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Download full report (350k) This publication is only available a an electronic download
by Zvi Hochman
December 2006
RIRDC Publication No 06/113 RIRDC Project No CSW 40A
Executive Summary
Background
Building farmers’ capacity
for sustainable management of natural resources (e.g. reducing deep drainage
to reduce salinity hazard) is different to helping farmers adopt new innovations
for greater productivity. This is largely because
Discovery learning is
a methodology for providing farmers with an opportunity to participate
in observation, discussion, and experimentation that allow them to learn
and to draw their own conclusions about natural resource management (NRM).
This project set out to investigate the promise of discovery learning for
scientists to help farmers achieve the knowledge transformations necessary
for management change.
Aims
The number and geographical
location of scientists who can support farmers’ learning about NRM is incompatible
with the formation of a decentralised network of scientists and farmers
throughout the areas where NRM issues need to be addressed. An objective
of this project is to investigate the possibility of overcoming this ‘tyranny
of distance’ by using internet based technologies to create a virtual meeting
space where scientists can engage farmers in discovery learning without
the need to travel to a face to face meeting. The challenge to technologists
and facilitators is to create a meeting environment wherein technology
does not prevent effective communication.
The trigger for this work was an online meeting in which scientists learned that farmers who were prepared to take action to modify their crop management practice on the basis of learning supported by monitoring and simulation were not prepared to accept the results of simulations which calculated significant deep drainage.
Methods
This project was set up
to support farmers’ learning about salinity through virtual meetings. Participant
evaluation and Video Interaction Analysis were used to analyse the impacts
of the project. A virtual meeting held in August 2004 provided farmers
with an opportunity to examine the evidence of salt movement that was obtained
from field work comparing cropped paddocks with tree and pasture paddocks
on participants’ farms1.
Farmers accepted this tangible evidence of salt movement out of the rooting
zone of crops but were still left wondering about what they might be able
to do about it.
The final virtual meeting held in December 2004 was based on the detailed cropping history provided by one of the farmers. Scientists simulated this cropping history in terms of crop yields but also in terms of visual presentations of what happens to rainfall. This allowed farmers to visualise the impact of climate variability and management on both runoff and deep drainage events. Farmers were able to use their learning from this exercise to design an alternative system. Simulation of the farmers’ system showed it to be more productive and less ‘leaky’ than the historical system.
Results & Implications
This project demonstrated
that currently available and affordable internet technologies can be used
effectively to support virtual meetings wherein scientists and groups of
farmers can engage in a learning partnership. It also showed that by facilitating
discovery learning scientists can support the knowledge transformations
that are necessary for farmers to deal with dryland salinity.
1. The data was from a related GRDC funded Eastern Farming System project titled 'Effect of farming systems on deep drainage in high salinity hazard areas' that was set up to measure salt losses from farmers’ paddocks.
 
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