Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Advisors because they provided a professional and funded forum to pro-
mote IPM techniques, and they dedicated large portions of their time to
partnership activities. Pickel said: “I have been working in this area for
many years. I like the PMA [partnerships], because it's like, someone
started paying attention. You're not carrying the banner by yourself, or
with the other Farm Advisor, beating your head on the wall. It's sort of
like the industry said, we need this. And it's supporting groups of people
to get implementation. To me, it's my job.” The reason no IPM Advisors
were principal investigators on grants was that they have multi-county,
multi-crop responsibilities, and they were used primarily as expert
knowledge resources by multiple partnerships. Current job performance
criteria for Extension Specialists orient them toward basic research,
which means that they have fewer incentives to conduct extension activ-
ities. Unlike the IPM Farm Advisors, Extension Specialists did not play a
prominent supporting role; they were Principal Investigators, or they
played a minor role, limited to providing technical advice.
27
Engaging Agricultural Researchers
Securing the expertise of UC researchers has been one of the more diffi-
cult challenges facing partnership leaders. Precious few of the 700
agricultural research scientists contribute to alternative, agroecological
strategies. Despite the public charter and public financial support of
LGU science, partnership leaders describe difficulties in recruiting UC
research scientists to work on practical problems. The President of the
Almond Board visited the UC Davis campus and reported UC to be in
retreat from production agriculture, and characterized this as a “progres-
sive disease.”
28
All 32 partnerships relied on UC research science, albeit to varying
degrees.
29
Most leaders designed their partnerships to take maximum
advantage of this knowledge by extending it more fully through outreach
activities. The proportion of dedicated research scientists participating
was tiny—only 2 percent—but they have had a huge impact on partner-
ships because their scientific knowledge and skills have been pivotal to
the success of many agroecological partnerships.
30
For example, Dwayne
Beck of the Dakota Lakes farm in South Dakota played an essential role
in the impact of the ACIRDS/Wilke Farm partnership more than 1,500
miles away.
