Agricultural Extension and Rural Development: Breaking out of Knowledge Transfer Traditions

While traditions are very important to a culture, there is a need to challenge, as well as to respect, those traditions which have given rise to a particular rural research and development situation. The authors critically examine the broad themes of 'knowledge transfer' and the organization and conduct of research and development, based particularly on the system operating in the rangelands of Australia. The need to adopt an alternative approach arose because the existing practice of agricultural extension did not meet the needs of the farming community there, and the research funding bodies were dissatisfied with the return on their investments. The way in which the relationships between the rural community and researchers might be differently, and perhaps more fruitfully, managed are discussed.