The importance of training and advisory skillsets in order to support innovation and practice adoption in the agri-food sector was highlighted at the Agricultural Knowledge Exchange in a Changing World – Knowledge Transfer Conference 2024.
The event was co-hosted by Teagasc and the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, and took place in Teagasc, Ashtown, on Wednesday, 23 October 2024.
Pictured at the Teagasc/UCD 2024 Knowledge Transfer Conference: Dr. Monica Gorman, UCD with Rachel Clancy, Bryan Twomey and Emily Gowing who all recently completed the MSc in Agricultural Innovation Support with UCD and were awarded prizes for their presentations at the event.
The conference provided a platform for discussion and knowledge exchange on the critical challenges and opportunities facing farm advisory and agricultural education. It provided a showcase for the research work conducted by students of the MSc programmes provided by UCD in Agricultural Extension and Innovation and in Agricultural Innovation Support, in collaboration with the Teagasc Knowledge Transfer Masters Programme.
The keynote speaker at the conference was Owen Murphy from the Irish Wildlife Services, who is leading the Breeding Waders EIP project. He highlighted the critical importance of recognising the positive intentions of landowners for engagement of all stakeholders. He also emphasised the importance of achieving buy-in and motivation through effective interpersonal skills, communication and engagement with stakeholders. While focussing within the context of bird and wildlife conservation, the approaches and skills for effective communication and collaboration are critical and common across many technical and sustainability challenges.
The evolving role of agricultural educations and advisors
A major theme at the conference was the evolving role of agricultural educators and advisors in responding to the demands of a rapidly changing agri-food sector. Work presented by Rachel Clancy highlighted how the Competency Framework of advisors and educators can be developed to address the skills and competencies needed for today’s agricultural advisors and teachers. This reflects the ongoing shift towards knowledge exchange and participatory learning, ensuring that advisors and teachers are equipped with the technical knowledge and communication skills necessary to guide farmers in areas like sustainability, innovation, and climate resilience.
‘People matters’
The conference also included a session related to ‘People Matters’, highlighting the social dimension to sustainability. Amongst the topics was a presentation by Bryan Twomey, whose study was based on an innovative approach to advising farmers around farm succession, by facilitating a project team for the farmer and farm family to bring together multiple actors such as legal advisor and financial advice, into a forum to help collective discussion and planning for a farm succession project.
Accelerating practice adoption
The final conference session addressed environmental sustainability and advisory approaches to help accelerate practice adoption. Emily Gowing presented her work on clover adoption, which identified that farmers see weed control as a key barrier to adoption. Successful adoption by farmers was more common on farms that used higher clover seeding rates and reseeded in spring. The study showcased the importance of understanding the farmer end-user perception and experience as a key consideration in providing appropriate advisory support to increase adoption.
A platform for the next generation of advisors and educators
Speaking at the Knowledge Transfer conference, Dr. Monica Gorman of UCD said: “This joint Teagasc/UCD conference is a great platform for the next generation of agricultural advisors and educators to share their research with the wider Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS), and start to shape the future of innovation support services for Irish farming.
In closing the conference, Dr. Stan Lalor, Director of Knowledge Transfer in Teagasc highlighted that: “The existence and generation of new technologies are not enough on their own to improve the sustainability of the sector. Developing the advisory, teaching and extension skills to improve technology uptake is equally important, and it is the objective of this conference to highlight this and share new and innovative ideas”.
