Factors affecting farmer's likelihood to use advisory and extension services

Privatization and decentralization of public advisory and extension services (AES) are raising increasing concerns worldwide. However, the way farmers re-act to this reform, and how they select the most appropriate AES still remain puzzling and relatively under-explored. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to analyze the factors affecting the likelihood of farmers to use different types of AES. We analyze the decisions to use three different types of AES made by a sample of famers (443) in Italy (Marche region). This decision-making mechanism is related to the use of AES introduced by Marche Regional Administration (MRA) in a policy reform in 2005. By adopting this approach, we highlight the relevance of social capital and local networks in driving the decision to use services more related to information, knowledge sharing and diffusion, while the agricultural specialization remains the main factor affecting farmers` likelihood to use specialized and targeted services.