95
© The Author(s) 2021
H. Campos (ed.), The Innovation Revolution in Agriculture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50991-0_4
Chapter 4
Rethinking Adoption and Diffusion
as a Collective Social Process: Towards
an Interactional Perspective
Cees Leeuwis and Noelle Aarts
4.1 Introduction
While many scholars and practitioners use the term ‘agricultural development’, the
meaning of the concept is ambiguous, as there exist different views on the desired
model of agriculture. For example, some associate ‘agricultural development’ with
an ‘agro-ecological’ future, while others make a plea for ‘sustainable intensification’. Regardless of such view, agricultural development is somehow associated
with changes in agricultural practices, including the so-called adoption of technological and other types of innovation that are congruent with a proposed agricultural
development trajectory. The term adoption has a long tradition and has been used in
many studies (Rogers 1962; Loevinsohn et al. 2012, 2013). Frequently, such studies
assess the adoption of new practices and technologies as part of an effort to determine the success or failure of development interventions. At the same time, several
scholars have pointed to difficulties with regard to such a use of the term ‘adoption’
in research and development practice (Loevinsohn et al. 2012, 2013; Glover et al.
2016). It is argued that it is far from clear when someone can be regarded as having
actually ‘adopted’ a practice or technology; should we speak of adoption when
someone uses a new practice on a small portion of a farm, for a short period of time,
or for merely opportunistic reasons (e.g. to get access to a service or network)?
Another critique is that the term obscures the socio-technical character of change,
as well as emergent forms of creolisation, making and redesign that frequently
C. Leeuwis (*)
Knowledge, Technology and Innovation group at the Section Communication, Philosophy
and Technology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
e-mail: cees.leeuwis@wur.nl
N. Aarts
Socio-Ecological Interactions group at the Institute for Science in Society, Radboud
University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
e-mail: noelle.aarts@ru.nl
© The Author(s) 2021
H. Campos (ed.), The Innovation Revolution in Agriculture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50991-0_4
Chapter 4
Rethinking Adoption and Diffusion
as a Collective Social Process: Towards
an Interactional Perspective
Cees Leeuwis and Noelle Aarts
4.1 Introduction
While many scholars and practitioners use the term ‘agricultural development’, the
meaning of the concept is ambiguous, as there exist different views on the desired
model of agriculture. For example, some associate ‘agricultural development’ with
an ‘agro-ecological’ future, while others make a plea for ‘sustainable intensification’. Regardless of such view, agricultural development is somehow associated
with changes in agricultural practices, including the so-called adoption of technological and other types of innovation that are congruent with a proposed agricultural
development trajectory. The term adoption has a long tradition and has been used in
many studies (Rogers 1962; Loevinsohn et al. 2012, 2013). Frequently, such studies
assess the adoption of new practices and technologies as part of an effort to determine the success or failure of development interventions. At the same time, several
scholars have pointed to difficulties with regard to such a use of the term ‘adoption’
in research and development practice (Loevinsohn et al. 2012, 2013; Glover et al.
2016). It is argued that it is far from clear when someone can be regarded as having
actually ‘adopted’ a practice or technology; should we speak of adoption when
someone uses a new practice on a small portion of a farm, for a short period of time,
or for merely opportunistic reasons (e.g. to get access to a service or network)?
Another critique is that the term obscures the socio-technical character of change,
as well as emergent forms of creolisation, making and redesign that frequently
C. Leeuwis (*)
Knowledge, Technology and Innovation group at the Section Communication, Philosophy
and Technology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
e-mail: cees.leeuwis@wur.nl
N. Aarts
Socio-Ecological Interactions group at the Institute for Science in Society, Radboud
University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
e-mail: noelle.aarts@ru.nl