IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/canjag/v58y2010i1p37-56.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors Influencing Partial and Complete Adoption of Organic Farming Practices in Saskatchewan, Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Mohammad Khaledi
  • Simon Weseen
  • Erin Sawyer
  • Shon Ferguson
  • Richard Gray

Abstract

Using a sample of organic producers in Saskatchewan, Canada, this study uses a Tobit model to identify the factors that discourage or encourage the complete adoption of organic farming and to assess why farmers differ in the share of total cultivated crop area they allocate to organic practices. In particular, the study evaluates the effect of transaction costs on the decision to convert partially or completely from conventional to organic practices. The results highlight the importance of lowering certain transaction costs to encourage the adoption of organic management practices. Significant transaction costs were found to include infrastructure and services, satisfaction with marketer performance, marketing problems, and Internet use. Results suggest that farmers with smaller land holdings are more inclined to undertake complete adoption. While the education levels of organic farmers show no significant effect on the probability of adoption, younger organic farmers allocate significantly less of their cultivated area to organic practices. À partir d'un échantillon de producteurs de cultures biologiques de la Saskatchewan, au Canada, nous avons utilisé un modèle Tobit pour déterminer les facteurs qui encouragent ou découragent l'adoption totale des pratiques agricoles biologiques et les raisons pour lesquelles le pourcentage des superficies consacrées aux cultures biologiques varie d'un producteur à l'autre. Nous avons également examiné les répercussions des coûts de transaction sur la décision de passer, en totalité ou en partie, des pratiques conventionnelles aux pratiques biologiques. Les résultats ont fait ressortir l'importance de réduire certains coûts de transaction afin d'encourager l'adoption des méthodes agronomiques biologiques. Les coûts de transaction les plus importants incluaient les infrastructures et les services, l'efficacité des intermédiaires, les problèmes liés à la mise en marché et l'utilisation d'Internet. Les résultats autorisent à penser que les producteurs agricoles qui possèdent de petites superficies sont plus enclins à adopter en totalité l'agriculture biologique. Alors que le niveau de scolarité des producteurs ne semble pas avoir de répercussions sur la probabilité d'adopter l'agriculture biologique, les jeunes producteurs de cultures biologiques consacrent beaucoup moins de leurs superficies cultivées à la culture biologique.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammad Khaledi & Simon Weseen & Erin Sawyer & Shon Ferguson & Richard Gray, 2010. "Factors Influencing Partial and Complete Adoption of Organic Farming Practices in Saskatchewan, Canada," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 58(1), pages 37-56, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:canjag:v:58:y:2010:i:1:p:37-56
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7976.2009.01172.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7976.2009.01172.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1744-7976.2009.01172.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marshall, Graham R., 1993. "Organic farming in Australia: An economist's perspective," Conference Papers 9676, University of New England, Institute for Rural Futures.
    2. Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Wossink, Ada, 2005. "Valuing the Option to Convert from Conventional to Organic Farming," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19531, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    3. MacInnis, Bo, 2004. "Transaction Costs And Organic Marketing: Evidence From U.S. Organic Produce Farmers," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20386, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    4. Renkow, Mitch & Hallstrom, Daniel G. & Karanja, Daniel D., 2004. "Rural infrastructure, transactions costs and market participation in Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 349-367, February.
    5. Nigel Key & Elisabeth Sadoulet & Alain De Janvry, 2000. "Transactions Costs and Agricultural Household Supply Response," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(2), pages 245-259.
    6. Ferto, Imre & Szabo, Gabor G., 2002. "The Choice Of The Supply Channels In Hungarian Fruit And Vegetable Sector," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19647, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    7. Norris, Patricia E. & Batie, Sandra S., 1987. "Virginia Farmers' Soil Conservation Decisions: An Application of Tobit Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 79-90, July.
    8. Norris, Patricia E. & Batie, Sandra S., 1987. "Virginia Farmers' Soil Conservation Decisions: An Application Of Tobit Analysis," Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 19(1), pages 1-12, July.
    9. Lohr, Luanne & Salomonsson, Lennart, 2000. "Conversion subsidies for organic production: results from Sweden and lessons for the United States," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 133-146, March.
    10. Adesina, Akinwumi A. & Zinnah, Moses M., 1993. "Technology characteristics, farmers' perceptions and adoption decisions: A Tobit model application in Sierra Leone," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 297-311, December.
    11. KS Pietola & AO Lansink, 2001. "Farmer response to policies promoting organic farming technologies in Finland," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 1-15, March.
    12. Bailey, DeeVon & Hunnicutt, Lynn, 2002. "The Role Of Transaction Costs In Market Selection: Market Selection In Commercial Feeder Cattle Operations," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19894, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Steven Were Omamo, 1998. "Transport Costs and Smallholder Cropping Choices: An Application to Siaya District, Kenya," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(1), pages 116-123.
    14. Smith, Richard J & Blundell, Richard W, 1986. "An Exogeneity Test for a Simultaneous Equation Tobit Model with an Application to Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 679-685, May.
    15. Niemeyer, Katharina & Lombard, Jan, 2003. "Identifying Problems And Potential Of The Conversion To Organic Farming In South Africa," 2003 Annual Conference, October 2-3, 2003, Pretoria, South Africa 19082, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA).
    16. LeClere, Marc J., 1994. "The Decomposition of Coefficients in Censored Regression Models: Understanding the Effect of Independent Variables on Taxpayer Behavior," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 47(4), pages 837-45, December.
    17. Lobley, Matt & Reed, Matthew J. & Butler, Allan J., 2005. "The Impact of Organic Farming on the Rural Economy in England," Research Reports 31747, University of Exeter, Centre for Rural Policy Research.
    18. Staal, Steven & Delgado, Christopher & Nicholson, Charles, 1997. "Smallholder dairying under transactions costs in East Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 779-794, May.
    19. Holloway, Garth & Nicholson, Charles & Delgado, Chris & Staal, Steve & Ehui, Simeon, 2000. "Agroindustrialization through institutional innovation: Transaction costs, cooperatives and milk-market development in the east-African highlands," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 279-288, September.
    20. Stephan J. Goetz, 1992. "A Selectivity Model of Household Food Marketing Behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(2), pages 444-452.
    21. Zepeda, Lydia & Griffith, Garry R. & Chang, Hui-Shung (Christie), 2004. "Issues and Research Needs of the Australian Organic Food Products Market," Working Papers 12924, University of New England, School of Economics.
    22. Jill E. Hobbs, 1997. "Measuring the Importance of Transaction Costs in Cattle Marketing," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(4), pages 1083-1095.
    23. LeClere, Marc J., 1994. "The Decomposition of Coefficients in Censored Regression Models: Understanding the Effect of Independent Variables on Taxpayer Behavior," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 47(4), pages 837-845, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peterson, Hikaru Hanawa & Barkley, Andrew P. & Chacon-Cascante, Adriana & Kastens, Terry L., 2012. "The Motivation for Organic Grain Farming in the United States: Profits, Lifestyle, or the Environment?," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 44(2), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Wollni, Meike & Andersson, Camilla, 2014. "Spatial patterns of organic agriculture adoption: Evidence from Honduras," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 120-128.
    3. Basnet, Shyam Kumar & Manevska-Tasevska, Gordana & Surry, Yves, 2018. "Explaining the Process for Conversion to Organic Dairy Farming in Sweden: An Alternative Modelling Approach," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 67(1), March.
    4. Laure Latruffe & Douadia Bougherara & Jasmin Sainte-Beuve, 2012. "Economic performance in organic farming in France: incentive or disincentive to convert?," Post-Print hal-01190622, HAL.
    5. Mrinila, Singh & Keshav, Lall Maharjan & Bijan, Maskey, 2015. "Factors impacting adoption of organic farming in chitwan district of Nepal," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society (AESS), vol. 5(01), pages 1-12, January.
    6. Ariana P. Torres & Nicholas A. Lancaster & Luiz H. B. Vilas Boas, 2020. "Categorizing Organic Grain Buyers in the Midwestern United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-16, June.
    7. Nguyen Cong Dinh & Takeshi Mizunoya & Vo Hoang Ha & Pham Xuan Hung & Nguyen Quang Tan & Le Thanh An, 2023. "Factors influencing farmer intentions to scale up organic rice farming: preliminary findings from the context of agricultural production in Central Vietnam," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 749-774, September.
    8. Ratana Sapbamrer & Ajchamon Thammachai, 2021. "A Systematic Review of Factors Influencing Farmers’ Adoption of Organic Farming," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-28, March.
    9. Uematsu, Hiroki & Mishra, Ashok K., 2012. "Organic farmers or conventional farmers: Where's the money?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 55-62.
    10. Saem Lee & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Patrick Poppenborg & Hio-Jung Shin & Thomas Koellner, 2016. "Conventional, Partially Converted and Environmentally Friendly Farming in South Korea: Profitability and Factors Affecting Farmers’ Choice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-18, July.
    11. Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure & Zongho Kom & Karabo Shale & Nthaduleni Samuel Nethengwe & Jacobus Steyn, 2021. "Perceptions of Smallholder Farmers towards Organic Farming in South Africa," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.
    12. Parvathi, Priyanka & Waibel, Hermann, 2015. "Adoption and Impact of Black Pepper Certification in India," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 54(2), pages 1-29, May.
    13. Hana Stojanová & Veronika Blašková & Michaela Lněničková, 2018. "The Importance of Factors Affecting the Entry of Entrepreneurial Subjects to Organic Farming in the Czech Republic," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 66(4), pages 1017-1024.
    14. Nguyen Khanh Doanh & Nguyen Thi Thu Thuong & Yoon Heo, 2018. "Impact of Conversion to Organic Tea Cultivation on Household Income in the Mountainous Areas of Northern Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, November.
    15. Daniele Mozzato & Paola Gatto & Edi Defrancesco & Lucia Bortolini & Francesco Pirotti & Elena Pisani & Luigi Sartori, 2018. "The Role of Factors Affecting the Adoption of Environmentally Friendly Farming Practices: Can Geographical Context and Time Explain the Differences Emerging from Literature?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, August.
    16. Froehlich, Anderson G. & Melo, Andrea S.S.A. & Sampaio, Breno, 2018. "Comparing the Profitability of Organic and Conventional Production in Family Farming: Empirical Evidence From Brazil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 307-314.
    17. Philippos Karipidis & Sotiria Karypidou, 2021. "Factors that Impact Farmers’ Organic Conversion Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-24, April.
    18. Steven McGreevy, 2012. "Lost in translation: incomer organic farmers, local knowledge, and the revitalization of upland Japanese hamlets," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(3), pages 393-412, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cuevas, Agham C., 2014. "Transaction Costs of Exchange in Agriculture: A Survey," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, June.
    2. B.C. Okoye & A. Abass & B. Bachwenkizi & G. Asumugha & B. Alenkhe & R. Ranaivoson & R. Randrianarivelo & N. Rabemanantsoa & I. Ralimanana, 2016. "Effect of transaction costs on market participation among smallholder cassava farmers in Central Madagascar," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1143597-114, December.
    3. Kiprotich Sigei, Geoffrey, 2014. "Determinants of Market Participation Among Small-Scale Pineapple Farmers in Kericho County, Kenya," Research Theses 243452, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    4. MacInnis, Bo, 2004. "Transaction Costs And Organic Marketing: Evidence From U.S. Organic Produce Farmers," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20386, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Sigei, Geoffrey & Bett, Hillary & Kibet, Lawrence, 2014. "Determinants of Market Participation among Small-scale Pineapple Farmers in Kericho County, Kenya," MPRA Paper 56149, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Zezza, Alberto & Llambi, Luis, 2002. "Meso-Economic Filters Along the Policy Chain: Understanding the Links Between Policy Reforms and Rural Poverty in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1865-1884, November.
    7. Barrett, Christopher B., 2008. "Smallholder market participation: Concepts and evidence from eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 299-317, August.
    8. Mignouna, D.B. & Abdoulaye, T. & Alene, A. & Akinola, A.A. & Manyong, V.M., 2015. "Drivers of Market Participation Decisions among Small-scale Farmers in Yam Growing Areas of Nigeria and Ghana," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 230219, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Momanyi, Denis & Lagat, Prof. Job K. & Ayuya, Dr. Oscar I., 2016. "Analysis of the Marketing Behaviour of African Indigenous Leafy Vegetables among Smallholder Farmers in Nyamira County, Kenya," MPRA Paper 69202, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 27 Jan 2016.
    10. Vakis, Renos & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & de Janvry, Alain, 2003. "Measuring Transactions Costs from Observed Behavior: Market Choice in Peru," CUDARE Working Papers 25110, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    11. Mujawamariya, G. & Burger, K. & D’Haese, M., 2015. "Market-driven production with transaction costs outlook: Gum arabic collection systems in Senegal," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 111-130.
    12. Yao, B. & Shanoyan, A., 2018. "The Use of Mobile Money Application and Smallholder Farmer Market Participation: Evidence form Cote d Ivoire and Tanzania," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277259, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Rie Muraoka & Tomoya Matsumoto & Songqing Jin & Keijiro Otsuka, 2016. "On the Possibility of a Maize Green Revolution in the Highlands of Kenya: An Assessment of Emerging Intensive Farming Systems," Natural Resource Management and Policy, in: Keijiro Otsuka & Donald F. Larson (ed.), In Pursuit of an African Green Revolution, edition 1, chapter 0, pages 145-164, Springer.
    14. Ganesh Thapa & Yam Kanta Gaihre & Dyutiman Choudhary & Shriniwas Gautam, 2023. "Does private sector involvement improve the distribution efficiency of subsidized fertilizer? A natural experiment from Nepal," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(3), pages 429-446, May.
    15. Paswel P. Marenya & Christopher B. Barrett, 2009. "Soil quality and fertilizer use rates among smallholder farmers in western Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(5), pages 561-572, September.
    16. Jagwe, John & Machethe, Charles Lepepeule & Ouma, Emily, 2010. "Transaction costs and smallholder farmers’ participation in banana markets in the Great Lakes Region of Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 5(2), pages 1-16, December.
    17. Rios, Ana R. & Shively, Gerald E. & Masters, William A., 2009. "Farm Productivity and Household Market Participation: Evidence from LSMS Data," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51031, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Kherallah, Mylene & Kirsten, Johann F, 2002. "The New Institutional Economics: Applications For Agricultural Policy Research In Developing Countries," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 41(2).
    19. Larson,Donald F. & Savastano,Sara & Murray,Siobhan & Palacios-Lopez,Amparo & Larson,Donald F. & Savastano,Sara & Murray,Siobhan & Palacios-Lopez,Amparo, 2015. "Are women less productive farmers ? how markets and risk affect fertilizer use, productivity, and measured gender effects in Uganda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7241, The World Bank.
    20. Wouter Zant, 2016. "How does Market Access for Smallholders affect Export Supply? The Case of Tobacco Marketing in Malawi," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 16-054/V, Tinbergen Institute, revised 08 Aug 2018.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:canjag:v:58:y:2010:i:1:p:37-56. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/caefmea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.