It’s getting to be more of an annual blog update from me rather than the planned quarterly. Life and work get in the way – but I will work towards better balance and a more regular blog!
What has really hit me recently is how the pendulum is swinging back to a national interest in agricultural extension (and advisory services), extension frameworks, extension capacity – in fact all things extension. We are working with John James (Enablers of Change) and Denise Bewsell (Scarletti) on two cross – Rural Development Corporation projects exploring how to strengthen extension capacity and impact in Australia. The Research for Impact project (lead by Hort Innovation) focuses on working with 13 projects across a range of industries to see how evidence-based principles and approaches can maximise their impact. The Determining the future extension capacity and capability required to support Australian agriculture project (lead by AgriFutures) is about better understanding the current national extension status and the capacity and capability needed to meet current and future demands. Recently, we also completed a Queensland DAF project looking at the skills that extensionists and advisers need at different stages of their career depending on their role.
This interest is also occurring at a time when the Federal Government – through its Future Drought Fund – has increased its funding of extension projects and roles. This is through the Drought and Innovation Hubs, the Farm Business Resilience Program, placement of Adoption Officers among others. It adds to the investment in extension in the Reef programs and Landcare projects to name just a couple.
This all highlights the central and on-going need for extension and advisory services – to provide the human factor in facilitating and enabling the change process. Having information available is not enough – it’s about providing learning and enabling environments for people to be aware of opportunity, co-develop, access and use the information as it is relevant to their situation. Extension also has a broader role across the innovation system to bring stakeholders together to improve systems, collaboration and the support environment. These functions cannot readily be replaced by technologies.
My wife Robyn and I did manage to have a nice break in Europe earlier this year including a visit to Spain (to help me with my Spanish!), The Netherlands (where I did my PhD) and Scotland (where my grandfather hailed from). It was a welcome and refreshing break. I have included some sketches I did while travelling as well as a photo of Balmoral Castle – where my great grandmother worked on staff for a time.
