A tale of two agricultural biotechnologies: Case studies ofrBGH and genetically modified organism crops

Previous studies on the diffusion of agricultural technologies have largely ignored the attributes of these technologies and the concepts of disadoption and adoption intensity; furthermore, they failed to investigate the effects of contextual factors. In this study, I argue that we need to examine these concepts as well as the contexts surrounding the introduction of politicized technologies such as recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) and genetically modified organism (GMO) crops in order to explain their divergent patterns of diffusion and adoption in Wisconsin.; I employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to compare the diffusion-adoption of these two agricultural biotechnologies. Findings indicated that the attributes and politicization of rBGH and GMO crops have affected their diffusion and adoption. The use of rBGH is skewed toward large-scale dairy farms because of its management intensive feature. The passionate struggle against rBGH before its approval also influenced farmers' and consumers' attitudes as well as processors' policies regarding rBGH. Through qualitative interviews, I showed that processors' rBGH-free policies have affected farmers' technology adoption decisions. By contrast, the social resistance to GMO crops is relatively moderate in this country, and since most grains produced in Wisconsin are used for livestock feed, the marketing of GMO crops has a limited impact on farmers' adoption. The use of GMO crops is largely determined by their product characteristics such as herbicide tolerance and insect resistance.; The analysis of panel survey data shows that the adoption of rBGH and GMO crops is a dynamic process, given the prevalence of disadoption for rBGH and one of the GMO crops, insect resistant corn or Bt corn. My analysis suggests that farmers' disadoption is related to their disenchantment regarding the performance of rBGH and GMO crops. Disadoption is an individual decision, not a patterned process as diffusion is.