Search

Purpose: This paper documents and evaluates collaborative learning processes aimed at developing farmer's knowledge, skills and aspirations to use seasonal climate forecasting (SCF). Methodology: Thirteen workshops conducted in 2012 engaged over 200 stakeholders across Australian sugar production regions. Workshop design promoted participant interaction, stimulated discussion, collected farmer experience of regional climate variability, improved understanding of climate drivers and increased participant skill in interpreting SCF linked to management decisions. Post-workshop surveys collected quantitative and qualitative data for statistical analysis and manual thematic coding. Findings: Over 68% of participants identified improved decision-making and risk reduction as the main benefits of using SCF products. High median self-evaluation ratings for gains in skills, knowledge and understanding of climate forecasts and perceived benefits in using climate forecasts in on-farm decision-making were found across stakeholder groups. No significant differences in self-evaluation rating gains were found between farmers, extension officers and millers, suggesting extension officers are less than optimally informed and skilled to support farmers in understanding and applying SCF. Practical Implications: Developing the capacity of extension officers to understand and interpret SCF may increase adoption of improved climate risk management in farmer networks. Theoretical implications: Collaborative learning activities in the agriculture sector, designed using experiential learning principles and evaluated using a logical framework, provide a robust model for improving the capacity of farmers to manage climate risk. Originality/Value: This paper contributes an example of evaluation of collaborative learning in facilitated agriculture climate risk workshops and discusses the value of learning through small group discussion.

Purpose: This article outlines the development of extension as a discipline in Australia, its organization, and the ideological changes that have occurred from the second half of the nineteenth century through to the present. Design/Methodology/Approach: It considers the evolution of extension across the different states of Australia from a national perspective and describes how the research development and extension (RD&E) complex has rotated through cycles of crises, highs, awakenings in thought and practice, and periods where achievements and institutions unravel. Findings: Discussed is the tension between public and private sector extension, as well as the successes and failures of various paradigms. It considers the impacts of different agricultural policy on Australian agricultural RD&E across the decades. In particular it deals with the current "unravelling" of the agricultural RD&E system in Australia, and tries to anticipate future demands on agricultural extension and how these services might be delivered into the future. Practical Implications: The article challenges the reader to consider the discipline of extension as a subset of the greater society in which it exists. It provides an insight into how the agricultural research, development and extension capacity of a nation can be observed to ebb and flow over generations in accord with the rhythm of society. Originality/Value: The article presents a perspective that has not been fully captured or understood until now. (Contains 1 figure.)

This paper reports research on the impact of introducing a range of extension approaches into the wool-growing regions of Tasmania Australia to meet an emerging knowledge and skills gap in the sector. The wool-growing industry of the state has experienced minimal government extension support for over 15 years. There is a failure in both private and public-sector extension services in meeting the current collective needs of the industry. A new industry funded initiative funded by the grower body Australian Wool Innovation Ltd and hosted with the Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research (TIAR), an arm of the University of Tasmania, is filling this void. The approaches included the establishment of grower groups, workshops, demonstrations and newsletters in a coordinated extension programme. The research interest lay in learning of the value of these different approaches in developing and maintaining sustainable sheep and wool production systems in the state. The research methodology involved evaluating change according to Bennett's hierarchy. Techniques used included surveys of participants from respective industry segments and analysis of relevant secondary information and data. Findings indicate that the programme has affected substantial on-ground changes in stock and property management by businesses involved. There was evidence of group members taking a more strategic view of their businesses from involvement in the programme. Group members (65%), industry active (53%) and service sector (65%) survey respondents indicated that the biggest outcomes of their involvement were improved technical or management skills. Members of groups and service-sector respondents saw even more impact (70%) on improved information seeking skills. The interactive and passive extension methodologies employed in this initiative have positioned the programme as a catalyst for change amongst producers, and have served as a mechanism to fill a serious information vacuum in the industry. They also appear to have realised positive social capital outcomes within the grower community during the difficult circumstances of sustained drought. Finally, the segmentation of the extension target audience appears to be paying dividends in terms of programme delivery and resource allocation. (Contains 3 tables.)

The aim of this study was to understand the role that agricultural consultants in New Zealand were undertaking in the Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) system--and in particular in relation to environmental extension. New Zealand does not have a public extension service and hence there is a strong reliance on consultants and regional councils for environmental management information and advice. As they are independent of the formal RD&E system there is no guarantee that RD&E outcomes are reaching farmers, nor that effective environmental extension is occurring. The study used a combination of case studies, phone interviews with informed persons and a national web survey to explore the role of the consultant. The study found that agricultural consultants are playing an important role in working with farmers to improve agricultural production. There are, however, indications that gaps have developed over time between agricultural consultants and the agricultural research sector which limit the effectiveness of the RD&E system. Agricultural consultants are playing a minimal role in proactive environmental extension because insufficient market forces are driving this role. The paper suggests that a national database of agricultural consultants could improve the flow of tailored information between research and agricultural consultants and also suggests mechanisms where consultants could be better integrated into the RD&E system and provide feedback to research programs. Market failure in the area of environmental extension could be addressed by publicly funded incentive programs. (Contains 2 tables.)