The liberalisation and globalisation of agricultural markets, has led to a shift of the EU common agricultural policy from quantity based to quality based policies and is accompanied by diversification of agricultural production in the European Union. For policy makers it is therefore relevant to better understand the drivers that influence the adoption and spatial distribution of emerging alternative practices and commodities in agriculture. Taking the Styrian Oil Pumpkin as an example, the aim of this study is to quantify the drivers of spatial variations in the cultivation of an emerging alternative crop. We estimate different econometric models, drawing on cross sectional data of the year 2010 of 549 municipalities in the Styrian Oil Pumpkin PGI area. Our findings indicate that (i) crop specific factors, (ii) region specific factors and (iii) spatial interdependencies influence spatial variations in oil pumpkin cultivated area and conclude that these factors also need to be considered for the promotion of other emerging alternative practices and commodities in agriculture.