51 - who are less commercial (both in product and input) and whose resources relative to their Sms are extremely close. Where the proposed innovation and its associated variance exceeds the Sms, such as was shown to be the case with the new rice varieties in the Philippines, then adoption proves to be swift. B, Some Program and Policy Implications There are some obvious policy and program implications to the above analysis. If risk and uncertainty are as important in the context of subsistence as indicated, then certain steps are required to assure a greater rapidity and extent of adoption of new technology. First, information on the variance of any new technology is as important as its average performance, Any determination of the economic feasibility of a new practice or technique should pay equal, if not more, attention to the variance in yields, especially the lower deviations as they relate to minimum subsistence standards of living of potential innovating farmers. Second, in developing new technologies, agricultural research organizations should recognize the importance which subsistence farmers attach to the variances associated with any possible innovation. Plant breeders, for example, should pay greater attention to those specific characteristics which may help to reduce negative deviation and offer greater dependability. / Third, where only a narrow range covers the minimum subsistence standards, levels of living, and physiologic minima (Type A situation in Figure 1), programs designed to diffuse new technology need to pay much greater attention to methods for "risk insurance" [tiarglin, 1965] or assuring the peasant who innovates that failure (i.e., an output falling below his minimum subsistence standard) will not result in a major penalty, viz. loss of life or loss of Dr Sy colleague/Albert H, IMoseman has pointed out that much of the plant breeding work in the US during the past 25 years has paid close attention to this factor in their work for US agriculture.