The role of agricultural development officers under scrutiny: How can we support farmers who are changing the way they grow arable crops?

Agricultural advisers and extension workers are increasingly required to support farmers in changing their practices and embracing innovation, particularly in the wake of the Grenelle Environment Forum. To enable them, and their line managers, to develop the profession, a new framework for understanding the advisory relationship and support for change has been developed. This framework stems from discussions between advisers and researchers, centred on real-life experiences and researchers’ analysis of their work. It is based on the key concept of ‘formats’. These formats may be established (an ‘immediate’ field visit, training involving an expert), in the process of being established (e.g. the co-design of a cropping system, a ‘delayed’ field visit) and a combination of these in supporting change that is still taking shape (e.g. facilitating activities within a water catchment area, or supporting a group in meeting the ‘Grandes Cultures Économes’ specifications). Tools are provided to analyse what hinders the work of the adviser or facilitator in new situations and to enable them to implement new formats effectively, with a view to helping farmers transform their practices.