Quantifying the effectiveness of extension delivery methods on practice change-the experience of the Grazing BMP extension support project

Abstract

The effectiveness of extension delivery methods used by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) beef extension team in enabling producer practice change was investigated within the Grazing Best management Practice Extension Support project. The aim of this paper is to quantify the effectiveness of extension delivery mechanisms. Over the period 2013 to 2015, the project conducted 93 surveys of randomly selected producers who had engaged with the project from 2011 to 2015. The surveys collected information such as improved confidence, practice change and narratives. The evaluation of survey data found
that the project greatly exceeded project targets for practice change (≥40 per cent), achieving 78 per cent (95% confidence interval: 69% - 87%). As well, producers who had engaged with DAF in Grazing Land Management (GLM) extension were more likely to adopt GLM practices than producers who did not (p = 0.01), though the extension delivery method was not influential (p = 0.53). This analysis has shown the value in conducting a robust evaluation program both for demonstrating practice change and informing future extension
programs.