Innovators are also venturesome- venturesome people are always venturing in to new areas and so are always eager to try out new ideas. This interest leads them out of a local circle of peers and into more cosmopolite social relationships. Communication patterns and friendships among a group of innovators are common, even though the geographical distance between the innovators may be great. Being an innovator has several prerequisites. He desires the hazardous, the rash, the daring, and the risky. The innovator also must be willing to accept an occasional setback when one of the new ideas he adopts proves unsuccessful. These are the first people to adopt a new idea, much ahead of other people. They are very few in numbers, probably not more than one or two in a community.
Have respect and prestige in progressive communities but not in conservative type of communities.
Mentally alert and actively seeking new ideas.
Their sphere of influence and activity often goes beyond the community boundaries.
They have many formal and informal contacts outside the immediate locality.
They often by-pass the local extension worker in getting information from the originating sources, and may learn about new things even before he does. They sometimes manage to get amplest of seeds or chemicals even before they are released for public use.
They subscribe to many farm magazines and specialized publications.
Other farmers may watch the innovators and know what they are doing but the innovators are not generally named by other farmers as “neighbours and friends” to whom they go for information.
Participants