Purpose: To explore the structures and processes within agricultural advisory organisations that may enhance absorptive capacity (AC) and determine how organisations develop their AC. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative explorative case study of advisory services in Norway, which are structured as farmer cooperatives. Interviews, document…

Purpose: Current developments in the Australian agricultural research, development and extension (RD&E) system exemplify the complex governance challenges arising from the international privatisation of agricultural extension. Presenting early challenges emerging from a multi-stakeholder project aimed at stimulating the role of the private…

Purpose: This paper is concerned with the impact of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) on regional productivity in California agriculture. UCCE is responsible for agricultural research and development (R&D), and dissemination of agricultural know-how in the state. Method/methodology/approach: We estimate the effect of…

In this paper, I argue that research and development organizations (R&DOs) have particular perspectives on what counts as an innovation whereas the potential adopting users usually have quite different often diverse perspectives. If these "worldviews" do not overlap or speak to each other, then what R&DOs consider innovative might constitute a…

Purpose: Within the context of the European-funded JOLISAA project (JOint Learning in and about Innovation Systems in African Agriculture), an inventory of agricultural innovation experiences was made in Benin, Kenya and South Africa. The objective was to assess multi-stakeholder agricultural innovation processes involving smallholders. Approach:…

Purpose: This article reviews the experience of ICT applications as a tool for putting research derived knowledge into use for innovation in South Asia. Design/methodology/approach: The article uses the contemporary understanding of communication and innovation in reviewing the experience of ICTs in putting new knowledge into use in South Asia.…

In this paper we outline an analytical approach to identifying points in the policy process where management intervention to adjust organizational design could enhance delivery of innovation policy over time. We illustrate this approach using an example from native vegetation policy in the state of Victoria, Australia. We then use this approach to…

Purpose: This article outlines the development of extension as a discipline in Australia, its organization, and the ideological changes that have occurred from the second half of the nineteenth century through to the present. Design/Methodology/Approach: It considers the evolution of extension across the different states of Australia from a…

The aim of this study was to understand the role that agricultural consultants in New Zealand were undertaking in the Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) system--and in particular in relation to environmental extension. New Zealand does not have a public extension service and hence there is a strong reliance on consultants and regional…

Post-modern theorists have challenged the totalizing and unifying ambitions of change management practices. This paper explores how a narrative action research approach may be used to combine our modernist commitment to facilitate change and collaboration in the land management context with a post-modern sensitivity to complexity and difference.…

A constructivist framework based on active listening, interpretation, and dialog was used to initiate collaborative research and development among farmers, researchers, and advisers. The method overcame polarized, conflictual communication about sustainable land use. (SK)

In the middle of the 20th century, many in the world were predicting catastrophic starvation that was halted by the Green Revolution. To address continued population growth and the unsolved problems of the Green Revolution, many hope for a new and different Green Revolution. Supporters of a biotechnology-based revolution claim that it could…

The key to agricultural development in the eastern region of India, where problems of excess water and water scarcity coexist, is the scientific management of water resources with the adoption of recommended water-management technologies. A vast networking of infrastructure for the development and dissemination of water-management technologies…

Following the economic reforms in the early 90's, most of the south-eastern European countries (SEE) made efforts to establish agricultural extension services. However, a number of factors including tight governmental budgets, lack of experience, and the existence of vested interests have constrained the development of extension services. This…

Agricultural development programs often produce unexpected results. This can be attributed to the fact that the target-farmers already have their own knowledge and competencies which, in turn, determine their practices. In order to be adopted, an innovation has first to be discussed, and then appropriated by a local group of farmers in their…