Collaboration, connectivity, and community in transforming agricultural extension

By Nathan Craig, WMG Chief Executive Officer

One of the things about WMG that often goes under the radar is our involvement on the national stage through the Soil CRC. This co-operative research centre has been in operation for the past 7 years and has been the source of many of our projects (currently 12 active projects). This has allowed us to investigate some interesting aspects of soil fertility, to build some new skills and tools for both farmers and grower groups to utilise, and to develop a strong relationship with universities and farming systems groups across Australia. One of the largest benefits that I could see early in the Soil CRC was WMG’s involvement allowing for the ability to develop capacity in our organisation. Consequently, WMG have been more active in Program 1 (of 4) in the Soil CRC which predominantly focuses on better understanding extension and adoption of farming practices.

Program 1 of the Soil CRC has allowed WMG to strongly build capacity in delivering good extension and communication activities to our members and broader farming community. This is particularly important as the world of agriculture and agricultural extension continues to change and evolve, with information needs and learning styles of our audience also continuing with it. While many successful practices that we use in extension have been around for years and are not new or revolutionary, there is the need to continually review what we are doing and adjust to the evolving learning preferences of our farming community.

A large driver of the way we access and use information has been the rapid growth in online connectivity, driven by the ability to have the world at your fingertips via a smartphone and the internet. This constant digital connection is in stark contrast to when I was farming in Victoria in the 2000’s, where information could only be accessed in printed form or by going to field days and crop walks. From this, a decision was normally made about the adoption of a new farming practice or technology. And you largely went alone on the adoption journey or joined a farming systems group to learn together.

Casting further back to 1995 on my family farm when we first adopted no-tillage through purchasing a new seeder, our first crops all died from the chemicals that we applied according to the label. It took 15-year-old me to write a blog post on an online forum run by the state newspaper, that was subsequently answered by a WA-based farmer who said, “put the chemicals on pre-sowing instead of post-sowing when using presswheels,” to completely change our success with crops and improve our bank balance!

One of the key changes in our current environment is that farming is now no longer a single player game when it comes to adoption in this connected world. X (formerly Twitter) is now well used to troubleshoot, and you can #asktwitter about anything and get multiple responses from others who have been through the process of adoption.

The role of crop walks and group events has now changed to one of peer learning, normalising, and trialling. The peer learning component has evolved to learning about the local nuances of adopting a practice, while talking between growers helps to normalise the new farming practice and highlight the many other people who are going through the same journey of considering this innovation.

Local advocates for the farming practice/technology also help in sharing their knowledge to encourage others to adopt and access the benefits that they are getting. An observation that we see in farmers attending crop walks and group events is that often they are at the trialling stage of adoption. By trialling, I mean that they are trialling it in their heads, turning over this and that, how it will fit with existing operations and what needs to change, can the tractor pull it, do we have enough time or money, can/should I use contractors, etc.

When farmers come to a decision to adopt, they appear to pull the trigger with confidence as they have answered many of these questions and know the rest of adoption will not be lonely. The role of farming systems groups in this process has now changed from supporting adoption to facilitating the farmer to come to an informed decision in adopting a new farming practice.

I believe that while the method of engagement remains similar on the surface, farmers are using each tool differently, and this means what is presented at each stage has needed to change to cater better for their needs. There are also key areas in which farmers are looking for more information, including the cost in both financial and time for a new practice, and to understand the financial benefit to their farming operation.

To better understand the way that farmers consider the adoption of new farming practices, WMG have developed an Adoption Pathway of 6 stages. This approach helps to understand where each farmer is currently situated, often subconsciously, when considering whether (or not) to adopt a new farming practice or technology. It also helps to understand the role of farming systems groups in this process both now and potentially into the future.

Through our continual improvement process and involvement with the Soil CRC, WMG has now developed a greater understanding of extension and how it is changing. More importantly, this sets us up well for the future in knowing how to continue to adapt and evolve with the WMG continual improvement process that has been built from tools used in many Soil CRC projects.

The Soil CRC now has three years left to run until it is finished, and we look forward to many of the exciting new things that we will learn and do in this time. There are still at least two exciting extension-based projects to be delivered that further build on the knowledge gleaned in previous projects. I do look forward to the future and where WMG is going, and particularly our involvement with the Soil CRC.