Agronomist and Chair of the Association of Independent Crop Consultants, Patrick Stephenson, reflects on the roles of independent and distributor agronomists in knowledge exchange
Who advises farmers? I took part in a group session tasked with
finding the current method of delivering KT to farmers and growers at the
Knowledge Transfer meeting in September. The discussion revealed a complex and
varied number of organisations/groups/individuals who delivered advice either
directly or indirectly to the farmer. The strongest delivery system highlighted
by all five groups was the agronomist. It became apparent that any future
successful system must involve this trusted on farm relationship. The delivery of KT at the farm gate, in most
cases requires the cooperation of the agronomist to ensure that uptake is good
and effective.
But are agronomists a single homogenous group? I was attending
on behalf of (AICC) the Association of Independent Crop Consultants. This body
represents individuals and groups who deliver on farm advice with no sales
related returns. The farmer buys the advice at face value usually in a payment
per hectare or per visit. This accounts for approximately 40% of the arable
area and consists of 244 advisors, a small proportion of farmers are self
advised, the remaining area is covered by a wide group of distributor
agronomists.
Distributor agronomists receive a proportion of their
individual income from the amount of product they sell. So
there is a big difference between the delivery of an independent agronomist and
a distributor agronomist. Non independent agronomists spend the majority of their
face to face farmer contact time on sales related discussion how much where and
when. The independent agronomists divide their time between a wide sweep of
agronomic issues, cultivation, rotation environmental, farm management and
planning.
The major distribution companies have invested heavily in
near market research primarily geared on product efficacy and added value
sales. AICC members have invested heavily in both near market research (product
comparisons) and transitional research. The commercial KT is self funding as
new products or ideas, in theory, have an added economic value which gives the
grower an immediate return. This is not always the case for transitional
research or environmental improvements. These messages are much harder to
deliver and usual contain some negative economic effects for the grower at
least in the short term. But this advice is often the most important and
relating it to sales often dilutes or negates the overall message.
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