Agricultural extension and education

KNOOK, JORIE; NETTLE, RUTH; LANDINI, FERNANDO

Reference Module in Food Science

ELSEVIER

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2025; p. 1 - 15

Agricultural extension and education services are a well-known approach for supporting rural change. These services often consist of a collaboration between stakeholders, including land-owners, consultants, governmental agencies, scientists and other rural agents, who participate in knowledge generation and practice change via experimentation, demonstration, discussion and persuasion. Agricultural extension has undergone significant change over time, from a strong focus on top-down and research-led approaches, to an emphasis on bottom-up approaches, such as design thinking. Current issues associated with extension are the public and private provisioning of extension services and concerns about future extension capacity and capability. The authors elaborate on these changes and issues by providing examples of extension services in an international context. Furthermore, they reflect on the role of agricultural extension and education in addressing future complex challenges.