Combining agricultural science and economic knowledge to create behavioral change: A conceptual framework

This commentary develops a conceptual framework showing how economic research complements agriscience to influence farmer behavior and improve social outcomes. The first model—the workhorse profitability model—has economists estimate the on‐farm costs and benefits of new agriscientific practices. Economic results often imply adoption processes that are more complex than agriscience alone suggests; for example, the most beneficial technologies may also be high cost and less profitable in the near term. The second model—the policy‐problem model—examines how agriscience links on‐farm practices to off‐farm social problems and how economists design policies to align private incentives with public outcomes. This model also explains why recent economic research frequently identifies shortcomings in existing incentive‐based policies and highlights policy innovations that expand the role of market‐based solutions.