AGRI90092

农业科学专题

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