Ethiopias economy has experienced rapid growth within the last seven years. Smallholder farmers have primarily contributed to this rapid economic growth. To motivate farmers and speed up the transformation of subsistence agriculture to more market-oriented production and hence reduce poverty, the Ethiopian government has been awarding farmers recognized as most successful in significantly improving their livelihoods since 2006. In responding to this government effort, the Ethiopian Development Research Institute and Ethiopian Strategy Support Program II/International Food Policy Research Institute initiated a research project to study the consumption, saving, and investment behaviors of successful farmers. Particularly, the study was initiated to understand whether the increase in incomes of the successful farmers lead to welfare improvements in rural Ethiopia.