LIVING PROCESS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 145, 1 April 1948, Page 4

LIVING PROCESS

Irrigation Research in Australia VALUE OF LOCAL EXPERIENCE With remarks concerning the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area Research and Extension Committee we complete the series of special articles written for the “Guardian” by Miss Marjorie Braae, winner of the Robert Bell Travelling Scholarship.

Miss Braae states that this is a committee with- somewhat similar aspirations and applications to those of the famous Tennessee Valley Authority, and two of its strong motivating forces are the enthusiasm and the desire for co-operation shown by both the farmers of the district and the trained scientific staff which is housed at the C.S.I.R. Research Station at Griffith. The word “extension” means the furthering of ideas, principles and methods to the people who can use them. The aim is to organise this work so that it will become a powerful educational instrument in the development of the community and all members of the community, men, women and children, must participate and so be affected. Extension work does not mean only the bringing of laboratory results to the farmers.

It is a living process in which there is a flow of ideas both to and from the scientific workers and the farmers. The principles worked out in the laboratory must be adapted to local conditions, and this can most rapidly he achieved by drawing on local experience.

Extension Worker

The extension worker learns from the farmers in his district what experience has shown to he the best practices, and his job is to isolate the valuable and significant information from local experience and see that this knowledge is used more widely. This committee has been set up with the objectives listed below: (1) The provision by the appropriate authorities of administrative machinery for the continuation and development of the agricultural extension services to the farmers in the. area.

(2) Provision of a mechanism for advising on the formulation, review and adjustment of local agricultural policy and organisation. (3) Provision of means by which farmer opinion will have due weight in the consideration of regional agricultural administration and policy. (4) The bringing about of a unified approach to extension in all branches of agriculture. (5) Providing for the research needs of the region and the co-ordination of the agricultural research of the various rural institutions working in the region. ( (6) The achievement of a close relation between research and extension. (7) Conducting research in extension methods.

Scope Widened

The nucleus of this extension service was formed in 1924 with a growers’ advisory committee attached to a small research station which had originally been started by the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission. Its scope has widened, and, during its growth it lias been known by various names until the present reorganisation, after 18 months of study and negotiation, was launched in September, 1947. This committee is financed by a fund contributed by the C.5.1.R., uie Department of Agriculture, the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission, the Rural Bank of N.S.W., the Griffith producers, the Leeton Cannery, the Yenda producers, and the Leeton fruitgrowers. A vast amount of detailed information has been collected in the past, contour maps, aerial photographs, a soil survey of all the farms in the district, lists of the numbers and kinds of trees that have been planted, cultivation details, and, in fact, the history of the present state of all the farms, together with an enlarged photograph of each farm on which all relevant information has been superimposed. These are filed for reference and have been found to be invaluable.

Advisory Capacity

The Irrigation Research Extension Commtitee will act in an advisory capacity to all farmers and research organisations in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. Any farmer who has a problem requiring investigation states his case to the Committee, and, necessary, the research is undertaken. All problems relating to agriculture and to animals can be tackled. A “Farmers’ Newsletter” is published every month with articles designed to be helpful to the farmers, and, they, themselves often contribute articles to the newsletters. In this organisation the method that is adopted is to encourage the farmers to participate in their own education and to take the responsibility for their recommendations. Discussion* are organised, and the farmers give talks on field days and give radio broadcasts to the community. Junior farmers are guided in the carrying out of experiments on. their fathers’ farms, and thus are given an appreciation of the value and the meaning of research. Then, the farmers demand an annual course of instruction which may last for three days intensively or may be spread over a month with one night a week set aside for special instruction.

The farmers themselves insist on this service and are insatiable in their thirst for knowledge which will improve their crops, their land, their community, and, indeed their whole mode of life.. The research staff does all in its power to give them what they demand.