Average number of field crop species cultivated in Finland is very low. About 50 % of all Finnish farms cultivate no more than one plant species. Only 12,8 % of the farms produces three or more crop species. However, the agricultural and environmental policies of EU favor more diverse crop production. As a part of so called multifunctional agriculture, the protection and maintenance of biodiversity of agricultural landscapes will be an increasingly important issue. Farmers also need to find out new alternative crops to survive in the market. For example, plant species cultivated for energy may provide an economically acceptable alternative for food production. A survey was made to explore the experiences and the attitudes of farmers on 13 crop species, which we call special crops in this study. These plants have been cultivated in Finland only in very small scale during the last decades. The results were analyzed in the framework of innovation theory, since the cultivation of these plant species was considered as an innovation. The objective of the study was 1) to characterize the adopters of the innovation, 2) to clarify the factors affecting the adoption of innovation, 3) to investigate, how the farmers see the future of the special crops and 4) to provide the ways to promote cultivation of these crops. Total number of respondents was 1020 farmers, and 232 of them had cultivated special crops. About one half of them still continued the cultivation of special crops. Majority of the all respondents had not cultivated special crops yet, but 58,2 % of them expressed in some degree interest towards the special crops. Only 19,0 % of respondents considered the production of special crops at their farm would be out of question. Those, who had adopted the cultivation of special crops, had a higher education than the average. In this group there were also less cattle farmers and more crop producers than the average. Probably due to this, the innovation adopters had often had more diverse crop production on their farms than in the average. Earlier experiments with new plants may decrease the threshold to try the cultivation of new plants. Innovation adopters emphasized the importance of their personal wish to try new alternatives in their cultivation. On the other hand, they saw economic profit as a less important factor for the decisions concerning the crop species than the other farmers did. Those, who had cultivated special plants, had acquired information about the cultivation of special plants from the higher number of sources than the others. They also saw external guidance less important than the other respondents. It was generally believed, that the cultivation of special crops might have positive effect on the image of farms on the viewpoint of consumers of agricultural products. The innovation adopters and those, who were highly interested in the cultivation of special plants, believed that markets for special crops would develop positively. All the respondents estimated that both co-operation with the refining industry and delivery of the information have to be improved to promote the success of special crops. Those who still continued the cultivation of special crops had made significantly more frequently a contract with the refining industry about the production of special plants compared with those, who had given up. So, production contracts with the industry can be seen as an important precondition for long-lasting adoption of special crop cultivation.