316 Enabling Policies and Institutions for Sustainable Agricultural and Food Systems
isolation, nor the whole as a mere aggregation of parts. Tasks such as ecosystem
management require that the emergent properties of systems as wholes are taken
into account (e.g. Hurthubise, 1984). ‘System performance must therefore be judged
not simply in terms of how each part works separately, but in terms of how the parts
fit together and relate to each other, and in terms of how the system relates to its
environment and to other systems in that environment’ (Dillon, 1976).
Constructionism has deeply affected the thinking about systems which
emerged from biology and other ‘hard’ sciences and was later applied in engineer-
ing. Checkland (1981; Checkland and Scholes, 1990) distinguishes between ‘hard’
and ‘soft’ systems. The former are treated as if they really exist. Their boundaries
and goals are assumed to be given. Analysis and problem solving focus on goal-
seeking and the best technical means to reach a goal. Such hard system thinking
can be usefully applied to natural systems, such as plants, or designed systems,
such as computers.
Box 16.9 Extension
Although literally hundreds of thousands of people in the world earn their living as
professional extensionists, the area of endeavour remains murky and difficult to
explain. One reason is the diversity of perspectives with which extension is con-
strued and which are often based on differences in basic assumptions about agri-
cultural development, the role of science and so forth.The word ‘extension’ originally refers to extending scientific education beyond the
walls of school or university (Van den Ban and Hawkins, 1988, 1996). Often the word
‘extension education’ has therefore been used. This idea is close to the French con-
cept of ‘vulgarization’, making accessible scientific or other elevated thoughts to the
‘vulgus’ or ordinary people. Consistent with this notion is the emphasis on technol-
ogy transfer from scientific research to farmer users (the TOT model) as the central
mandate of extension.But, other concepts are being used which reflect an entirely different perspective.
Thus farm advisory workers, or, in German, ‘Beraters’, have less of an educational or
transfer and more of a consultant role. Words such as ‘mobilizer’ or ‘facilitator’,
which try to avoid the implication of external imposition, go even further.Extension, as a practice, is underpinned by a body of knowledge and accumulated
experience which has, at one time, been called ‘extension science’ (Röling, 1988),
but which perhaps can be better labelled as ‘extension communication and innova-
tion studies’ to reflect a more constructionist perspective on science. Many of the
contributors to this book are engaged in such studies (Box 16.2).But, extension and innovation studies cannot be considered a discipline. Innovation,
including the transition to sustainable agriculture, cannot be understood by focus-
ing only on extension communication, but requires taking account of intentionality,
culture, power, technology development, institutions, policies and, of course, epis-
temology.