Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:25:34.821Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structural Change in Higher Education: Implications for Agricultural Economics Extension; or Does Diffedence, Decadence and Dissonance Make a Difference?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

George McDowell
George McDowell*
Affiliation:
Extension leader in the department of agricultural economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Discussion of changes taking place in American agriculture followed by a review of the traditional model of extension suggests there is dissonance between what is needed to inform contemporary agriculture and what extension actually does. The paper further suggests that difficulty in packaging the newly needed information in ways that achieve the institutional maintenance objectives of extension explain a part of the system's decadence and reluctance to change. Since the intellectual problems of market failure, even political market failure, are within the domain of economists, diffidence by agricultural economists to those issues within the Land-Grant system can make a difference.

Keywords

contempory agriculturedissonanceextensioninstitutional maintenancemarket failure
Type
Invited Papers and Discussions
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , July 1993 , pp. 131 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bromley, Daniel, “Technology, Technical Change, and Public Policy: The Need for Collective Decisions.” CHOICES, Second Quarter, 1991.Google Scholar
Castle, Emery N., “Is Farming a Constant Cost Industry?” Amer. J. Agr. Econ., Vol. 71, No. 3, August, 1989.Google Scholar
Cooperative State Research Service, “Program Description, Guidelines for Proposal Preparation and Submission, National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program,” CSRS, USDA, 1992.Google Scholar
Jones, Eluned, (Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.), Personal Conversation, January 4, 1993.Google Scholar
McDowell, George, “The Political Economy of Extension Program Design: Institutional Maintenance Issues in the Organization and Delivery of Extension programs.” Amer. J. Agr. Econ., November, 1985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDowell, George R. “The New Political Economy of Extension Education for Agriculture And Rural Communities.” Invited Paper, 1992 AAEA Annual Meetings, Baltimore, MD., forthcoming, Amer. J. Agr. Econ., 1993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuire, Richard, “Food, Energy, and Environmental Quality: The Necessity For Balance.” CHOICES, Second Quarter, 1991.Google Scholar
Rockwell, Norman, “The Work of the County Agent,” Office of the Dean of the College of Food and Natural Resources, Stockbridge Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.Google Scholar
Swiger, L.A., Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University., Personal Communication, January 5, 1993.Google Scholar