Farmer education and training

Design of farmer education and training in organic agriculture... 

Organic production systems are complex out of necessity, since soil fertility and plant protection are provided by applying the principles of ecology and lessons from natural ecosystems. It is this complexity, in part, that makes the need for unique education and training opportunities so important for organic farmers. In addition, the lack of institutional support with information from universities and government agencies in most countries makes this a valuable area to explore and for which to seek appropriate educational options. 

A four-year grant from the federal Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program allowed the University of Nebraska and collaborators to plan and implement training from 1993 to 1997 across the North Central Region of the USA. Each workshop was planned and topics chosen by an interdisciplinary team of extension specialists in close consultation with the local educators and non-profit farmer and research groups in states where the workshop would be held. An attempt to make the learning methods systemic for future workshops included these steps ... 

These three perspectives provide a conceptual framework for learning that may guide us in improving the quality of training and education. These three perspectives are used and modified for the purpose of farmer training in organic agriculture. 

The kemiingenjdr certainly had problems to persuade industry that chemistry was a necessary science. How, then, did chemists at the universities consider the practical parts of their science They frequently used the common argument that chemistry should be promoted because of its utility. At the end of the nineteenth century utility , above all, meant the application of chemistry to agriculture. Many agricultural stations were established, whose purposes were to serve farmers and others with analysis of their agricultural products, and also to educate the farmers . The stations sometimes developed into small research centres run by a director with an academic training in chemistry. The activities of the stations were regularly reported in... 

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