Canadian agriculture extension called too ‘top down’
WINNIPEG — Canada is a global leader in agricultural science with world class experts in crop production and livestock husbandry, says a consultant from Guelph, Ont.
However, when it comes to transferring that scientific knowledge to Canadian farmers, there’s ample room for improvement.
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“We don’t have a lot of resources and capacity … to take the research and science and technology … and offer it up at the time and in a way that is helpful and useful for the farmer,” said Steve Roche, director and principal consultant for ACER, which provides communication, research and other services to the livestock industry.
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Roche is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Guelph in population medicine, where he studies knowledge mobilization tools in agriculture.
Knowledge mobilization is similar to extension, which is also known as reaching out to farmers.
Roche recently shared his thoughts on what’s working and not working in Canada’s system of agricultural extension.
On the positive side of the ledger, Canada has excellent farmers who want to learn and want the best information on how to manage their livestock or improve crop production.
On the negative side, a top-down style of transferring knowledge is the norm in Canada.
Extension specialists share research information with producers through webinars, YouTube videos, podcasts, articles and other means.
“We are reasonably good at pushing things (information) to farmers — the next fact sheet or program or policy update,” Roche said.
“A one-way share of information … that’s going to work for some and not for others.”
While Canada follows the “we create it, you consume it” model of agriculture extension, Britain has taken a different approach.
The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), which is funded by British farmers and others in the supply chain, spends a large portion of its budget on something it calls “agricultural research and knowledge exchange.”
The AHDB employs dozens of knowledge exchange managers, who work with grain growers, sheep farmers and cattle ranchers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“Our Knowledge Exchange (engagement) team helps to connect research findings with on-farm practice. In particular, they facilitate farmer-to-farmer learning through our Farm Excellence activity,” says the AHDB website.
For instance, in the West Midlands of England, the AHDB employs Aaron Cantrill as the Knowledge Exchange manager for cereals and oilseeds.
“Having worked on farms in both the U.K. and Australia, (Aaron) has a boots-on-the-ground approach and believes the best way to tackle challenges is head-on through face-to-face conversations with farming peers and other agricultural experts,” says the ADHB website.
Nothing like the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board exists in Canada because it collects levies from farmers who produce cereals and oilseeds or raise sheep, cattle and pigs.
The cross-sectoral approach in the U.K. is possible because there’s one organization that represents different types of farmers.
In Canada, provincial or national commodity group will produce information for farmers and deliver the information for a particular crop or species of livestock.
The Canola Council of Canada, for instance, extends the best practices and the latest technology to canola growers.
Some commodity groups in Canada are very good at transferring knowledge to farmers, but the extension system is “fragmented,” Roche said.
“Where we have struggles … we lack a national vision, or co-ordinated approach, to how we take on extension.”
A cross-sector style of extension could be beneficial for Canadian agriculture. Right now, most agriculure research information is created in “silos” and it’s communicated and consumed in silos, Roche said.
Canada is a much, much larger country than the United Kingdom and the geographic size makes it harder to implement a national strategy.
Farm practices that make sense for a cattle rancher in an arid region such as southwestern Saskatchewan aren’t relevant for producers in southern Quebec.
Still, a national vision could be helpful.
“Why don’t we have a network of centres of excellence on how to better create a Canadian approach to communicating (agricultural knowledge)?” Roche said.
He then posed another question.
Extension is about introducing farmers to new practices and technologies, but the people doing the extension should also be open to new ideas.
“How do we educate our industry and our scientists to work better, together?”
Source: producer.com