Prospects for innovation in agriculture

Husti, István

Keywords: innovation, agricultural development, agricultural innovation, adaptive innovation, adaptive innovation model

The Hungarian results in the field of innovation have been at a low level for a long time. This is the case with agricultural innovation as well, where the desired level of development needs progressive innovation. For this, there are tasks to be carried out at both macro- and micro level.
This paper deals with some of these tasks. In the Hungarian situation it is impossible to follow the classical innovation models which are based on R+D. The cooperation between the partners of innovation systems has disappeared. The interests of the agricultural actors have dramatically changed during the last twenty years. In this situation there is no chance for “original” innovation solutions; it is more practical to follow the steps of the adaptive innovation model. This could be more useful especially for small and medium-size enterprises. Some of the elements of the professional and financial background are already available and those which are missing could be developed. It is necessary to integrate these elements into a well-defined system. It may be necessary to form one (or more) organisation(s) dealing with technological transfer and/or agricultural technological development.
The published adaptive agricultural innovation model is not a panacea but it could be a useful tool to help persons and organisations which are interested, as actors, in the external support, entrepreneur’s inclination and adaptive process to achieve a better innovative per-formance in Hungarian agriculture.

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