165 pages
Published: 8 Nov 2006
Author(s): Bamberry, Geoff, Dunn, Tony, Lamont, Annette
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Over the past few years, there have been concerns that many Australian farms may not be viable in the long term. There also have been claims that this could be related to farmers’ level of education and training and their management expertise.
Research done in some developing countries pointed to a link between levels of education and agricultural output. This report deals with the literature on that relationship.
It sets out to define “farmer education” and “good farm management” and describes the nature and sources of farmer education.
It looks at how much formal education Australian farmers generally have and how much of their learning has been acquired informally and “on the job”.
The report concludes that Australian farmers are not as poorly educated as statistics on their formal education would suggest. Farmers placed much importance on life-long learning and the need for future farmers to be more highly educated.
The connection with productivity could be in the extent to which skills and competencies are developed and applied. This would need further research and this project sets out a framework for a comprehensive investigation into the relationship between farmer education and good farm management.
