In September 1981, the then Minister for Primary Industry set up a Working Group under the Chairmanship of Sir James Balderstone to prepare, within one year, a policy discussion paper on agriculture. The terms of reference were wide-ranging and included the need to identify the major policy...

Some hypotheses about the timing of farmers becoming aware of an innovation and the subsequent decision to use that innovation are derived from a recently developed, decision-theoretic model of the adoption process. They are tested using empirical evidence on the time taken by early adopters of...

This paper is an introduction to the Development Studies Conference and an overview of the four main topics that were the focus of conference discussion. A survey of the evolution of development thought serves to introduce the presentation of nine hypotheses. The latter provide a framework for...