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Using the concepts of affect and assemblage, this paper expands the boundaries of the geographies of education by shifting the student focus from the urban to the rural. Based on the findings of student interviews, it demonstrates how a multiscalar and diversely constituted network of material and non-material things (including buildings, animals and plants) coalesces with students to create affective atmospheres of learning in a specialist agri-food and land-based rural university. This learning is underpinned by a sense of attachment to historical tradition through more than a century of agricultural education on the campus, giving students a strong sense of identity in corporeality. Animals are enrolled in teaching and learning through embodied sensory engagement with their states of health, welfare and disease. Students learn both with and from their student peers, centred on a mutual interest in the science and practicality of caring for production animals and pets. This mutual learning and sharing takes place both within, and informally beyond, the geographies of the classroom. The paper draws out wider cautionary lessons for ongoing university expansions; the praxis of university education within fieldwork- and vocationally-based domains; and the role of both formal and informal assemblages of teaching and learning within the academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper continues our research regarding basic agricultural terms in the context of english for specific purposes, extending it to the area of german for specific purposes. It is true that, nowadays, the language of science is english, and scientists all around the world need to be able not only to use the language in generic contexts and everyday situations, but also need to master the english technical terms relating to their field of study or research. However, for the european context in general and the romanian one in particular, the importance of the german language has reached a peak not encountered 20 years ago, for instance. This new importance is rendered not only by the height of political importance german has achieved, given its standing within the european union, but also by its economic importance as a partner in commerce as well as agriculture. As mentioned in our former research, agriculture has been established as an issue of utmost importance nowadays. German investors in the field of agriculture make their presence felt in various countries, but, for the romanian economy, they are a well-known and accepted reality. Therefore, during the last five years students attending the foreign language courses at faculties with an agricultural profile, have increasingly turned towards the study of german. The present paper offers a glossary of basic romanian terms employed in agriculture and their german equivalents. Alongside researchers and academic staff, this paper targets students as well, on all levels - bachelor, master and doctoral studies, since they are most likely to come into contact with specific german vocabulary either in their bibliographical studies, or through scholarships and internships. Moreover, we try to explain the reasons behind difficulties in translation and indicate reliable sources which will help researchers and students in their further contact with gsp (german for special purposes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agro-processing is becoming more popular and practiced by farmers to reduce postharvest losses, add value to farm products and increase farm income. This paper presents the small-scale crop farmers' level of participation in agro-processing in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Data were collected from 255 small-scale crop farmers selected by random sampling using a semi-structured questionnaire. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23 of 2015) was used to analyse data. Descriptive statistics (in form of percentages) were used to analyse the background characteristics of the farmers, whereas the multinomial logit model was further used to show the level of participation amongst the small-scale crop farmers. With respect to agro-processing, results indicated that 47.1% of the small-scale crop farmers participated partly, 40.8% of them participated fully while 12.2% did not participate at all. Results of the multinomial analyses indicated that, educational level (p<0.05), size of the field (p<0.05), distance to the market (p<0.01), and access to credit (p<0.01) had positive significant influence on small-scale crop farmers' choice to participate fully in agro-processing. Gender, regarding male participation (p< 0.05), and age of farmer (p<0.01) had significant influence on farmers' choice to fully participate in agro-processing. Furthermore, the results of the multinomial analyses showed that size of the field (p<0.01) owned by the farmer and access to credit (p< 0.05) had positive influence on the farmers' choice to participate partly in agro-processing whereas older farmers (p< 0.05), widows (p< 0.1) and farmers with more number of fields (p<0.01) were less likely to participate partly in agro-processing activities. These results have implications for the development of smallscale farmers venturing into agro-processing in the Gauteng province. Young females should be encouraged to join the agricultural sector as they are likely to participate in agro-processing activities which in turn results in improved income and food security at the household level. Furthermore, new agricultural education programmes should be encouraged in the area households as educated farmers are more likely to participate in the value addition activities of agro-processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate changes with their effects: floods, drought, desertification affect agricultural production. Likewise, the Agricultural Policies on the European Union, through the Farm to Fork Strategy, propose limiting the amount of fertilizers to improve the quality of the environment. Farmers must adapt and use high-performance technologies to face these challenges. In this context, the study analyses the perception of farmers with large farms regarding the main factors that influence the evolution of agriculture in Romania. According to the survey, the factors that influence the increase in agricultural production are: the use of selected seeds, adapted to the agricultural area where the farm operates, the establishment/expansion of irrigation systems, access to new research in the agricultural field, the increase in the level of training of agricultural personnel, the intensive application of fertilizers and pesticides, easy access to low- cost financing. Regarding the association in agriculture and ecological agriculture adapted to climate change, the farmers' attitude is polarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines attempts by a joint Dutch-Afghan capacity development project to bring more gender-responsive elements into the Agricultural High School (AHS) curriculum in the fragile context of Afghanistan. It reviews the gender-specific results of semester-long piloting (including classroom observation and interviews) of the redesigned textbooks and accompanying teachers' instructions at ten AHSs. It also examines experiences of teaching on gender themes. The findings show that it is possible to introduce more gender-responsiveness in the Afghan curriculum, but because it is used nationwide, great limitations on terminology and the kinds of female representation are imposed determined by the most conservative regions where schools are also located. These limitations and how to get around them are analysed in the article, through concrete examples showing the complex interactions with different layers involved when initiating change in such a 'fragile context'. This article can be useful to those designing and teaching courses with elements of gender, illustrating how particular contexts demand a flexible and creative approach when delving into inclusivity issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, higher education institutions all over the world have been faced with the urgent need for going online. Still, higher education institutions in Ukraine have met this new challenge with significant gaps in online education expertise. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the major challenges that have become relevant to Ukrainian agricultural universities in the pandemic period. In particular, we tried to evaluate the main areas where the major interventions have been carried out, such as providing access to relevant ICT infrastructure, methodological support and training of academic staff etc. The results of the case study support the conclusion that the rapid shift to remote learning has the potential to be the impetus for radical decisions in the context of implementation of pedagogical innovations and digital tools in agricultural higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the colleges of agriculture in Iran, lecture is used as a dominated teaching method. Team learning is one of the most commonly used educational methods in the present erea. The aim of this study was to compare the Team Member Teaching Design (TMTD) and the regular lecture method on the academic achievement and teamwork behavior of agricultural students. A within-subject design was followed for two courses in which students first attended a series of lectures and then participated in team teaching. Differences between lecture and team teaching methods were examined for their academic achievement and teamwork. The study samples were taken of Agricultural Extension and Education Department of the University of Tehran during the academic year of 2017-2018. The mean scores of academic achievement and the teamwork behavior of students were compared. In compared coursess, the effect of TMTD method on the academic achievement of students was shown. The results of means comparison tests indicated a significant difference between the two methods of teaching in the field of academic achievement and the strengthening of the teamwork behavior of students. The paper further discusses team method implementation and its implication for teaching and proffers the way forward for an effective use of teaching methods for better results in the classroom teaching and learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the role and tasks of agricultural digitalization education. The major challenges and possibilities of agricultural digitization are inevitable. With the help of modern technology, agriculture has great benefits. This article has been based on a qualitative review of the literature to prove why digitization is necessary for agriculture, and also created a proposal for Curriculum for agriditization at BSc level. There are five suggested subjects groups: Basics of economics, Agronomy basics, Agricultural economics and entrepreneurship, Agricultural digitization and the Differentiated professional knowledge. We also suggest subjects for the knowledge groups and also propose credits to each one. We summarize the Training and Output Requirements (TOR) for the suggested course. We think that new education programmes and new approaches to extension would be also needed to accelerate the transition to digitized agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the institutional model and curriculum of Mexico's Agricultural High Schools, where young people in rural settings obtain an agricultural education by working on school farms. The article reviews the distribution of these schools throughout Mexico, their farming conditions, teachers, financing, and students (including their distribution among the areas of concentration offered, the scope of production, the role of the school co-op, and student participation) as well as some of the results: possible learning, dropout rates, graduation rates, certification, and opportunities for graduates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insect pest attack has serious consequences for plants growth and development. Biological control of pests is a potential solution, which needs to understand the quantitative interactions among various organisms in the environment for management optimization. However, it is time-consuming and laborious to determine the effect of insect attack on plants through experiments. In this paper, a new method was proposed and developed to simulate the effect of insect pest on leaves and quantify the effect of insect pest on plant growth. An improved cellular texture strategy was used for describing the appearance of leaves eaten by armyworm. The procedures are as follows: (1) to simulate the irregular eating path of pests, we use origination feature point, which is the position where the armyworm begins to eat, and critical feature point to model the pest’s trajectory. The critical feature point is generated randomly within a circle, which is defined by certain distance as radius and the origination feature point as the center, and (2) to simulate armyworm eating habits, we select the closest feature point to a pixel, which is closer to the origination feature point than the distance between the pixel and the origination feature point; (3) a transparent pixel in cellular texture is used to represent the leaf area where pests will not eat. To describe wormhole intuitively and visually, cellular texture values were mapped to color, the pixels in leaf texture will be transparent when the color of corresponding cellular texture pixels are lower than a threshold. To describe the effect of leaf eaten by pest, we used the proportion of being eaten, namely the percentage of eaten leaf area to the whole leaf area. As the proportion of being eaten changes, the number of transparent pixels also changes. Therefore, the appearance of the leaves could represent conditions under various degrees of armyworm attack. Coupling armyworm attack with functional-structural model is able to quantitatively describe the interactions between armyworm and maize and visually simulate the growth of maize. Models of maize architectural development were constructed based on the L-System, which facilitates the simulation of physiological response to damage. The morphological size of each organ was calculated according to their cumulative biomass (fresh weight). For estimating the proportion of being eaten of each leaf, it is necessary to calculate the number of armyworms and the amount of their food intake, and simulate the distribution of armyworms in maize. Based on the literature review, the life cycle of armyworm was divided into 10 different stages, and every stage was further divided into multiple age classes. On the basis of daily effective accumulated temperature at each age, the number and intake of each age class in each stage of the armyworm population was simulated per day, combined with the effect of natural enemies and environmental factors on the survival of armyworms. Ray tracing algorithm was employed to simulate light interception of a canopy, and a photosynthesis model was applied to estimate biomass. To simulate the assimilate partitioning within a maize and quantify the effects of armyworms eating on whole plant structure, Friedlingstein model was used to estimate the partitioning ratio of above-ground and underground assimilate affected by leaf area index, and source-sink model and parameters from GreenLab were used to simulate the distribution of aboveground assimilate. The growth simulation also takes the effects of maize changing, armyworm damage inducing further changes that affect development into consideration. The results showed that simulation could realistic represent the vivid appearance of leaf eaten by armyworms, such as irregularity of wormhole, random selection of eaten areas and armyworms eating habits. The proposed approach can quantify the effects of armyworms attack on maize development and crop yields; it is useful for quantifying and understanding disaster degree in pest management, and it has potential for agricultural technical training and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is an essential element of climate change policies. This paper explores Dutch dairy farmers' adoption behaviour of climate change mitigation measures using a Self-regulated Stage model of Behavioural Change. It tests the statistical relationship of stage-specific socio-psychological factors with individual farmer's intentions of planning or adopting on-farm climate mitigation measures. In addition, it tests the statistical relationship of intentions on four stages (pre-decisional, pre-actional, actional, post-actional). The empirical application focuses on data from specialised Dutch dairy farmers registered with the Farm Accountancy Data Network. Our findings suggest that negative emotion, personal norm, perceived goal feasibility, action planning, and coping planning vary significantly by stage. Furthermore, personal norm, attitude, goal intention, behavioural intention, and implementation intention are found to be statistically significant and positive influencing factors on adopting climate mitigation measures. Lastly, farmers younger than 45 years old with full agricultural education and farms with high livestock density are more likely to have taken steps in adopting mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyze the commercialization of the results of scientific work of agricultural universities of Ukraine and the formation of their ratings according to these indicators. Data from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for the years 2018-2020 were used to achieve the goal. The research was carried out in three stages: analysis of absolute indicators of commercialization (amounts of earned funds based on the results of scientific work) using the ABC method; analysis of relative indicators of commercialization (amount of earned funds based on the results of scientific work per one scientific-pedagogical worker); formation of ratings of agricultural higher education institutions of Ukraine according to absolute and relative indicators of commercialization of scientific work. The following results were obtained: during the analyzed period, agricultural higher education institutions of Ukraine improved the overall effectiveness of scientific activity. In 2019, 7 higher education institutions, and in 2020, 11 higher education institutions increased the absolute financial indicators of their scientific work, compared to the previous year. In 2019, 8 higher educational institutions, and in 2020, 11 higher educational institutions increased the relative financial indicators of their scientific work, compared to the previous year. According to the rating of agricultural higher education institutions of Ukraine, four leaders were identified according to these indicators. It is expedient to study and implement their experience in attracting funds for financing scientific work in other 12 agricultural higher education institutions of Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of academic courses on agricultural entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approach Modified global entrepreneurship and development index (GEDI) was used to determine entrepreneurial dimensions among 19 graduated students of agricultural colleges resided in Iran. Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process was applied to understand agricultural graduates’ preferences on effectiveness of university courses (core, free elective and restricted elective).Findings Results suggested the importance of professional restricted elective courses to provide students with necessary skills. These courses were successful in providing a context for entrepreneurial profile.Research limitations/implications Innate talent or acquired skills were always the place of debate on entrepreneurial development. The paper builds on the premise that entrepreneurs are made through education and continuing reconstruction of experience, further research is required as the field develops in experience and complexity.Practical implications The paper provides strategies to effectively modify practical route in higher education to enhance entrepreneurial orientation among students.Originality/value The paper is innovative at a conceptual level in modifying GEDI elements in individual-level variables based on GEDI configuration theory. This approach is particularly useful in addressing the bottleneck problems of entrepreneurship profile and focusses on the information interpreted at weights of the individual-level data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims to give arguments for the necessity of integrated teaching, in other words of interdisciplinary teaching of contents, in order to help the students in agricultural higher education reach professional and transversal skills. In this sense, the paper describes a strategy that allows a subject to be approached from several points of view, for the purpose of deeper understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this paper were to explore the existing status of agricultural higher education in India, application of marketing concepts in similar institutions and to find the most appropriate marketing concept to make agricultural higher education more competitive. Extensive searches of relevant agricultural education, business management and higher educational data bases were made. It was found that agricultural higher education in India is stagnant and is facing an identity crisis among its stakeholders. Marketing theories and concepts which are now being applied in higher education across the globe have not been thought of in the context of agriculture education. A review of the literature suggested that considering the objectives, the multiplicity of stakeholders and the nature of public-funded agricultural education, marketing orientation would be most appropriate. Based on the experiences of similar institutions, the paper suggests a three-level strategy for the implementation of marketing orientation in institutions of agricultural higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aimed to present the role of extension agents in improving rice farmers' income in Albuera, Leyte, Philippines. It also predicts the significant factors that influence the rice farmers' income to make policies that might improve the well-being of farmers as well as their rice production. Primary data were gathered through a developed structured questionnaire as a guide for a face-to-face interview of the sample farmers. The gathered data were summarized through some descriptive statistics and constructed an inference using econometric analysis in the form of a regression model. Results depicted that the average monthly income of rice farmers in Albuera, Leyte is close to 5,047.95 (₱) (SD=2,208.20 (₱)). On average, farmers’ perception score towards extension agents’ role revealed that they are “undecided” (Mean=3.28; SD=0.85) (score of 1 to 5) in regards to satisfaction. Additionally, the econometric model showed that farmer's ownership of the rice field (p-value=0.003), educational attainment of farmers (p-value=0.001), perception of farmers to extension agents as "organizers" (p-value=0.100), and perception of farmers to extension agent as "facilitator" (p-value=0.080) are the significant predictors of their monthly income. In conclusion, farmers in Albuera need assistance in regard to their agricultural production especially knowledge about new technologies and innovation to increase their economic profit. Hence, the study recommends that the Philippine local government must initiate organizing farmers' associations and cooperatives to address farmers' constraints and lack of agricultural training. Furthermore, the agricultural sector in the country must strengthen the agricultural extension agents by giving them proper training and education to effectively aid farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While reflexivity is seen as a not-to-be-missed concept in professional training, references to design pedagogical devices to enhance actors' reflective capacities on their professional situations and to foster their professional and personal development are scarce and embedded in a patchwork of theoretical and practical approaches. As designers of such devices in agricultural higher education, our practical experiences, theoretical background and discussions led us to build a model of reflexivity as five intertwined key dimensions. These dimensions deal with aspects of reflexivity that it is possible to work on directly with learners by using appropriate scaffolding methods, which we describe and illustrate in this paper, referring to our teaching experiences. Two dimensions of the model are particularly relevant for people who are not familiar with reflexivity, and sometimes reluctant to practice it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the sustainability factors of agricultural extension (economic factor, educational-extensional factor, management factor, socio-cultural factor, policymaking factor, infrastructure factor) on the sustainability and consistency of consulting services firms from the private sector perspective. This is applied in terms of objective and survey in terms of methodology. To investigate the fields and extent of agricultural extension activities in the public and private sector, the past records have been reviewed in the areas of agricultural Jihad and consulting services companies. The study population included experts from technical and engineering agricultural consulting firms (private sector) in Ghazvin and Zanjan provinces, which is equal to 285 experts. According to the Cochran formula, the sample size was estimated at 164 who were selected using stratified sampling. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire. In this research, the independent variable of the requirements for the sustainability of the extension of private agriculture was divided into six groups of economic, educational, managerial, socio-cultural, policy and infrastructure subdivisions, which were assessed with 98 items. The variable sustainability function of private agricultural extension was also measured with 10 items. The CVI index for the sustainability requirement variables was 0.89 and the sustainability was 0.96, hence content validity was confirmed. In order to ensure the accuracy of the models of measuring the questions of the research variables using confirmatory factor analysis, and to confirm the model and to answer the hypotheses, the modeling of structural equations by partial least squares method was performed using SMARTPLS software. Based on the results, the T-statistic is 10.530, which is not significant (more than 1.96) (p <0.05). Therefore, with the probability of 0.95, it can be said that the sustainability requirements of agricultural extension on sustainability and continuity the activities of the consulting services companies are affected. Given the positive beta coefficient of 0.505, it can be said that the sustainability requirements of private agricultural extension have affected the sustainability and continuity of consulting services firms from the viewpoint of private sector experts, and 74% of the changes related to variable explained the sustainability requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the development of Mendel University in Brno and its Faculty of AgriSciences during last 100 years. It shows the present state of the University and Faculty, including facilities used for educational, scientific and other activities. The journal European Countryside owned by the University has been established 10 years ago. It is a highly cited per review periodical in the field of rural development. This special number gave the opportunity to the members of the Advisory Board to co-celebrate the anniversary by means of their own topic related scientific article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the willingness of unemployed graduates to participate in agriculture with a view to showcase the potentials in Nigerian agriculture especially in the area of employment generation for the youths. Design/methodology/approach: The study made use of primary data collected with the aid of structured questionnaires from 180 respondents from the three states of Ondo; Oyo and Osun states are the representative states from the entire South West. The binary logistic regression model was used to identify those factors that influence the willingness of the respondents who were graduates of various disciplines to participate in agriculture. Findings: The findings of the study showed that the majority of the respondents interviewed representing 62.8 percent were unemployed with the majority of the respondents (68.3 percent) willing to participate in agriculture given the needed and required supports such as conducive environment by the stakeholders particularly the government. Educational status, marital status, gender, possession of agricultural training and employment status of respondents significantly influenced their willingness to participate in agriculture. Research limitations/implications: The greatest limitation of this study is its sample size which is considerably small but considering the peculiarity in the challenges faced by the entire population; this limitation has been overcome, thus, making its findings valid for policy purposes. However, recommendations for further studies that would comprise the entire geopolitical zones of the country to pave way for comparative analysis were made. Originality/value: The study is originally carried out by conducting a survey to collect the data and is coming to fill the existing gap in the literature in terms of potentials embedded in Nigerian agriculture to assist the government in providing employment opportunities for teeming youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines the motivations of participants in a large-scale pilot project that aims at developing a new agri-environmental measure, gypsum treatment of arable fields, to reduce phosphorus loading in the Baltic Sea. We build a general model of crop production that allows for three motivations: profit maximization, utility from agricultural innovation and stewardship towards the environment by employing farmer survey and confirmatory factor analysis. Strong environmental motivation is associated with small farm size, adoption of environmentally friendly cultivation technologies, and part-time farming. Strong profit motivation is associated with large gypsum-treated areas, perceived ease of gypsum application as a water protection measure, and agricultural education, which associates also with strong innovation motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the transmission of Western science through the agricultural education sector during the British colonial administration of Malaya. This education system included three levels: elementary, intermediate and the school of agriculture. To understand the process by which Western science was transmitted in Malaya, Basalla's model was adopted to clarify the vectors of Western science and the types of knowledge disseminated by these vectors, and to identify the mechanisms sustaining scientific research activities outside Europe. This paper shows that the transmission and the diffusion of Western science through education were highly centralised under the British colonial umbrella and closely associated with the agricultural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to outline the draft of the General plan of social optimization through deep reform of education at all levels, obtained through interviewing life sciences first year students. It is well-known that no authentic social change could be made without a deep reform of education, starting from early age and continuing throughout the life span. Implementing such reforms will allow durable solving of urging social problems like violence, injustice, poverty, corruption, poor financing. Interviewing agricultural management students led us to a new perspective of education, resulting from the new directions of contemporary and future society. The ideas resulted from discussions outlined a plan of educational reform for the global society. This plan is designed within a intercultural perspective, being inspired both by the great ethical systems of humanity, and psycho-socioeducational research. Applying the plan at a regional, European, and international level will be able to further humankind on the way of a life whose quality will answer both the scientific demands of a society of knowledge, and the spiritual needs of humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring and evaluation are important, yet, frequently neglected functions in most organisations. In Nigeria, many programmes have been established over the years but only little monitoring and evaluation have been carried out because of many implementation problems and lack of realistic and/or stable policy framework. This paper was designed to X-ray policy issues for improving monitoring and evaluation of agricultural programmes in Nigeria. Inductive and deductive reasoning through a review of relevant literature was used in this philosophical paper. To improve the performance of agricultural extension programmes in Nigeria, the following policy issues must be addressed: The questions of what should be monitored or evaluated, when should monitoring and/or evaluation be carried out and who should monitor and/or evaluate; and the methodology to be adopted in any project should be included in any agricultural programmes and/or policies. Manpower and financial resources, effective communication and the issue of accountability must be properly considered. The tools for monitoring and evaluation are also very crucial. The paper concluded that planning a good agricultural programme is not a problem in Nigeria but poor implementation is, as a result of poor monitoring and evaluation. Therefore, attention should be on when, how and who should be involved in monitoring and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyse the indicators in terms of level of education, school dropout, school population, civilians employed and the average of lifespan, in order to determine the trends in the rural areas of Olt county. The porpoise of the paper is to establish benchmarks in the formulation of strategies for the improvement of the education conditions and standards in rural areas and, therefore, in agriculture and connecting them to the socioeconomic reality. Olt County, by farmland it has, by the population living in rural areas, by the share of the population employed in agriculture and by the share that the value of agricultural production in the county's economy holds requires an education which should be connected to these socio-economic realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper approaches a difficult issue especially by its originality and complexity, since it involves the application of the same type of research on completely different areas of activity. Based on the idea that nowadays it is increasingly thought that „the school of life" is the one which really matters and that the level of educational training has no longer an important role in the professional achievements, we proposed ourselves to emphasize the concrete results of those working in agriculture, education and legal field, according to their level of specialization. The orientation towards a socio-economic study has determined the selection of some suitable research methods, in order to help us to obtain answers as close as possible with reality. For this purpose, a series of questionnaires, adapted to each individual case, but having a common basis were used. Interviews with 50 people for each of the mentioned branches of activity have been established. All the responses have been then inserted into a database and statistically processed, being obtained three distinct analyzes, which afterwards could be compared to each other, leading to the final findings. Another direction of research has been the one represented by the education awareness, many of the surveyed persons, who oriented themselves to these professions, completing their studies along the way, and afterwards continuing to inform themselves, to learn, to ask other specialized people. Conclusions arising are among the most diverse, but all guides us to the necessity of changing the way of thinking, of education and of its entire aim perception. Motivating people is an aspect that deserves all the specialists in sociology attention, being a phenomenon of real importance for the society we live in and especially for the future of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to analyze the institutional, educational and space-related complexity of agricultural orientation in La Pampa (Argentina) between 1952 and 1959. In this way, and using little explored sources, we will demonstrate that the initiatives implemented in this period were part of an official agenda previously defined in a context of agri-ecological crisis. This in turn will help us explain the role that the new institutions assumed in the state formation period, and the concrete actions that were taken to address the main problems in agri-production in a marginal space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farm education organized by farmers and directed towards students and groups of citizens is a relatively new practice often considered as one specific business strategy to diversify farmers’ income. Although we endorse the importance of an economic rationale we argue that this conceptualization undermines a diversity of perspectives on educative processes that address societal transformation and the political role of intergroup and interpersonal deliberation. In this paper, we start from the observation that on the European level three different competing policy paradigms or discourses are being advocated. Reasoning from a discourse-analytical perspective these policy discourses cannot be considered as mere ideas floating in abstraction but constitute interpretative frames that have concrete implications for practices in the agro-food domain. Along these lines, we reveal three analytically distinct educative practices by specifying how each discourse articulates meaning to make sense of farm education in terms of goals, relations and actions. Our theoretical assumptions on education are informed by John Dewey's pragmatist conception of education which starts from the idea that the mutual recognition of social interests are co-constitutive for the experience of learning. We use a case study on a regional farm education network in Belgium to illustrate how farmer's educative efforts can be enrolled differently in educational practices according to different discursive frames and how these different educational practices enable or constrain social and educational arrangements that promote a sustainability transition. We conclude that farm education is a multifaceted educational practice and reflect on its potentialities and pitfalls to foster (emancipatory) agency to re-balance conflicting interests towards sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how the "learning to make by making" pedagogical principle was present in the context of mathematical education at Federal Agrotechnical School of Sertão (EAFS/RS) in the 1980s. The theoretical framework is based mainly on the works of Michel Foucault and John Dewey. The research material is composed of interviews with egresses, as well as Mathematics notebooks, tests and schoolwork from that period. The analytical exercise concerning this material, undertaken in the perspective of foucauldian discourse analysis and by means of the Storytelling approach, demonstrated that mathematical education in Mathematical classes was hardly related to the "learning to make by making" pedagogical principle, prioritizing formalism and the use of writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Established in 1923, the International Education Board (IEB) was a philanthropic organisation that aimed to sponsor and steer educational projects on a global scale. Extending the work of the General Education Board (GEB), which had organised development activities in the southern states of the USA, the IEB focused on improving the social and economic roots of society by supporting, on the one hand, scientific research (mainly through institution building and fellowships) while, on the other hand, funding and promoting rural modernisation through farm demonstration work. While the IEB’s ‘macro’ programmes of institution building and fellowship creation have been capably studied, its role in developing rural capacities through ‘micro’ schemes of community development is much less well known. This paper therefore concentrates on farming education programmes trialled in the three Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland and Sweden. We argue that these village-level programmes of rural pedagogy, aimed at children and adolescents, were intended to inculcate new farming habits, dispositions and techniques to better synchronise young adults with the routines of scientific and industrial farming. Promoting youth club work, via farm demonstrations and home economics, the IEB aimed to reshape the social by directly engaging with the next generation of farmers in rural Europe. The precise targeting of teens, we finally argue, is indicative of a broader shift that saw agrarian reformers look beyond technics to the ‘culture’ within agri-culture, and in particular to the tactics that heighten youth receptivity and responsiveness. This deep interest in the ‘how’ of striving — by this we mean the actions, forces and intensities that spark human endeavour — was later refined and developed during the Green Revolution as villages and peasants across the globe were made the targets of philanthropic reforms. By inciting new embodied attachments and affective relations between youth and land, philanthropists hoped to quell social upheaval and inject ‘modern’ entrepreneurial values into the countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving farmers' knowledge of fertilizer use through agricultural training has been considered a prerequisite to scientific fertilizer management. However, empirical evidence of the effect of agricultural training on farmers' fertilizer management knowledge is inconclusive. Based on a randomized controlled experiment involving 687 farmers that mitigates selection bias in the data, this paper identifies the treatment effect of agricultural training on farmers' fertilizer management knowledge in Chinese rice production. Results indicate that the fertilizer management knowledge of field-guidance farmers improved by almost 40%. However, such knowledge acquisition did not occur for curriculum-trained farmers. We also find that there is no evidence of knowledge diffusion from trained farmers to exposed farmers in the same village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural training is a potentially effective method to diffuse relevant new technologies to increase productivity and alleviate rural poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, since it is prohibitively expensive to provide direct training to all the farmers in SSA, it is critically important to examine the extent to which technologies taught to a small number of farmers disseminate to non-trained farmers. This paper investigates the technology dissemination pathways among smallholder rice producers within a rural irrigation scheme in Tanzania. As an innovative feature, we compare the performance of three categories of farmers: key farmers, who receive intensive pre-season training at a local training center; intermediate farmers, who are trained by the key farmers; and other ordinary farmers. By collecting and analyzing a unique five-year household-level panel data set, we estimate difference-in-differences models to assess how the gap in performance evolve as the technologies spill over from the trained farmers to the ordinary farmers. To disentangle the technology spillover process, we also examine the extent to which social and geographical network with the key and intermediate farmers influences the adoption of technologies by the ordinary farmers, by incorporating social relationship variables into spatial econometric models. We found that the ordinary farmers who were a relative or residential neighbor of a key or intermediate farmer were more likely to adopt new technologies than those who were not. As a result, while the key farmers’ technology adoption rates rose immediately after the training, those of the non-trained ordinary farmers caught up belatedly. As the technologies disseminated, the paddy yield of the key farmers increased from 3.1 to 5.3 tons per hectare, while the yield of the ordinary farmers increased from 2.6 to 3.7 tons per hectare. Our results suggest the effectiveness and practical potential of farmer-to-farmer extension programs for smallholders in SSA as a cost effective alternative to the conventional farmer training approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the behavioral learning characteristics of smallholder female farmers in Uganda by quantifying the amount of information learned under different incentive schemes. The paper shows how competitive versus team incentives compare in motivating Ugandan farmers to learn and share information relevant to adopting a new agricultural technology. We find that tournament-based incentives provide greater outcomes in terms of total information learned than threshold-based team incentives. Furthermore the order of the incentive – whether the tournament precedes or follows the team incentive scheme – does not affect the volume of information learned. New information introduced between rounds was learned by more individuals under team incentives than under tournament incentives. The study provides direct practical policy recommendations for improving learning in the context of agriculture in Uganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which didactic communication is achieved in agricultural and veterinary higher education can influence the quality of the didactic process, and therefore there is a constant preoccupation of the teachers for the improvement of didactic communication. In the paper we present students' views on the factors that influence their participation in classroom debates as well as ways to improve didactic communication and interactive student participation in veterinary and agricultural lessons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1866, military drill and instruction became part of the curriculum of Maryland Agricultural College as a result of the passage of the Morrill Act of 1862, a law setting the terms for the establishment of agricultural colleges across the USA. The introduction of military instruction meant a direct inclusion of physically active coursework that preceded the widespread emergence of organized physical education courses in American educational institutions. However, this was not the first time physical activity was used and discussed at the college: previously, the uses of physical activity at the college wholly entailed outdoor agricultural practice in which students applied pedagogical training about agricultural techniques in the field. In this paper, we examine early Maryland Agricultural College printed discourse from 1859 to 1886, studying how the college shifted focus from idealizing the Republican male citizen as a physically active farmer or 'cultivator of the soil' in the years preceding the American Civil War to a physically active 'citizensoldier' in response to the social and political effects of the conflict. Our analysis sheds light on the historical place of such physical activity coursework within the larger historical narrative of American physical education's emergence, and also provides useful historical context for critically viewing linkages between physical culture, nationalism, agricultural education and the military in contemporary physical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To create sustainable rural areas, farming and non-farming stakeholders must learn to work together better. In this paper, the authors contribute to the discussion of innovation platforms as drivers of institutional change by taking a closer look at the group dynamics of emerging social bodies in innovation projects, focusing on the joint creation of institutions in the process of learning to work together. Three examples of institutional learning are discussed. The authors show that 'institutional voids' are important in facilitating institutional learning at multi-actor interfaces. They also show how different team roles, such as those of collaborative leaders and brokers, emerge and are assigned tasks, and how they can be identified. The paper concludes with reflections on the implications of the findings for innovation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural education covers all levels of formal education but focuses mostly on the higher ones as well as the vocational education and training. Online courses play an important role in the educational context and compared to traditional courses they eliminate the location and time restrictions and allow a self-paced attendance of a curriculum. At the same time, the existence of online courses raised the need for the design and implementation of the appropriate platforms which may be used for the organization and deployment of online courses. This paper presents the case of agriMoodle, a course management platform based on the widely used Moodle platform, which provides a number of enhancements in the form of modules or widgets specialized for the agricultural domain. These modules aim to enhance the user experience and the functionalities of a standard Moodle installation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate changes, the greenhouse gas emissions and reduced sources of traditional fossil fuels are one of the most serious environmental problems of present time. This fact was the starting point for Directive 2009/28/EC, which defined two objectives in the area of RES, the mandatory 20% share of RES in gross final energy consumption in the European Community and the mandatory 10% share of RES in transport, which all Member States must achieve by 2020. In 2011 was the share of renewable energy sources in total energy production in the European Union 13%. Promoting the use of renewable sources for electricity, heat, hot water, as well as promoting the use of biomass energy and construction of energy efficient buildings brings, in addition to environmental aspects, the development of innovative technologies, the transition to an energy-efficient economy and increase employment opportunities. Development in clean technologies becomes a strategic not only in terms of ecology, but has a significant impact on economic development and employment. This paper presents an analysis of training needs in clean technologies and renewable energy sources and through the Leonardo da Vincis' projects - AVARES and C-TEST - supported by European Commission to show how to increase the attractiveness and accessibility of vocational education and training for employees in agricultural sector in the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper set out to explore the precision agriculture (PA)-training needs of students studying in agricultural universities in the Euro-Mediterranean region (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain). SPARKLE is a Knowledge Alliance Project, funded by the European Union (EU), and one of its main goals is to narrow the innovation divide between entrepreneurship and the effective application of sustainable PA. During the project, the research conducted in all countries in the Euro-Mediterranean region revealed differences in the PA-training needs of university students. Additionally, this paper set out to explore the socioeconomic characteristics of students that affect their interest and knowledge towards PA. Finally, this paper aimed to understand the scope, present status and strategies for improving PA training in agricultural universities in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The following descriptive statistics and two multivariate analysis techniques were used: Two-Step Cluster Analysis (TSCA) and Categorical Regression (CATREG). Results support the notion that the lack of "PA knowledge/interest" adds to the technological gap amongst university students, slow adoption of PA and lower levels of overall rural economic development. These findings will be used as the fundamental cognition for the development of a joint action plan and several other national plans in the selected regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing competition in the market of educational services requires increased efforts to ensure an adequate quality of the educational products offered by vocational education institutions. However, reaching the adequate quality standards is impossible without the active involvement of stakeholders. Only through the synergy of the efforts of all groups of stakeholders, the progress in the quality of educational services provided can be achieved - a particularly important task especially for agricultural vocational education, which has a strategic significance for the Republic of Moldova. Knowing and correctly perceiving their role in this regard is required as an indispensable factor of quality and performance. The basic objectives of the research were: a) mapping the stakeholders of the State Agrarian University of Moldova; b) evaluation of the stakeholders' perception by the management team and the university staff. In order to achieve these objectives, the following research tools were used: the synthesis of a series of scientific publications with reference to the emergence and evolution of stakeholder theory in higher education; mapping process; structured thematic interview; tabular and graphical presentation of the primary data; structural analysis; descriptive method. As a result of the research, the mapping of the stakeholders of the State Agrarian University of Moldova was performed. Also, the areas that require intervention in the quality of stakeholder perception by university managers and teaching staff were identified: more active promotion of the value of stakeholders; increasing the level of involvement of the teaching staff in collaborative activities with external stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching information literacy requires a constant and evolving paradigm shift in today's fast-changing technology era. Add to this the intricacy of agricultural science education, and it becomes clear that instructors face challenges teaching the necessary research skills to prepare the next generation of scientists. Two faculty members in Colorado State University's College of Agricultural Sciences identified a need to redesign a core agricultural science course after observing their students struggle with research and writing. These professors improved their course through a redesign program that connected them with librarians. This collaboration led to the creation of a scaffold to help students build information literacy skills through a first-year agricultural science course. In this paper the authors discuss this collaboration, including four key factors to the program's success: a) a faculty-librarian partnership through a learning and teaching institute; b) early exposure to information literacy skills in a first-year agricultural science course; c) the integration of a research guide in a Learning Management System (LMS), and a step-by-step library and information literacy instruction session with a library assignment; and d) a teach-the-teacher model using graduate students from the respective discipline. The authors also analyze student evaluation outcomes and reflect on future improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model Farm Services Centers (MFSCs) can be viewed as a new extension strategy introduced in all the 24 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) to lead farming communities towards sustainable agriculture by putting emphasis on the delivery of demand-based services through their active involvement. This improved situation regarding availability of agricultural inputs and good decision making may result in active participation by farmers in farm related activities. The present paper focuses on farmers' participation in various activities of MFSCs as influenced by their socio-economic characteristics. The target population of current study consisted of the member farmers of the MFSCs in four districts of KPK having different ecological mix cropping zones. Data were collected with the help of a validated and reliable interview schedule through a research team comprising of four members who were properly trained for the purpose. Highest farmers' participation was perceived in supply of inputs and was ranked 1st with mean value 3.10. There existed a highly significant association between age, education, land holding, and tenancy status of the respondents and their participation in various activities being carried out under MFSCs. It is recommended that relatively young, educated, big and owner farmers may be given priority for registration in MFSCs so that they could avail full benefits of MFSCs through active participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to present the positive aspects of using the cube method in the teaching-learning of agriculture-related contents. We believe this method offers opportunities for the pedagogical management of a learning process that is thorough, easy and fun, with efficient cooperation and communication, in which the students are active participants. Learning is not merely storing information, but rather an activity which involves cognitive, volitional and emotional effort. Therefore, it is more easily and more effectively achieved when the student is engaged in an interpersonal relationship within which the efforts are coordinated via an exchange of messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature analysis method used in this paper outlines variations in research topics. We tested whether research on wetlands is topic-centered, comparative of different wetland classes, or aimed at wetland loss. We analyzed research papers to identify clusters of research activity and interpreted these clusters relative to wetland function and type. Furthermore, a case study on 61 papers was conducted in order to find a critical path of wetland loss induced by different causes. From this case study, it was determined that agriculture is regarded as a root cause of wetland loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture in India, since ancient times, is the most crucial sector for ensuring food and nutritional security, sustainable development and for the alleviation of poverty. It is the key sector in India for generating employment opportunities for the vast majority of the population particularly in rural areas. The paper aims to explore the many facets related to agricultural education, research, training, and libraries in India in order to provide a historical account on these aspects. The paper discusses in detail the various committees and commissions and their salient recommendations leading to the expansive growth and development of agricultural education, research, and libraries in India. Further, the paper also highlights the critical role of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in the growth and development of agricultural education, research, extension, and libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Where large-scale plantation agriculture spatially coexists with smallholding agriculturalists, they interact in multiple ways. A number of researchers have addressed the broader social, environmental, and economic consequences of smallholder/plantation relationships. Few studies, however, have examined the household-level conditions that drive smallholders to engage in plantation wage work. Research from off-farm and non-farm labor markets offer a number of clues to what types of households participate in plantation wage work. These studies, however, use aggregate economic categories and fail to consider the specific case of plantation wage work. Utilizing household survey data, this paper seeks to understand the relationship between smallholders and plantations by examining the household-level conditions that lead to engagement with plantation wage work within Costa Rica''s Dos Novillos watershed. Our principle findings are: (1) agricultural assets are negatively predictive of engagement in plantation wage work; (2) a household''s male labor availability is strongly predictive of a household''s level of engagement in the plantation economy; (3) participation in plantation wage work appears to be an income strategy for asset-poor households more generally. Overall, this study finds little engagement in plantation wage work by smallholding agricultural households. Instead, this type of work appears to be the domain of asset-poor households that are marginally engaged in agriculture. This paper concludes by suggesting policy prescriptions and an agenda for future research in this watershed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present paper discusses the social construction and reconstruction of gender roles in relation to agricultural knowledge claims in a land resettlement area. Many women were politically active in the war of liberation where the land question dominated the agenda. However, at independence this question was framed in terms of race, and gender issues were sidelined. Despite the fact that women were not resettled in their own right, they are not simply victims of the system but manoeuvre within the system to gain advantages. This paper discusses strategies that women use to challenge the males in their families and the resultant conflicts and contradictions. It also discusses decision-making, investments and poverty as concepts and practices that can illuminate the gendering and gendered nature of knowledge in resettlement schemes. Claims of knowledge by both men and women are in the final analysis claims to the ownership of household and family resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]