60

 Structural innovations may be relevant also. China has taken the

radical step of essentially merging their research and extension systems

into a multi-level network of experimental stations, which are staffed to

varying degrees by scientists, local educated youth, administrators and farmers.

These stations conduct experiments at all levels, from genetics at central

stations to field tests at local levels. Extension personnel are not

specialists in conveying-information, but are links and participants

in the experimental and learning process between and with farmers and

scientists.1 In the Puebla Project in Mexico, research and extension

personnel, although retaining distinct functions, worked closely together

on a day-to-day basis, and this was considered crucial to the project.2

In the U.S., many individuals in land-grant universities and elsewhere

have one portion of their salaries and responsibiJities earmarked for

research activities and a separate portion specified for extension

activities. This also contributes to close linkages between research

and extension.

 Naturally, if extension and research systems emphasize feedback

from farmers, there are important implications for agricultural education

programs. A closer link between farm and school is needed. Farm workers

might be admitted directly into higher education (after appropriate literacy

training); students might be given plots of land to work at the beginning

of their studies, and grades could take into account general attitudes


 1Stavis, "Agricultural Research ..."

 2Swanson, "Coordinating Research ...," p. 10.