Knowledge and Adoption of Organic Agriculture: Diffusion Over Time Among Andalusian Olive Farmers

The objective is to analyse the diffusion over time process of the knowledge and adoption of a sustainable technological innovation -organic agriculture- in the South of Spain -Andalusia region- and for a crop of paramount importance there -olive- within the framework of the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. Results show that diffusion is essentially due to an autonomous "contagion" among olive growers with a little external intervention. In many regions, particularly in low yield conditions, adoption of organic farming has come to an standstill, demonstrating the need to strengthen or modify the mechanisms of diffusion commonly used up to this time.