ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER RESEARCH 22 Agricultural extension systems take many forms, but they all aim to achieve the same goal: connecting research with real-world farming practices. During my travels, I explored how different countries organize, fund, and deliver agricultural extension and how those systems shape innovation, adoption, and farmer engagement. What I found was not a one-size-fits-all model, but a mixture of systems shaped by policy, market forces, culture, and people. AUSTRALIA Australia’s environment is characterized by increasingly hot and dry conditions due to climate change, challenging soils, and very limited direct government support. Australian farmers are putting on a masterclass in resilience and collaborative problem-solving. In the absence of adequate state or federal agricultural extension, Australian farmers have had to find competitive edges through collaboration and research and development. Growers have organized their own research and knowledge-sharing organizations, called grower groups. Grower groups are farmerled, not-for-profit organizations that prioritize locally relevant research and share results to improve production, profitability, and sustainability. Funding models vary among groups, with some supported by member dues and others by public grant funding or private sponsorship. Lauren Benoit Research and extension Global models give insight into best practices I began my Nuffield journey with the intention of better understanding how public and private institutions can collaborate to enhance agricultural research and extension. My travels have taken me around the globe, down dusty roads in Western Australia, into policy offices in the Netherlands, and through state-of-theart research facilities in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Grower Group Alliance (GGA), based in Perth, is a state-wide network of 95 member organizations, including 60 farmer-led grower groups. The GGA streamlines collaboration across the network and limits administrative burden for individual groups. Grower groups have proven to be powerful vehicles for adoption, especially in remote and variable growing environments. I was fortunate enough to visit the GGA in Perth as well as two of the largest grower groups in Western Australia, the Leibe Group and the MingenewIrwin Group. What stood out was not just the professionalism of these groups, staffed with CEOs and with well-defined strategies, but how clearly the research agenda was driven by farmers themselves. When farmers start leading research initiatives, they provide a clear, accessible pathway for public funders and agri-businesses to co-invest in work that delivers practical, farmer-focused outcomes. UNITED STATES The U.S. Cooperative Extension System is a well-established nationwide network affiliated with Land-Grant Universities (LGU). It operates through a three-tier structure: federal (United States Department of Agriculture oversight and funding), state (LGU-led coordination), and county (local extension offices with onthe-ground educators). Funding comes from a mix of federal, state, and county sources. In 2024, capacity grants (core operational support) made up the bulk of funding, but there is a growing share of competitive grants targeting specific projects. Land grant extension agents, who often live and work in the areas they serve, are wellpositioned to tailor advice and programming to local needs, building strong relationships and trust within the community. Extension agents work closely with both farmers and university researchers, without the burden of expectations to engage in international research communities the same way that academics are; this structure enables them to fully invest their time into extension activities over publishing work. One example of this integration is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s (UNL) Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) program, located at the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension, and Education Center (ENREEC). The TAPS program is a collaborative, realworld farming competition that allows producers to virtually manage real field plots using actual agronomic, market and financial data. Through a blend of decisionmaking, peer learning, and expert feedback, farmers test strategies for irrigation, nutrient management, and profitability. Participants
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