Deck 20: Agricultural Research and Extension

Question 1

Which of the following effects from adopting a new agricultural technology is considered a negative spillover effect?

A) When technical change leads decreases crop yield
B) When technical change lowers the cost of labor for a farm
C) When technical change leads to an increase in food supply lowering the price of food paid by consumers
D) When technical change leads to an decrease in farm profit for non-adopting farms as food prices decrease

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Adoption rates of new technologies will tend to ________ for farms when output prices ___________ or when labor and fertilizer costs _______.

A) Increase; decrease; decrease
B) Increase; increase; decrease
C) Decrease; increase; increase
D) Decrease; decrease; decrease

Answer 2

B

Question 3

All of the following are types of knowledge that are important to a farmer in the decision to adopt a new technology except?

A) The farmer must know of the technology's existence
B) The famer has to learn how to use it
C) The farmer has to understand the benefits and costs of employing it on a farm
D) All of the above are important types of knowledge for a famers adoption decision

Answer 3

D

Question 4

A farmer who anticipates chronic short-term liquidity constraints would,therefore,be ______ likely to adopt a technology that ___________ annual planting season input and financing requirements

A) more; leaves unchanged
B) more; raises
C) less; decreases
D) less; raises

Question 5

Which of the following is not considered an up-front cost of adopting a new technology?

A) The cost of purchasing or constructing capital structures
B) The cost of learning
C) Fees for extension services
D) Labor costs for utilizing the new technology

Question 6

Circumstantial sensitivity in agricultural research means that:

A) All a developing country has to do is borrow the research already done by developed countries
B) If a new strain of wheat doubles the yield in India it will do so in every other climate
C) Agricultural technologies deliver results that vary with agro-climate conditions
D) Technologies offering excellent results in some areas should never be altered

Question 7

Why does technical change in agricultural merit the concern of development economists?

A) Technical change can be an important source of inflation
B) In a developing country where a small percentage of the population are involved in agriculture,technical change is less important than other development goals
C) It has the ability to reduce poverty for many groups within a developing country
D) Technical change will be required to sustain inflation in food prices

Question 8

Adoption rates differ among males and females and development programs can ______ gender gaps by:

A) Widen; developing better technologies only for men's crops
B) Widen; developing better technologies for women's cops
C) Shrink; developing better technologies for women's cops
D) Shrink; developing better technologies only for men's crops

Question 9

Several studies have confirmed that as the time and effort needed to adopt new technology_________ farmers tend to ________,undertaking less experimentation of their own?

A) Increases; under-adopt
B) Increases; free-ride
C) Decreases; over-adopt
D) Decreases; under-adopt

Question 10

When governments intervene by effectively identifying and punishing producers who use protected ideas without license,it is dealing with the problem of _______ in order to ______the profits of private firms.

A) Non-excludability; decrease
B) Non-rivalry; increase
C) Non-excludability; increase
D) Non-rivalry; decrease

Question 11

Which of the following is not a benefit to developing countries of the "Green Revolution"?

A) Using safer chemicals as fertilizer reduced output but improved crop quality
B) It was founded on the development of new varieties of wheat,rice and corn that increased per-acre yields
C) New seed varieties produce crops with shorter growing season,which reduce farmers exposure to late-season droughts
D) New seed varieties yield crops that are more resistant to transportation and retain more nutrients

Question 12

Which of the following would not be classified as an extension agent?

A) Farmers,when they share knowledge about technologies with their neighbors
B) Any actor who in forms farmers about the use of new technologies
C) Agricultural researcher in a developed country
D) All of the above could be considered an extension agent

Question 13

Which three groups are crucial to putting technical change in agriculture into practice?

A) Managers,laborers,and farmers
B) Agricultural researchers,extension agents,and end users
C) Farmers,bankers,and government bureaucrats
D) Managers of agricultural research institutions,large corporations,and small businesses

Question 14

Agricultural extension agents include any actors who:

A) Informs or teach farmers about the use of new technologies
B) Farmers who use new technology
C) Extend the life of current technology
D) Agricultural researchers who develop new strains of crops

Question 15

What are the costs associated with a "zero tillage" cropping system?

A) Farmers use tiles to precisely measure the area between each crop so the cost is labor hours
B) Farmers leave crop residue at the end of harvest and plant the next crop without removing it,costing the famer extra labor and irrigation
C) Farmers leave crop residue at the end of harvest and plant the next crop without removing it,costing the famer extra difficulty with pest control
D) Farmers remove crop residue and use it as fertilizer instead of traditional fertilizers,costing the farmer in reduced crop yield

Question 16

As a farm's access to crop insurance ________ the ______any additional risk will deter adoption of a new technology.

A) Increase; more
B) Increase; less
C) Decrease; probability will remain the same that
D) Decrease; less

Question 17

Which of the following effects from adopting a new agricultural technology is considered a spillover effect?

A) When technical change leads to an increased crop yield
B) When technical change lowers the cost of labor for a farm
C) When technical change leads to an increase in food supply lowering the price of food
D) When technical change leads to an decrease in farm profit

Question 18

When do agricultural research and extension agents actually introduce change into economic systems?

A) When the up-front cost of the new technologies outweighs the perceived benefits
B) When farmers adopt the new technologies
C) When farmers are introduced to new farming technologies
D) When the government introduces new technologies to the population

Question 19

Let p,q,and w represent the crop price,fertilizer price and harvest-season wage.Which of the following is an expression for the expected change in profits from adopting a new technology?

A) Δπ = p ΔY + q ΔF - w ΔL
B) Δπ = p ΔY - q ΔF + w ΔL
C) Δπ = p ΔY + q ΔF + w ΔL
D) Δπ = p ΔY - q ΔF - w ΔL

Question 20

How can managers of agricultural research institutions influence the direction of technical change?

A) They choose which crops to work on
B) They choose plant characteristics
C) They choose which capital goods to develop
D) Managers of agricultural research institutions can do all of the above to influence the direction of technical change

Question 21

What is meant by Pull financing ?

A) Paying for civil service inputs
B) Offers rewards for specified new technologies
C) Does not require the new technologies to ever be implemented
D) One farm is a government trial farm hoping to "Pull in new farms"

Question 22

How does the tacit nature of technological knowledge complicate the job of an extension agent?

Question 23

What are some rationales for government intervention in agricultural research?

Question 24

Many new agricultural technologies are better characterized as toll goods rather than pure public goods meaning:

A) Non-excludable and non-rival
B) Non-rival but excludable
C) Non-excludable but rival in consumption
D) Rival and excludable

Question 25

Which of the following can be an explanation for the slow technological progress throughout the world?

A) The free rider problem
B) Rivalry in basic research
C) Asymmetric information in applied research
D) Moral hazard from basic research

Question 26

The internal rate of return (IRR)indicates the interest rate at which the discounted stream of benefits would just equal the discounted costs; thus _______ internal rates of return indicate ______ investments.?

A) Lower; no change to
B) Lower; better
C) Higher; worse
D) Higher; better

Question 27

Which of the following is a rationale for intervention in agricultural extension?

A) Privately held firms rarely provide extension services even when profitable
B) Farmers may be unaware of the potential benefits from extension services
C) There are significant negative externalities associated with extension services
D) Because free riding in extension services is not possible intervention is less important than in other areas.

Question 28

Discuss the direct and indirect effects of adopting a new agricultural technology.(Include at least 2 examples of positive effects and negative effects for each case).