness of pre-emergent weed control (perceived)
Relative price of glyphosate herbicide
Location (region/state) and average rainfall
D’ Emden et al. 2007 (SA, Vic, NSW, WA 2003) ; 82% of decisions correctly predicted – 2003 use

12. No-till adoption in Australian cropping regions
100%
90%
Logit analysis of no-
80% till use & extensive
use (>90% crop
70%
area)
% no-till adoption
60%
50%
Growers without a
40% crop consultant are
30% less than ½ as likely
to be no-till adopters.
20%
10%
0%
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
96
98
00
02
04
06
08
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
20
20
Llewellyn WA Central / Eastern Wheatbelt
& D’Emden (2010) ; 2008 use WA Midlands

13. Adoption of no-till systems
• No-till system has complex demands
• Information and knowledge intensive (NT groups)
• Not an embodied technology, but advisor support evolved
• Advisors have had a substantial role – ongoing
• Agronomic constraints to more extensive use
(perceptions):
• Disease

14. Convenience, complexity and advisor support
affecting peak adoption, not just rate
Personal
characteristics; Actual
learning-related relative
characteristics; advantage
extension; actual
relative advantage
Early Late
majority majority
Time

15. Adoption of variable rate fertiliser in Australian
grain growing regions
Have yield map Varying fertiliser
Region (%) rates on zones
and yield map (%)
Central 20 7
Lower EP 32 10
SA Upper EP 20 5
Western EP 8 3
Mallee 17 9
Mallee 24 18
VIC
Wimmera 23 4
WA Central 40 9
Robertson, Llewellyn et al 2011 (2008 use)

16. Adoption of variable rate fertiliser in Australian
grain growing regions
Have yield map Varying fertiliser
Region (%) rates on zones
and yield map (%)
Central 20 7
Lower EP 32 10
SA Upper EP 20 5
Western EP 8 3
Mallee 17 9
Mallee 24 18
VIC
Wimmera 23 4
WA Central 40 9
Consultant use 2x ***
Logistic adoption model of VR
Robertson, Llewellyn et al 2011 (2008 use)

17. From complexity to convenience?

18. The role for research

19. The R&D challenge: the case of PA
Expected profitability alone not
leading to high adoption
Complexity and inconvenience
A role for research not just
extension
Overcoming low ‘adoption’ by
advisors

20. Finally
• Role for ‘advisor-technology synergy’
• Innovation can be complex, but supported by advisors
• Research aimed at developing relative advantage for
advisors & farmers
• Management time scarcity increasingly
affecting relative advantage
• Cannot be ignored in full economic analyses (whole-
farm)
• Increasing value of ‘convenience agriculture’
9% management attention Vs 3% profit increase?

21. THANK YOU