Using the farm tractor as a case study, I show that lags in technology diffusion arise along two distinct margins, which I term scale and scope. Though tractors are now used in nearly every agricultural field operation and in the production of nearly all crops, they first developed with much...

The Plant Patent Act of 1930 was the first step towards creating property rights for biological innovation: it introduced patent rights for asexually-propagated plants. This chapter uses data on plant patents and registrations of new varieties to examine whether the Act encouraged innovation....

Many economists agree that markets work exceptionally well yet concede that this can only happen within the context of clearly defined property rights, which necessitates government action. This is false. Ice harvesters in 19th century Boston were able to create their own system of property...

Implementation of suitable innovation packages into cropping systems is required to address the issues of food security and improvement of the crop yield in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, quantification of the effects of innovation packages such as increase in fertilizer application rates,...

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for the agriculture sector present diverse characteristics and serve for multiple purposes; information systems, wireless sensors, drones, etc. These are used for the care of resources, such as soil and water, for improving and monitoring crops,...

Some entry barriers in agricultural and agro-processing value chains, particularly for smallholder farmers and small/medium-sized processors, can be overcome with innovation and technology adoption. Technologies and innovation in these sectors have been both radical and incremental, ranging...

Ethiopia is endowed with significant livestock resources and holds the largest livestock population in Africa, estimated at around 60 million cattle, 60 million sheep and goats, 52 million chickens, 4.5 million camels, 10 million bee colonies and 7.2 million equines. The livestock production and...

The production and consumption of animal source foods is central to the ongoing discussion of global food systems. The objectives of this report are first to describe the patterns and changing structures of the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) livestock sector and secondly to explore innovations that...

This study addresses factors influencing the adoption of specialty rice variety among smallholder farmers in Vietnam. We used a sample of 336 farmers from the Red River Delta who were interviewed between October and December 2014. We follow the adoption behavior model based on the utility...

In the past three decades, the seed sector has experienced, and is now again experiencing, corporate concentration trends. The fallout of this consolidation is the subject of numerous concerns. However, the seed sector is rather poorly understood. Thus, it is useful to understand it better and...