Abstract: The introduction of social learning into the study of the adoption of modern agricultural technology is not only the expansion of the theoretical research paradigm of the adoption and popularization of traditional technology, but also the key to understand the dynamic process of farmers ' technology adoption. Based on the microscopic data of 498 households in Zhangye, Gansu Province, this paper used the experimental economics method to measure the degree of risk aversion of farmers, and made an empirical analysis by using the Heckman sample selection model with modified selective deviation to explore the influence of risk aversion and social learning on the adoption and adoption degree of modern irrigation technology for farmers. Interactive items were introduced to test the mitigation effect of social learning on risk aversion. The results showed that: First, the proportion of peasant household adopting modern irrigation technology account for 66.06% of the total number of sample households, and the average adoption degree of the sample households is 47.26%. Secondly, risk aversion and social learning have a significant impact on the adoption and adoption degree of modern irrigation technology for farmers, and the higher the risk aversion of farmers, the less likely they are to adopt modern irrigation technology; social learning can significantly improve the adoption and adoption degree of modern irrigation technology for farmers. Thirdly, from the perspective of the influence of social learning in different dimensions, mutual learning has a significant positive impact on the adoption and adoption degree of modern irrigation techniques for farmers, and learning from others has an impact on the adoption and adoption degree of modern irrigation techniques for farmers, but it is not significant. Fourthly. social learning helps to mitigate the inhibitory effect of risk aversion on the adoption behavior of modern irrigation techniques for farmers.