Lol, I believe those statements require some qualifying too.

I think there is an even simpler explanation available. It is that agricultural work is inherently conservative. It relies on stability, predictable patterns and yields, and only incremental improvements. The farmer has a tried and true method of sustaining life, and he will not jeopardize that method with newfangled progressive ideas. He has a strong and realistic sense of what is possible given the tangible constraints of nature that he is so familiar with. He is not going to shoot for the moon and thereby risk losing what has taken so long to carefully develop. In general he is less ideational and more concrete, whereas progressives are the opposite. — Leontiskos

Yes I agree with that however what I find very incongruous is that they hate all that 'witchcraft' that happens in the cities however they are very quick to adopt new technologies for tractors and whatever other machinery which would inevitably have been discovered in those bohemian dens of iniquity they hate so much.

It is ironic that they rail against all the integration and progress but are certainly benefiting greatly from it. Also I was shocked how technical farming is these days, not only the machinery but all the statistics and data harvesting and collating and research and all that stuff and the farmers are eating it all up to get the slightest edge on nature and of course their competition.

however they are very quick to adopt new technologies for tractors and whatever other machinery — unimportant

Do you know many farmers? In my experience I don't think that they are quick to adopt new technologies. They are open to the idea, but tend to move slow. For example, I recently spoke with a highly successful farmer about the use of drones for pesticides. He outlined some of the pros and cons, but claimed that the technology is still a long ways off and will not be usable on a large scale anytime soon.

Well only on the periphery but it is not hard to spot the flash tractors they drive.

Drones, maybe but tractors are a mainstay and they are already comfortable with them so the improvements are incremental, not a jarring change.

I might not know them personally but I have read online communities lately, where they air their views freely. They might not be techy themselves but lots of chatter about the latest super modified crop which they want to purchase and stuff like that.

They use machines and spraying for everything hence why I stand by my post above. I would say they no more want to give up their modern technology than the city dweller.

I did also grow up in the country before 'getting out' to the big smoke so already had that background and my mother stayed in the country so have always heard bits what she says about the community there.

He has a strong and realistic sense of what is possible given the tangible constraints of nature that he is so familiar with. He is not going to shoot for the moon and thereby risk losing what has taken so long to carefully develop. In general he is less ideational and more concrete, whereas progressives are the opposite.

But in the U.K. it made him vulnerable to the newly developed (post 2008) Tory populist ideology. Which has now royally screwed him up. Just like the fishermen, who also fell for the populists. They are now just left reeling and in despair.

Although there is a sink or swim process going on, in which those who can stay afloat are moving into large scale agribusiness which is the new trend.

- Yes, that's fair. Government subsidies and large scale "agribusiness" have changed things a bit.

How readily a farmer will embrace new technology (or just a new pitch fork) depends on outstanding debt, size of the farm, value of suitable crops, cost of new equipment, availability of labor, the opinion of the loan officer at their bank, and so on.

Smaller, already indebted farms growing commodity crops that are not highly profitable, may be reluctant to buy state-of-the-art equipment because they can't afford it. A top of the line BIG John Deere tractor with full set of options might cost well over $1,000,000. A simple small tractor would cost much less, of course. If the farm consists of 4,000 acres of corn, a big tractor capable of pulling and powering big field equipment would be in order. For a small dairy operation, a small tractor would be suitable.

Whether a farmer needs a drone at this point is questionable. Hiring companies that can use drones to spray fields may be a better option than owning one. I don't know what the learning curve is on using drones for spraying insecticides or herbicides, and I don't know how much a drone costs that is big enough to carry a load of herbicide.

So, conservatism or liberalism may not be the critical factor in new farm technology.

Look up agrarian republic...?