Abstract: 【Objective】The study examined the issues of household action, policy of agricultural technology extension and development of new agricultural technologies, 【Method】We surveyed 245 farming households in the main grain producing district of Northeast China by means of participatory rural appraisal (PRA), to determine their acceptance and response to new agricultural technologies. from the analysis of farmer behavior, acceptance of agricultural technologies, type of technology in current use and types required, as well as attitude to agro-technical extension. 【Result】 Improvement in income and output were prime factors (accounting for 95 and 53% of respondents) for a farming household to accept a new technology. About 75% of farmers accepted new technologies through agricultural extension and farmer to farmer interaction. More than 96% households have already adopted new cultivars.Although new fertilizers and new agricultural vehicles or equipment are currently being used by only 2.0% and 6.5% of households about half of surveyed farmers consider them useful technologies for their future needs. For maize output, 90% of the households selected extensive cultivation and 60% poor cultivars as factors limiting their production. More than 64% of households is affected by the rising agriculture input prices and none has signed a sales contract. Although the farmers have been completely exempted from agricultural tax, more than 68% of them are still burdened by other taxes. Close to 90% of the farming households welcomed agricultural technology extension, particularly in the off season. One half of households had no access to extension services, but most farmers were satisfied with recent agricultural technology extension services. More than 93% of farmers agreed that the extension worker could deal in agricultural inputs but close to 85% felt that prices were too high.

Key words: participatory rural appraisal, grain production, new agricultural technology, extension, farmers