An inertia model for the adoption of new farming practices

Nutrient emissions from agricultural land are now widely recognized as one of the key contributors to poor water quality in local lakes, rivers, and streams. Nutrient trading for nonpoint sources, including farms, has been suggested as a regulatory tool to improve and protect water quality. However, farmers' attitudes suggest that they are resistant to adopting the unfamiliar technologies and farm management practices that may be required under such a scheme. This study develops a model of farmers' resistance to change and demonstrates how this affects their adoption of new mitigation technologies under nutrient trading regulation. We present the model and derive some of its properties in the two-farmer case.