Determinants of agri-food firms' participation in public funded research and development

A database of over 2,700 agri‐food businesses in the region of Valencia, Spain was used to test the influence of internal characteristics of the firm and of external characteristics linked to local systems on the willingness to participate in R&D activities promoted by knowledge supporting institutions. A Probit model was estimated, correcting possible intragroup correlations when group variables are combined with individual data. Results show that R&D activities are enhanced in medium and large firms, co‐ops, experienced firms and better physical access to technological centers.