This paper explores the processes of economic change in rural Tanzania. It investigates some of the factors that have contributed to the adoption of innovations in economic practice in Ulanga District, Morogoro Region, since the 1990s.1 Understanding the factors which contribute to innovation is important for understanding how actual change occurs in rural areas. It also highlights important limitations in current policy models of change that are based on specific assumptions about economic behaviour and the impact of agricultural technologies. By focusing only on individual behaviour or the impact of technology, policy models of change fail to capture the multiple factors that generate change in particular settings.