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Professor Rick Roush Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture

The Future of Agricultural Extension by Australian Universities. Professor Rick Roush Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture Melbourne School of Land and Environment University of Melbourne. http://www.csu.edu.au/special/acda/index.html. “Extension” as a short hand.

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Professor Rick Roush Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture

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  1. The Future of Agricultural Extension by Australian Universities Professor Rick Roush Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture Melbourne School of Land and Environment University of Melbourne http://www.csu.edu.au/special/acda/index.html ACDA

  2. “Extension” as a short hand • “Traditionally”, expert authorities passing along facts, knowledge, wisdom • More recently, knowledge partnerships based on joint inquiry

  3. Overview • Relatively low contributions by Universities currently and why • Plausible lessons from the US Land Grant University System • Possible actions

  4. Who does agricultural R&D? % expenditure 1996/97 $1099m 2006/07 $1716m Source: ABS

  5. Long lead times for adoption There are long lags between research discovery and take-up by farmers No-till in Southern Australia Source: D’Emden et al. (2006) Technological forecasting and Social Change, 73: 630-47

  6. Share of acreage planted to different types of corn varieties (Alston et al.) Hybrid corn 19 years 13 yrs GE corn

  7. What does it take for adoption? • Even good ideas take time, even with strong evidence of performance • Typically, there are “champions” in the research or farm organisations who develop over years a close working relationship with the farming community and continue to promote the idea(s) • Risk is the lost opportunity cost of delays in adoption or failure to adopt at all

  8. Funding Model in Unis Is For Teaching • Universities lose money on research! • Cutler Review (2008) of the National Innovation System: “Adopt the principle of fully funding the costs of university research activities” • University of Melbourne: About $700M invested in Research from $400M funded ACDA

  9. Status of Agricultural Extension by Unis • Staff and administrative focus has to be on teaching; most university promotion based on research and teaching (some on knowledge transfer now at U of Melbourne) • Once the grant runs out, not only is there little incentive for extension, there is no funding even for costs like travel ACDA

  10. Who does agricultural R&D? % expenditure 1996/97 $1099m 2006/07 $1716m Source: ABS

  11. GRDC Seed of Light Awards 1999-2011 “a significant contribution to communicating the outcomes of research”.

  12. Current Agricultural Extension by Unis? • Not quite moribund, but not obviously reaching the potential implied by the roughly 20% of research funding and unique expertise • University staff are especially aligned with teaching and establishing a rapport with much of the next generation of agriculturalists • Asset and opportunity lost, especially with decline of state activity?? ACDA

  13. US Land Grant Universities (history) • From 1862 (Hatch Act), state grants of land • Smith-Lever Act of 1914 established Cooperative Extension Service (Federal and State authorities cooperating) • Many academics have joint Extension/Research/Teaching Appointments, even across USDA and state agencies • Very successful; relationships established with students often continue for decades, linking Unis to the field adoption

  14. US Land Grant Universities (funding) • Funded in part by USDA at about $1 Billion annually, mostly on statutory formula with mandatory and public reporting • Funds typically used for base operating support, including travel, etc. • Scaled to Australia at 1/15 the size, about $67M; would likely offer modest budget surplus to ag schools across Australia • Typically also some state govt $$ support

  15. Declining graduate numbers ACDA

  16. Summary • Universities under-performing compared to research grant success and knowledge capital • US Land Grant University System much more effective; linked in to funding, research and future land managers

  17. Actions (personal view) • Reinvest in Universities to help fill the gap of knowledge partnerships: allow public and ag industry to reap full benefits of agricultural research investment by all parties, but probably especially in the “public good” • Fund by formula directly to Ag Faculties and Schools based on numbers of academics on continuing appointments with ag focus, from public funds committed to RDCs

  18. Contact ? • rroush@unimelb.edu.au

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