21 pages., via online journal., Agricultural and forestry advisers and other technical service providers play an important role in supporting farmers and foresters to adapt to climate change. However, not all agricultural and forestry advisers are comfortable talking about climate change with land managers. While there is a demonstrated interest related to climate-related professional development, few examples of curricula developed with the express purpose of serving this audience and a systematic review of these curricula has not been conducted. To address this gap, we reviewed 12 curricula which were developed and implemented between 2001 and 2017. The goal of this review is to apply the lessons learned from a range of climate change-focused curricula to new, regionally or sector-specific educational programs targeting both agricultural advisers and innovative farmers. Our findings suggest that developers of future educational programs consider the following: (a) the specific needs of their audience, including topical interests and learning needs; (b) the use of interdisciplinary teams for curricula development; (c) trade-offs associated with inclusivity and depth of course content; and (d) the advantages of project-based education approaches suited for adult learning audiences. By applying these concepts to future curricula, these curricula are likely to have the greatest level of impact.
11 pages., via online journal, This paper discusses the role of the community in agroforestry technology development and the extension approaches that have been used to spread sustainable agroforestry practices. It begins by stressing the importance of active community participation in the development of appropriate and sustainable agroforestry interventions for small holder farmers in the tropics. This is seen as essential because farmers understand their complex biophysical, socio-cultural and economic environment better than anyone else. It is therefore imperative that the community be involved in the whole process of technology development right frøm problem identification to technology transfer. Similarly, problem identification and prioritisation by, consensus of the community is seenas crucial, as is the role of indigenous knowledge in designing technologies that are cost effective, relevant and easily adoptable. Equally important is that interventions be tried out with a few farmers before involving the whole community and that farmers develop a monitoring system within their means that is effective in assessing the performance of these technologies. The paper concludes that a community-based extension system should be institutionalised in order to ensure sustainability in the transfer of the technologies. The system should be able to lead to the building of the capacity of the local farming community to continue utilising and transferring these technologies to solve their problems and ultimately creating sustainable fanning systems.
Goerlich, Daniel L. (author), Munsell, John F. (author), Boyd, Heather H. (author), Moeltner, Klaus (author), and Virginia Cooperative Extension
Virginia Tech
University of Notre Dame
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019-12
Published:
United States: Extension Journal, Inc.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11233
5 pages, via online journal, Cooperative Extension produces public value through educational programming that benefits the greater community. Forests provide numerous valuable benefits to society through the provision of ecosystem services. Cooperative Extension educational programming positively affects forest owners, who, in turn, conduct actions that enhance ecosystem services. An understudied relationship exists between Cooperative Extension and ecosystem services that can be drawn on to document Extension's public value. Applying ecosystem services values to Extension natural resources–related programmatic outcomes through benefit transfer provides an avenue through which Extension can potentially make significant advancements in monetizing its public value.