Innovations on Family Farms: The Nazareth Region in Israel

This paper analyzes factors that affect innovativeness on family farms under Arab social and institutional systems in the Nazareth region in the north of Israel. The adoption of five different innovations was studied and an "index of innovativeness" was constructed. Innovativeness was found to be affected positively by risk tolerance, extension, and water quota allotment and affected negatively by the farm's land area. The latter result supports the hypothesis that a small land area provides an incentive to adopt high-payoff, input-intensive innovations. Innovativeness is affected by extension but not necessarily by education. This result implies that farmers with elementary school education are capable of adopting complex technologies if proper extension services are provided.