The opinions of 1,585 Iowa farmers about 8 emergent agricultural technologies (energy production from feed grains and oils; energy production from livestock waste; genetic engineering research on plants, livestock, and humans; robotics for on-farm use; confinement livestock facilities; and personal computers for farm families) were found to be essentially independent of the respondents' socioeconomic statuses and farm characteristics. The best set of explanatory variables were opinions about science and support for land grant college activities. The more firmly respondents possessed a faith in science to solve society's problems, the greater their support for these third-wave technologies. Given the generally low relationship obtained in this analysis for personal characteristics, farm-firm characteristics, and science orientations, it seems that public acceptance of these technologies is dependent upon yet unidentified factors. Although data were not available in this study, it is suspected that moral and ethical considerations may loom large in the relatively low levels of support received by some of these third-wave technologies and may prove pivotal to both how farmers react to the newer technologies and to the scientific endeavors that create them. (Author/NEC)