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Innovation in agriculture: An analysis of Swedish agricultural and non-agricultural firms

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  • Bjerke, Lina
  • Johansson, Sara

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on innovation in agri-food sectors. It presents a quantitative analysis of how innovation and innovation capacities differ between agricultural firms and firms in other sectors. With unique survey data on Swedish firms, we show that one-third of the firms in the agriculture sector are innovation creators. Moreover, incremental innovations in the form of firm-level technology adoption are not more prevalent in agriculture than in other sectors. These results indicate that agriculture does not appear as a special case concerning innovation output, besides their higher incidence of process innovations. The peculiarity of the sector rather seems to be related to firm-level innovation capacities. Our results suggest that agriculture is different in how they source relevant knowledge, which is a finding that could question the design of innovation support policies that emphasize collaborative research. Our findings rather point to a need of strengthening in-house knowledge capacities in agricultural firms. That would improve their capacity to participate in and benefit from collaborations with partners operating at higher levels in the knowledge system.

Suggested Citation

  • Bjerke, Lina & Johansson, Sara, 2022. "Innovation in agriculture: An analysis of Swedish agricultural and non-agricultural firms," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:109:y:2022:i:c:s0306919222000501
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102269
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agriculture; Innovation; Innovation capacity; Innovating firms; Innovation policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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