Experiential, Social, Connectivist, or Transformative Learning? Farm Advisors and the Construction of Agroecological Knowledge

Chrysanthi Charatsari, Evagelos D. Lioutas, Afroditi Papadaki-Klavdianou, Alex Koutsouris and Anastasios Michailidis
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Chrysanthi Charatsari: Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Evagelos D. Lioutas: Department of Supply Chain Management, International Hellenic University, 60100 Katerini, Greece
Afroditi Papadaki-Klavdianou: Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Anastasios Michailidis: Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: How do agronomists offering advisory support to farmers who practice agroecology construct agroecology-related knowledge, and how does experiential, social, and connectivist learning lead to knowledge creation and facilitate their personal and professional transformation? In this study, following a mixed research design, which combined thematic analysis and simultaneous regressions, and drawing on data from a sample of Greek farm advisors, we sought to answer these questions. Our analysis revealed that the engagement with the praxis of agroecology lays the basis for the development of advisors’ agroecological knowledge. This knowledge is then negotiated and socially reconstructed within the social fabric of agroecological communities. Connectivist knowledge, derived from multiple sources, is also validated within these communities. In its turn, agroecology-related knowledge leads advisors to alter their worldviews, thus transforming their professional and personal selves. These findings confirm that agroecological knowledge has both an experiential and a social dimension. Our results also disclose that advisors facilitate the osmosis of knowledge toward agroecological communities. From a theoretical point of view, our study highlights that by merging different learning theories, we can better depict how agroecological knowledge emerges and evolves.

Keywords: experiential learning; social learning; connectivism; transformative learning; advisors; agroecology; agroecological communities; agricultural extension (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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