Extension educators have new computer-assisted tools as audience response systems (clickers) for increasing educational effectiveness and improving assessment by facilitating client input. From 2010-2012, 26 sessions involving 1093 participants in six diverse client categories demonstrated wide audience acceptance and suitability of clickers in…

The purpose of this paper is to describe an educational partnership experience between rural retailers and graduate students in a Merchandising, Apparel and Textiles program. Students were afforded an opportunity to work with small business owners in rural communities, giving them real world exposure to the actual challenges being faced by…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to provide evidence on the consequences of the privatization process in Brandenburg with a focus on the agricultural advisors' situation. Before the background of future European Union (EU) expectations on Farm Advisory Systems (FAS), their capacities and competences to respond to such challenges are discussed.…

Purpose: This article outlines the emergence of programme teams in the Australian dairy farm sector as a response to counter weaknesses in the institutional environment for agricultural innovation which favours technology adoption/diffusion approaches. Design/methodology/approach: The strengths, weaknesses and risks of different approaches to…

There is an urgent need to quantify which extension methods are most effective in Africa. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of alternative extension methods on adoption of the triple bagging cowpea storage technology in Niger and Burkina Faso. This study was designed as a quasi-experiment with two alternative extension…

Purpose: This study seeks to build a conceptual model of agricultural extension intrapreneurship that discusses the concept and phenomenon of intrapreneurship as well as its prerequisites and outcomes. The proposed model is intended to depict the main factors that affect the phenomena of intrapreneurship within the agricultural extension…

Purpose: Changing research design and methodologies regarding how researchers articulate with end-users of technology is an important consideration in developing sustainable agricultural practices. This paper analyzes a joint experiment as a multi-stakeholder process and contributes to understand how the way of organizing social learning affects…

Purpose: Approaches to build farmers' analytical capacities are said to trigger wide-ranging changes. This article reports on the communication process between participants and non-participants in one such approach, related to the technical and management skills learned by participants and the changes these participants subsequently made, and the…

Educational commodity marketing clubs have been an effective tool for producers to develop their grain and livestock marketing skills. These groups are further enhanced when the participants engage in "actual trading" versus "paper trading" techniques. When a club chooses to try actual trading, it becomes more complicated than pooling monies…

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to analyse the attitude of Italian farms in gaining access to agricultural extension services (AES). Design/methodology/approach: The ways Italian farms use AES are described through the AKAP (Awareness, Knowledge, Adoption, Product) sequence. This article investigated the AKAP sequence by submitting a…

As our world becomes more interconnected on international, domestic, and personal levels, our need to be more culturally competent increases (Samovar, Porter, & McDaniel, 2007; Ting-Toomey, 1999). Recognizing this need, Washington State University Extension sought to increase skills of its personnel by developing a set of cultural competencies…

The 21st century graduate must be able to interact with people from all over the world and must also be knowledgeable about the world (Longview Foundation, 2008). In order to produce graduates that are globally competent, The National Council for the Accreditation of Teachers (NCATE, 1982) has mandated that multi-cultural education be incorporated…

Agricultural broadcasts on radio play a major role in agricultural extension and rural development in Nigeria due to the low ratio of extension agents in relation to the farming population. The broadcasts have been on air for some time and therefore there is a need to investigate their acceptance among the rural dwellers in Southwestern Nigeria.…

Purpose: The study evaluated how farmer acquisition, sharing and use patterns of information and knowledge interact with different socioeconomic factors to influence integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) technology uptake. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted as part of an evaluation of field-based farmer learning approaches…

Purpose: This article investigates the extent of multiple knowledges among smallholders and connected non-farm agents around Mount Elgon in Kenya and Uganda in order to build the communicative competence needed to scale up conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS). Design/methodology/approach: Our methodological approach examines local…