I have been involved in the change industry in Australia and New Zealand for about 40 years. Coming off dairy farms in Victoria I have always been keen to understand how farmer’s decisions about practices and technologies are influenced by their farm systems and contexts. And passionate about explaining the ‘why’ of farmers decisions to policy makers, researchers, and extension professionals. This means I have been able to travel all over Australia and New Zealand, meeting hundreds of farmers, graziers, orchardists and grape growers, learn about their practice choices regarding irrigation, animal health, breeding, cropping, wetland and stream management, soil management and so on.

Currently, I am testing a way of classifying practice changes into roughly four types to help with targeting of extension activities.

One of the most important lessons I have learned is to make sure the practice you are promoting matches the problem farmers are solving. Also, that farmers adopt the same practice for different reasons and that the same practice presents different challenges to different farmers. Consequently, I think the biggest challenge for the change industry is knowing the difference between a farmer who has yet to change practice (even though it makes sense to change) and farmer who is not going to change practice (because it doesn’t make sense to change).