Sustainable technology adoption: a spatial analysis of the Irish Dairy Sector

This article explores spatial effects in the adoption of sustainable technologies using Bayesian spatial probit models employing a representative sample of Irish dairy farms. We consider global and local spatial effects, and overcome a missing neighbour problem by implementing census data in our spatial weight matrix. The findings reveal that spatial effects spill over to neighbours and better educated farmers with larger more intensively managed farms being more likely to adopt. The article concludes with policy recommendations that arise from our spatial analysis.