SHIFTING ROLES IN EXTENSION

Assistance to farmers with technical know-how comes in many ways. Some talk about agricultural extension, others about advisory services. Throughout Europe farmers are embedded in a great variety of knowledge systems, which are changing over time. In this article, the Author reflects on the different roles that extension has had in the past, as well as on current trends. These services deal with knowledge. Also the concepts of what knowledge actually is and changed, although today different meanings are being used simultaneously. This makes “knowledge” a quite confusing concept. This reflection is based on the PhD study of the Author, as well as on several researches about the Dutch agricultural knowledge systems. Some relevant conclusions of the 20 th European Seminar on Extension Education, held in Finland in 2011 have been added as well.