APEN 2001 International Conference

Toowoomba, 4th-5th October 2001

Report No:

24

Title of Topic:

Extending Beyond those Producers who Readily Come to Learning Activities - Should we Bother? If so how do we do it?

Name of Leader:

Jason Trompf

Names of Participants:

Stephanie Andreata, Tina Ball, Rho Sundberg, Emily Tee, Mark Paine, Gabrielle Kay, Gavin Inglis, Graham White, John Muir, Trish Cameron, Val Saywell, Pat Page, Warren Vaschina, Maria Rose, Mark Collins, Sally-Ann Henderson, Jeremy Lemon, Glen Millar, John Barker and Anne Catchart.

Main points of discussion

• Dairy industry, MLA, WA wool and grains are all running programs with approximately 20-40 of producers participating.
• Consensus that on both a productivity and a sustainability basis that increased participation is needed.
• Before trying to address participation levels you need to look at the terms of reference that you are trying to address- such as sustainability, productivity, geographic issues.
• Some producers are not participants in our programs but they are still changing and improving of their own accord

Major outcomes (what have you achieved from this discussion; how can this make a difference; what else do you need to do?)

Ways of increasing participation:

• Using existing group networks (limited impact on participation though)
• Using champions/innovators (limited impact on participation though)
• Three separate examples were given of approaches that effectively engaged non-participants- each of these approaches utilised a one-on-one visit to initially engage people, which led to marked increases in participation.

General conclusion:

• Need to look at method of engagement of producers- unless a deliberate effort is made to engage non-participants, we’ll only continue to service the same top 20 of producers.