Advice and advisory roles about work on farms. A review

Abstract

The organization of work and changes in patterns of working life is of increasing concern to farmers worldwide. This creates challenges for advisors, who do not always know (i) how to recognize farmers' or their own needs for knowledge and new approaches to farm work organization or (ii) how to assess different methods of advice to tackle this issue. How are advisors responding to this concern and what are the implications for advisory roles and the advisory situation? In this paper, we review the situation of farm work organization changes and advisory responses. We describe a conceptual framework integrating different foundations relating to work organization on farms, the farmer-advisor relationship and methods of advice. Applying this framework to farm work organization and advisory responses in Australia, Belgium, France and Uruguay, our findings are as follows: (i) the specific characteristics of work are a source of difficulties for both farmers and advisors; (ii) for the farmers, work is a very personal subject linked to identity; (iii) for the advisors, it requires different methods of advisory practice and skills; (iv) success of advisory roles in the context of farm work requires the control of various 'role statements'; and (v) the organizational framework in which advisors carry out their activity, as well as specific training, can make it easier to identify and organize the skills.

Provisions for Agricultural Extension Services in the Implementation Manuals of the World Bank Assisted Fadama Development Projects in Nigeria: Gaps and Lessons

“…However, it is important to note that there is a clear distinction between the two terms. While extension is generic term of a service and learning process which helps people to solve their own problems, (Knierim, Boenning, Caggiano, Cristóvão, Dirimanova, Koehnen, et al, 2015;Altalb, Filipek, Skowron, 2016;Kuehne, Llewellyn, Pannell, Wilkinson, Dolling, Ouzman, et al, 2017), advisory services is an approach used in organizing and implementing effective extension services (Dockès, Chauvat, Correa, Turlot, and Nettle, 2019;Eastwood, Ayre, Nettle, and Dela, 2019).…”

Characteristics of “work in agriculture” scientific communities. A bibliometric review

“…For example, precision livestock farming is impacting working routines on farms by decreasing the time needed to perform tasks, due to labor-saving technologies (Morgan-Davies et al 2018), which in turn changes how farmers work with animals by modifying interaction situations (visual, aural, and tactile) (Hostiou et al 2016). In the same way, concerns about human resource management in agriculture are rising in the literature, including studies focusing on employees' skills and career development (Klupšas and Serva 2009;Moffatt 2016;Malanski et al 2019), employers' management practices (Bitsch et al 2006), advantages for farm performance (Mugera 2012), and adaptation of advisory services to respond to farmers' needs (Brasier et al 2006;Nettle et al 2018a;Dockès et al 2019).…”

Transversal views on work in agriculture

“…and seasonal competition between tasks (on and off the farm) (Madelrieux and Dedieu, 2008). Combinations of these approaches were proposed by and they were included in revised advisory methodologies to explore the needs of farmers regarding their work problems (Dockès et al, 2019). Permanent considerations include: i) an annual approach to work programmes, taking account of different seasons; ii) the differentiation of tasks, primarily as a function of their rhythm (daily or less frequently, etc.)…”