Agroecology or modern conventional agriculture? Positions of Argentine rural extensionists

Abstract

At a global level, there is a growing concern about the sustainability of agricultural production models. In particular, the impacts and environmental passives derived from the implementation of the principles of the so-called Green Revolution. In contrast, agroecology gains supporters in the context of a different productive model, though limited due to lower levels of agricultural productivity. Nevertheless, for any of these models to come into practice, it has to go through farmers’ decision-making. Thus, acknowledging the key role played by rural extensionists in farmers’ decision-making process, in this article the extensionists’ personal positioning and that of their institutions are analyzed in the context of the contrast between agroecology and conventional agriculture. A total of 583 rural extensionists who work in the National Institute of Agricultural Technology, the Subsecretariat of Family Farming and Territorial Development, and other Argentine institutions replied to an online questionnaire. It included sociodemographic questions and asked to position oneself and one’s institution using a five-level Likert-type item, in which agroecology and conventional agriculture were the poles. Results show that, on average, extensionists have a tendency towards the agroecological pole, while they situate their institutions halfway between both agricultural models. In general, women, who have no university degree, and who hold a degree in social sciences, are more oriented to the agroecological pole.