https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5480-3966
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Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to examine interactions between demonstrations at programme level and Agricultural Advisory Services (AAS). It situates analysis of the demonstration programme activities within contemporary advisory contexts, asking: how do demonstration programmes interact with the AAS in which they are situated; and what role do demonstration programmes play in enhancing and contributing to the AAS?
Methodological approach
Data, pertaining to organisational arrangements, were collected using interviews and workshops representing 35 demonstration programmes across Europe. Themes from the literature together with emergent themes were used to progressively unpack and understand the interaction between the programmes and the AAS.
Findings
Demonstration organisational arrangements show different degrees of embedding in, and adapting to, the AAS. Embedding is being incorporated into existing formalised structures and is more likely in the AAS with a low level of pluralism. Adaptation occurs through collaboration, partnership and networking and is more likely in more pluralistic AAS.
Practical Implications
The need to support demonstration programmes to create more stable networks, to strengthen their linking role in the AAS, and to foster strategies for the progression of farmers’ learning was identified.
Theoretical implications
The paper contributes to the literature by providing insights at the demonstration programme level (as opposed to farm or event level) and revealing embedded and adaptive processes with many interdependencies between the programmes and AAS components.
Originality
This paper opens up new perspectives on understanding how demonstrations are positioned in contemporary AAS contexts, looking at AAS influences on delivering demonstrations beyond farm and event level methods.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge all the partner and stakeholders of Agridemo without whom this paper would not have been possible.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 AKIS is a system that links people and organisations to promote mutual learning, to generate, share, and utilise agriculture-related technology, knowledge, and information. The system may include actors such as farmers, farm workers, agricultural educators, researchers, non-academic experts, public and independent private advisors, supply chain actors, and other actors in the agricultural sector.
2 The term Agricultural Advisory Services encompasses the entire set of institutions and the actors involved in the advisory activity institutions that support and facilitate people engaged in agricultural production to solve problems and obtain information, skills, and technologies to improve their livelihoods
and well-being (adapted from Birner et al. Citation2009).
4 Demonstration activities provide knowledge with the objective of improving their production, income and (by implication) quality of life. Demonstration farms are defined as meeting places where dissemination of knowledge and information is taking place, advice is provided, solutions and tools are designed and implemented as well as controlled, and on-the-farm research is conducted (Kania and Kielbasa Citation2015). Demonstration events operationalise these activities in group settings.
5 Pluralistic advisory services refer to the variety of service providers that have emerged in recent years, including public–private partnerships and outsourcing to the private sector and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs)
6 Collaboration is the process of collectively creating something new that could not have been created by the individual users; and networking describes the multi-layered interactions between actors, groups and institutions.
8 This is envisaged as a spectrum rather than a typology. It is recognised that this is simplistic and cannot capture the full complexity of arrangements, also that there other criteria that could be used (e.g. Knierim et al.’s (Citation2015) weak and strong, and fragmented and integrated axes); however, it is useful for structuring the results and analysis.
9 It is recognised that plural AAS are not uniform, for example while Denmark is strong and integrated with a predominant farmer levy organisation (Seges), Netherlands is fragmented but strong.
10 UK has a strong regional structure with diverse arrangements in each administrative unit of the country.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Julie Ingram
Prof (Dr) Julie Ingram is Professor of Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture at the Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, UK. Her main research interests are concerned with Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems, specifically, how farmer learning and adaptation can be supported.
Hannah Chiswell
Dr Hannah Chiswell is a Research Fellow at the Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire. Hannah has a particular research interest in understanding on-farm decision-making, particularly in the context of agri-environment scheme design and behaviours. She has a range of experience managing, conducting and analysing farmer and land manager interviews in the social science context and is a QSR-certified NVivo (qualitative analysis software) ‘expert’.
Jane Mills
Jane Mills is Associate Professor in Agri-environmental Behaviours at the Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, UK. Her main research interests focus on understanding farmer behaviour in the context of agri-environment and sustainable agricultural practices and the collaborative institutional arrangements and knowledge exchange processes which effectively reconcile agricultural production and environmental quality objectives.
Lies Debruyne
Dr Lies Debruyne is a senior researcher at the research group Agricultural and Farm Development of the Social Sciences Unit of ILVO (Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food). Her main research interests lie in learning processes of farmers and other agricultural stakeholders, with a focus on the role of various formal and informal networks on learning. Furthermore, she looks into how such networks can support transitions in agriculture.
Hanne Cooreman
Dr Hanne Cooreman completed her PhD at the Research Institute for Agriculture and fisheries (ILVO) in Flanders, Belgium. She is connected to the Research unit for Education, Culture and Society, University of Leuven. Hanne does research in Educational Theory, Didactics, Peer Learning and Adult Education.
Alex Koutsouris
Prof (Dr) Alex Koutsouris is Head of the Lab of Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Systems and Rural Sociology, Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens. His research interests revolve around sustainable rural development focusing on topics such as agricultural extension (interactive innovation and communication), training and education, project design and evaluation, with emphasis on systemic and participatory approaches.
Yiorgos Alexopoulos
Dr. Yiorgos Alexopoulos is a senior researcher at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens. His main research interests lie in bottom-up and demand-driven innovations, social innovations and social impact assessment. Moreover, he focuses on multi-actor approaches and stakeholder analysis, especially on how collective/co-operative schemes and networks improve access to services and facilitate peer learning among rural actors.
Eleni Pappa
Eleni Pappa (MSc) is a PhD candidate and participates in projects at the Lab of Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Systems and Rural Sociology, Agricultural University of Athens. Her main research interests lie in agricultural systems analysis, pluralistic advisory services, organizational change management and network analysis.
Fleur Marchand
Prof. Dr. ir. Fleur Marchand is a coordinator within the Social Science Unit of ILVO. She is a doctor in science (UA, 2006) and agricultural engineer (UGent, 2001). She builds her expertise mainly on empirical case-studies of learning processes with stakeholders striving for sustainable agriculture and food chains. She uses mainly a transdisciplinary and system approach focusing on the following research topics: knowledge exchange, agroecology and transition of the food system.