This paper reports on the social learning from a project aimed to increase the knowledge and capacity of a group of farmers in Tasmania, Australia, to reduce the impacts of intensive agriculture on soil health and waterways, and to optimise the efficient use of on-farm inputs. The plan-do-check-review cycle adopted in this project required the farmers to assess current management practices, identify where to make changes, implement changes and monitor for improvements. The success of the project was due to careful attention to social processes as well as technical input. The combination of group activities with individual mentoring and one-toone advice was key to the success of this project in enabling farmers to undertake on-farm action. There is value in social learning that included developing relationships, using one-to-one contact and group workshops together with expert input when working with farmers to tackle some difficult and complex interrelated natural resource management and production issues. Sufficient time must be allowed for the process of facilitating good practice in natural resource management, particularly when addressing systemic environmental impacts. Practical operational recommendations are presented on communication, feedback, focus of activities and meeting content, as these will be useful to other project officers and facilitators working with farmer groups.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
Research Group:	Agriculture, Land and Farm Management
Research Field:	Farm Management, Rural Management and Agribusiness
Objective Division:	Education and Training
Objective Group:	Learner and Learning
Objective Field:	Learner and Learning Processes
Author:	Cotching, WE (Dr Bill Cotching)
Author:	Kilpatrick, SI (Professor Sue Kilpatrick)
ID Code:	53885
Year Published:	2009
Deposited By:	Agricultural Science
Deposited On:	2009-01-19
Last Modified:	2013-08-09
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