Digital and virtual spaces as sites of extension and advisory services research: social media, gaming, and digitally integrated and augmented advice

Abstract

The field of research on agricultural and rural extension and education, also referred to as advisory services and intermediaries, has always engaged with different aspects of the spaces in which agricultural producers (farmers, growers, ranchers) are situated and operate. In this editorial, I will reflect on the elements and environments which jointly constitute and shape the farm (Darnhofer 2020) and their connection with extension and advisory services in the digital age, opening up new digital and virtual spaces. Extension and advisory services receive ample consideration in current debates on digitalization and digital transformation of the agrifood sector, and are an important focus of attention for agriculture and food systems research, practice and policy (Ehlers, Huber, and Finger 2021; Ingram and Maye 2020; Klerkx 2020). In what follows, I will elaborate on some digital and virtual spaces as sites of extension and advisory services research, to progress the field of study for which The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension serves as a publication outlet. Farms and their environments can be seen as networks of human and non-human actors and entities, also referred to as assemblages (Higgins et al. 2017; Darnhofer 2020; Comi 2020), which shape farmers’ decision making and innovative behavior and provide spaces for experimental, experiential and social learning (Cofré-Bravo, Klerkx, and Engler 2019; Comi 2020; Crawford et al. 2007; Eastwood, Klerkx, and Nettle 2017; Fieldsend et al. 2021; Higgins and Bryant 2020; Leeuwis and Aarts 2011; Pigford, Hickey, and Klerkx 2018; Šūmane et al. 2018). Social networks of farmers are constituted by different human actors, such as other farmers, advisors, researchers, input suppliers, traders and processors. These social networks support and enable but may also constrain and condition farmers’ decision making and learning and innovation processes, for example in terms of how and what is produced, and what technologies and practices are created and implemented on the farm (Fieldsend et al. 2021; Legun and Bell 2016). Networks of non-human actors and entities (e.g. soils, plants, animals, landscapes, technological artifacts and infrastructures) interact with networks of humans, and these co-evolve and influence each other (Finstad, Aune, and Egseth 2021; Higgins et al. 2017; Pigford, Hickey, and Klerkx 2018). Both human and non-human networks (or assemblages) are actively invoked in advisory activities through for example field visits and demo-farm settings (Adamsone-Fiskovica et al. 2021.; Burton 2020; Cooreman et al. 2020; Cowan et al. 2015; Vaarst et al. 2007). Several sorts of media (e.g. written, audio-visual) mediate and provide interfaces between these human and non-human networks and support decision making, learning and innovation (Chowdhury et al. 2015; Moussa et al. 2011; Pasiona, Nidoy, and Manalo Iv 2021; Ragasa et al. 2021; Rust et al. 2021; Silvestri et al. 2020; van Mele, Wanvoeke, and Zossou 2010). In addition to these media, or rather entangled with them, digital technologies (e.g. information and communication technologies (ICT), sensors, robotics, analytical technologies, machine learning, artificial intelligence) have emerged. These enable (or have the potential to enable) several