Learning from six reasons why farmers do not adopt innovations intended to improve sustainability of upland agriculture

Despite the plethora of research targeting adoption of agroforestry and other natural resource conservation strategies in upland agriculture, these technologies are not widely adopted where they are needed most: upland agricultural enterprises in Southeast Asia. The author critically examines two cases of on-farm research studies and five field studies that involved interviews of adopters, non-adopters, and personnel. From these case studies in the Philippines and extension, researcher, and farmer observations, six reasons why new innovations are not adopted were derived to stimulate further discussion and research.