Abstract Low innovation adoption rates in agriculture have spurred intense research on farmers’ attitudes and motivations. Little attention has been paid to attitudes of other important actors in the knowledge transfer chain. Evidence indeed suggests that adoption rarely happens at the farm level, but requires the right inputs from science and extension services. Divergent attitudes among actors in the knowledge transfer chain may hence contribute to low adoption rates by transferring insufficient, outdated, irrelevant and/or incorrect information. This study is an investigation on attitudes towards climate change mitigation and adaptation of three classes of actors: sheep farmers, researchers involved in fields related to sheep farming and extension officers from private companies and public agencies. The investigation is based on data collected through self-administered questionnaires submitted to 165 participants to agricultural field days in Sardinia (Italy). The sample consists of sheep farmers (37,5%), researchers (16,4%), extension officers (32,1%) and other agricultural workers or students (14 %). In order to assess differences in attitude and identify the sources of attitudinal divergence, the study adopts Kolmogorov – Smirnov (KS) equality-of-distribution tests and Partial-least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Comparing and contrasting attitudes towards several topics related to GHG emission mitigation and adaptation to climate change reveal that researchers and extension officers have different attitudes towards innovation for mitigating GHG, that in turn depend on different information and beliefs on the causes and effects of climate change. This context is less than optimal to promote adoption of climate change mitigation or adaptation strategies. Climate change science and policy design need to recognise the complexity of knowledge transmission and the multiplicity of attitudes and beliefs that inform and affect the process. To mitigate the impact of diverging attitudes and beliefs among researchers and extension officers tailored communication strategies should avoid controversial issues and focus on benefits of innovation on farm efficiency. In turn, this would build trust and cooperation among all the actors in the knowledge transfer chain. Only when cooperation is assured, one could be confident that the information delivered to farmers is scientifically sound, relevant, value-neutral and useful in changing farmers' behaviour.

中文翻译：

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绵羊养殖中减缓和适应气候变化的政策设计：知识转移链研究的见解

摘要 农业中较低的创新采用率激发了对农民态度和动机的深入研究。很少关注知识转移链中其他重要参与者的态度。证据确实表明，采用很少发生在农场一级，但需要科学和推广服务的正确投入。因此，知识转移链中参与者之间的不同态度可能会通过转移不足、过时、不相关和/或不正确的信息而导致采用率低。本研究调查了三类参与者对气候变化减缓和适应的态度：养羊者、从事与养羊相关领域的研究人员以及来自私营公司和公共机构的推广人员。该调查基于通过向撒丁岛（意大利）农田日的 165 名参与者提交的自我管理问卷收集的数据。样本包括牧羊人 (37.5%)、研究人员 (16.4%)、推广人员 (32.1%) 和其他农业工人或学生 (14%)。为了评估态度差异并确定态度分歧的来源，本研究采用 Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) 分布平等检验和偏最小二乘结构方程模型 (PLS-SEM)。对与温室气体减排和适应气候变化相关的几个主题的比较和对比态度表明，研究人员和推广人员对减少温室气体的创新有不同的态度，这反过来又取决于关于气候变化原因和影响的不同信息和信念。这种情况不是促进采用气候变化减缓或适应战略的最佳选择。气候变化科学和政策设计需要认识到知识传播的复杂性以及影响过程的态度和信念的多样性。为了减轻研究人员和推广人员之间不同的态度和信念的影响，量身定制的沟通策略应该避免有争议的问题，并关注创新对农场效率的好处。反过来，这将在知识转移链中的所有参与者之间建立信任与合作。只有当合作得到保证时，人们才能确信提供给农民的信息是科学合理的、相关的、