The BIG questions

What do the Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) need to do differently to effectively fund, develop & utilize extension to achieve their outcomes?
What do extension providers (and others) need to do differently to most effectively work in with RDCs?
Are RDC’s in research or change?
If they are in change, then can they define the goals of change?
They must be accountable, but to whom?
Is there a focus on learning by all stakeholders?

The Discussion

Look at institutional failings.
There should be dialogue between the States at a national level.
Take a helicopter view (each RDC has a helicopter viewing its activities from above).
People (and RDCs) are competing for producers time.
There is confusion on the ground about where to find information.
Try a satellite view (lots of helicopters buzzing around obscuring the view)!
Most farmers have a combination of enterprises (so lots of helicopters).
Avoid overlap between RDCs.
Les Baxter - extension officers need to come out of the closet.
The RDCs don’t receive a lot of applications from extension people.

R&D cannot solve all the problems, some are cross commodity, others specific.
Who is responsible for adoption? Corporations? State Governments? Growers?
Roslyn Prinsley - What needs to change to improve the development of this industry? i.e. About change, not just research.
DeAnn Glenn - The purchaser/provider or user-pays system has been introduced for extension.
Andrew Campbell - From the satellite, what would you do differently?
It is easier to stay inside the farm gate than to make decisions about what product or services they could get involved in.
We need to accept that we must look at it from the producer's point of view - they are very busy and often it is easier to stay at home.
Tony Eyres - there is pressure on fewer and fewer people, with resultant social pressures and impact on peoples time. And pressure from the government about spending money?
Roslyn Prinsley - the triple bottom line focus is meant to address some of these problems
Andrew Campbell - we are going to hear a lot more about the triple bottom line - to date, there is not enough focus on the social aspect of this:

what are the indicators of social outcomes?
when has the erosion of human capital made farming communities not viable?
what are the optimising functions for the triple bottom line factors? (The balancing act.)