Dr Germán Puga, a Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia’s Centre for Agricultural Economics and Development (CAED), is set to make significant contributions to the future of Australia’s agricultural sector. 

Funded by the ARC Training Centre for Behavioural Insights for Technology Adoption (BITA), his work examines the psychological and economic factors influencing producer’s decisions, aiming to develop strategies that encourage and improve the efficiency of technology uptake in Australia’s agricultural industry. 

“Our research relies on behavioural economics to explain the challenges of technology adoption and provide insights on how to overcome them,” Dr Puga says. 

Before joining UWA, Dr Puga completed his PhD and postdoctoral research at The University of Adelaide, where he worked under the mentorship of Professor Kym Anderson at the Wine Economics Research Centre. His experience in the global wine industry provided a strong foundation in agricultural economics, shaping his current research focus. 

Adopting new technologies in agriculture often proves more challenging than expected. As Dr Puga notes, “the adoption of agricultural technologies often falls short of expectations and takes longer than anticipated”. 

"We argue that although frequently neglected, the challenges of dis-adopting an existing technology and analysing multiple options play a huge role in driving adoption".

Dr Germán Puga

 

These challenges are further influenced by factors such as uncertainty, social interactions, the “often-subjective views” producers have of technologies, and typical behaviours that account for the gap between the intention to adopt and actual adoption.  

“Numerous biases impact producer’s adoption decisions and often lead to unrealistic expectations from technology suppliers” Dr Puga says.  

Over next three years, Dr Puga will focus on a new research area within BITA, exploring the intersection of technology adoption and behavioural economics. His work will cover various industry-relevant projects, including some linked to climate change mitigation and adaptation, across various sectors including livestock and horticulture. 

“Our aim is to increase the adoption of technologies, but only those that are very advantageous for producers and the overall community — not all technologies”.  

Working alongside Professor Marit Kragt, from UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, a team of agricultural economists and PhD students, Dr Puga aims to create actionable strategies that can help improve the rate and efficiency of adoption across different sectors of agriculture.  

“Our goal is to provide recommendations for technology suppliers looking to increase the adoption of their technologies”, Dr Puga says. “These recommendations include using choice architecture fairly and reducing information asymmetries between them and potential adopters”.