The ecological agriculture diffusion in Europe
In this work we analyse the evolution of organic agriculture in Europe
from the point of view of Innovations Diffusion Theory in order to understand the
characteristics of the process, and the factors that have determined its course in the
past. From the corresponding diffusion models for data concerning the spread of organic
farming in the fifteen countries belonging to the EU from 1985 to 2002, we
conclude that the diffusion advance of organic cultivation has been driven by imitation.
Furthermore, there is evidence that the characteristics of the diffusion process in
each country depend on certain economic characteristics related with the purchasing
power of its population, on the influence and experience of neighbouring countries
that have adopted before and the moment at which any innovation is introduced.
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