Science in the Field: Understanding the changing role of expertise in the rural economy

Project Status: Completed
Type of Project: Research Project
Principal Investigator: Jeremy Phillipson, Newcastle University(Email)

Website
Publications, Data and Other Outputs
Policy and Practice Note

Objectives

Changes in recent decades, including a shift in the objectives for agriculture, new priorities for rural development and environmental conservation, and new institutional and regulatory frameworks, have introduced a marked complexity to the contemporary ‘land system’, influencing the way in which environmental knowledge is produced and translated into professional expertise and practice. Until the early 1990s, responsibility for knowledge transfer in farming was largely assumed by government in the form of state-funded agricultural extension. The privatisation and consequent restructuring of agricultural extension services involved a major switch in the philosophy of knowledge production and delivery, from one based on a 'linear model' of science application and technological diffusion to one oriented to the knowledge needs, agency and indigenous expertise of the client. In this more open market for field knowledge there has also been a proliferation and fragmentation of knowledge providers. The shift towards pluralistic extension systems involving a range of specialised advisors has brought other types of land management expertise to the attention of researchers. What is lacking, however, is a focus specifically on the knowledge practices of those experts who mediate between institutional science and land managers. Our research sought to redress this gap by investigating ‘field-level advisors’ (i.e. those who go onto farms to conduct investigations and provide advice) within three case study professions (rural vets, applied ecologists and land agents/surveyors). These field-level advisors occupy key intermediary positions in the promotion of a knowledge-based rural economy. It was unclear, however, how the knowledge systems of such specialists adapt to scientific advances on the one hand and the changing demands of land management on the other. There was a need to understand the underpinning knowledge systems of field advisors, the processes whereby these are formed and renewed, and the role that such advisors do and could play in knowledge exchange between research and land management. The findings will be used to develop recommendations for professional organisations and training institutes regarding the type of skills that field-based advisors require and for research institutions, projects and programmes concerning the better use of advisors in knowledge exchange.