INTERPAKS, University Park, PA: Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, Pennsylvania State University, January 1962. (Bulletin 691). 18 p., Presents the results of a study of the extent to which the rate of adoption of new managerial and technological practices is related to their cost, complexity, and other attributes. Adoption rates for 43 farm practices were determined from the adoption histories of 229 commercial dairy farmers. Relationships between attribute ratings established during the study and known rates of adoption were determined. Farm practices which rated low in complexity and high in compatibility and saving of time were adopted more rapidly than others. Those rated high in mechanical attraction and saving of physical discomfort also tended to be adopted rapidly but the correlations were not statistically significant. The data show that high initial cost, high continuing costs, and a slow rate of cost recovery are not necessarily deterrents to rapid adoption. The other attributes, association with dairying and divisibility for trial, were not associated with rate of adoption.
