Agricultural Advisory Practice & Theory (AGRI90092)

A common and important role that agricultural scientists play is supporting farmers to implement strategies for continuous improvement on-farm to achieve sustainability and productivity goals. This subject will provide students with the theory and practice of how to support change on-farm through professional advisory practice.

The subject covers the four main aspects of professional advisory practice in contemporary agriculture: the farmer-advisor relationship; building your professional network/s; ethics in advisory practice; and reflexive praxis (theory-practice). To achieve competency and professionalism in each of these aspects, advisors must understand both the practical strategies for working with farmer clients to achieve on-farm improvements, as well as the theories that support such change processes, including: adult learning approaches (e.g. joint fact finding, sense making, valuing different knowledge/s); dynamics of social network formation (e.g. social learning, social capital); perspectives on ethical practice (e.g. role of trust); and reflexivity (e.g. understanding how to tailor messages and communicate effectively with a range of different people.)

Topics covered in the subject include:

• Key concepts and approaches in agricultural advisory practice and theory to support improvements in farm productivity and sustainability
• Rural social science research theories and methods to understand and work with farmer clients (e.g. segmentation, stakeholder analysis, social network analysis)
• In-depth consideration of the factors influencing farmer decision making (e.g. values, beliefs, worldviews, context)
• The dynamics of social networks in agricultural change and the role of the advisor in facilitating and coordinating collective action for supporting on-farm practice change (e.g. concept of the knowledge and innovation broker)
• Attributes of effective leaders and the role of the professional agricultural advisor in supporting on-farm change
• Design and delivery of effective extensions strategies for a diverse farmer-client base in a whole-farm-systems context (e.g. social media, models of advisory practice)
• Introduction to approaches to strategic development of advisory business models to cater to farmer client needs