"The Impact of Attitudes on Cereal Variety Adoption Decisions in Alberta.".

University of Alberta, third place winner.

The goal of this study was to help guide development efforts of a current breeding program underway in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, aimed at producing new cold-tolerant cereal varieties. In order to maximize the impact of research dollars and efficiently meet the needs of producers in the realm of technology provision, it is helpful to understand the types of producers who might use the new varieties. A survey was used, in Alberta, Canada, to obtain data on producer attitudes affecting adoption of new technology, particularly in adopting a future cold-tolerant cereal variety. The survey was structured with demographic, attitudinal, and stated choice questions. A conditional logit regression model was used to estimates the probability of adoption based on the survey responses. Principal component analysis was used to limit the number of variables in the regression. Willingness to pay calculations are then made based on the selected logit model. Frost tolerance is found to be the most desired trait over a decrease in degree days for the sample population. Certain producer characteristics (for example, attitudes toward risk) were found to impact on the estimated willingness to pay for frost tolerance and decreased days to maturity.