The discrimination of adopters and non-adopters of conservation agricultural initiatives in northwest Iran: Attitudinal, soil testing, and topographical modules

•Study addresses adoption of conservation agricultural initiatives (CAIs).•Compatibility and observability affect adoption.•Farm revenue affects CAIs adoption.•Electrical conductivity and organic carbon content are significantly different between the two groups of farms.•Topographical information indicates that CAIs farms are with a gradient of less than 5%.