Book of Abstract (incl. addendum) - IFSA symposium 2012

Workshop 1.1 Knowledge flows in pluralistic research and advisory systems: how do advisors
keep up-to-date and to what extent is their advice evidence-based?
which make it possible to assess the different types and levels of evidence that support the content of
the advice.
The analysis is based on field investigations in France (Ain), Germany (Brandenburg) and the
Netherlands (Zeeland). It consisted in qualitative interviews (n=16 firms) with the managers of three
types of service suppliers to farmers specialized in arable farming: private consultancy cabinets, input
suppliers, and software suppliers.
We could identify three logics of performance: "a service" logic associated with private
consultancy cabinets, an "industrial" logic characterizing software suppliers, and a logic of
segmentation implemented by input suppliers. A more specific inquiry related to knowledge about food
safety showed the consequences of these logics beyond individual concerns of farmers. It demonstrates
that the withdrawal of the state from the funding and management of extension may lower the level of
evidence produced for the farmers, by substituting expertise to controlled trials and observations, and
by giving a more and more important role to private investments related to upstream industries.
Reflections on the ‘expert syndrome’: a Greek case study on extension
education
Nikos Kaberis and Alex Koutsouris
Athens Academy, Greece
Kaberis@academyofathens.gr
Changes pertaining the agricultural knowledge infrastructure, innovation theory and practice as well as
the knowledge demand and supply side point to the current, challenging scene for agricultural/rural
extension and education. Therefore, new concepts/approaches emerge building on networks, as social
processes encouraging the sharing of knowledge and notably as preconditions for innovation;
moreover, growing attention is given to various types of intermediaries or (process) facilitators.
On the other hand, knowledge, skills and aptitudes explain the differential production outcomes
between business people occupying identical resources (capital, labour and land). Farm businesses with
better educated farm managers attain superior outcomes; education and training have been shown to
improve farmers’ ability to make successful changes to farming practices, including farm-management
practices, and assist farmers to become more innovative and flexible.
The current paper explores the issue of extension education through research carried out in a
Greek rural area. The target-group comprises participants in the ‘Young Farmers Programme’, a
programme established by the European Union and the Greek state since the early ‘90s, providing
economic incentives to young men and women (up to 40 years old) who enter or are newly established
in farming. A requirement of the programme is the training of Young Farmers for at least 150 hours
within three years after their access to the programme. These short-term training schemes, provided by
the Greek Extension Service, are the entry point of this paper.
Young Farmers’ (YFs) attitudes towards and relationships with agronomists, with the latter
beeing involved in either training or advice provision, are thus explored. To refine such an exploration
different groups of YFs (those at plain areas vs. those at mountainous ones and thus of the respactive
production systems) and agronomists (public vs commercial advisors) are distinguished.
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