1 Motivations of Dutch farmers to invest in an automatic milking system or a conventional milking parlour Henk Hogeveen 1,3 , Kees Heemskerk 1 and Erik Mathijs 2 1 Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen the Netherlands 2 Department of Agricultural and Environmental Economics, Catholic University Leuven, Leuven, Belgium 3 Current address: Department of Farm Animal Health, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands Abstract Besides business economics other motivations might also play an important role in the adoption of new technology. The objectives of this research were to gain insight in the motivation and background of the farmers who choose for an automatic milking (AM) system in comparison with those who choose for a conventional milking (CM) system. In total 120 randomly selected farmers (60 who recently invested in an AM-system and 60 who recently invested in a CM-system entered the study. The farmers answered a questionnaire with questions on motivation to invest in the milking technology, farm structure, personal circumstances and reduction in labour. The five most important motivations for the farmers to invest in an AM-system instead of a CM-system were: less (heavy) labour, increased flexibility, the possibility to milk cows more than twice a day, the leaving of an employee and the need for a new milking system. The five most important motivations for a farmer to invest in a CM-system instead of an AM-system were: lower costs, being standby for 24 hrs per day, lower operational security of the AM-system, less flexibility with an increasing farm seize and the higher expenses with an increasing farm seize. On average, farmers who invested in an AM-system were of the same farm seize as farmers who invested in a CM-system. There was no difference in educational level between the two groups. In the group that invested in an AM- system, there were more farmers without a successor. Introduction One of the key factors influencing the adopting process is the perceived economic gains that producers will reap from new technology. Without knowing the economic consequence of adopting a new technology, managers will be extremely reluctant to employ them. However the economic consequence is not the only factor that will influence the adoption process. Other influential factors include the degree in with the mix of resources (e.g., labour and capital) utilized in the production process is changed, the level of management skills needed to make effective use of the technology, institutional constraints such as government regulations, and the motivation and goals of the producer (Dijkhuizen et al., 1997).