The New Zealand arable industry although small on a world scale is very innovative and rapidly utilises new technologies. However, not all technologies are taken up by farmers and some technologies are partially used by farmers. This paper reviews a number of new technologies and information that have been released to farmers and discusses some of the reasons why farmers rapidly take up some new practices but slowly pick up on other technologies. Factors such as return on investment, risk, simplicity of the system and farmers perceptions are discussed in relation to fertiliser, pest management, decision support models, plant growth regulators and precision agriculture.