This paper presents results from an action research intervention aimed at strengthening the role of private sector advisers in the Australian agricultural extension system. Private sector advisers participating in the research identified a number of barriers to their effective inclusion in this system.

Looking at local learning capacity and systems of relations can help to understand the potential to develop innovation within a specific context. This work contributes to the definition of new actors who are developing innovation for sustainability in rural areas. The study focuses on the knowledge systems of farmers who are applying alternative breeding strategies: it uses a network approach to explore the knowledge system in which individual farmers are embedded in order to understand their specific relational features.

Nowadays, there are a number of projects tackling on challenges around which this study is based. For instance, the ultimate goal of the current project SKIN is to create a permanent stakeholders’ association on short food supply chain (SFSC) that works on the joint economic growth of the agricultural sector through the exchange of local food practices and through coaching sessions stimulating innovation. It creates a European network of best practices in SFSC that addresses the fragmentation of knowledge in the agricultural sector and supports bottom-up innovation initiatives.

This paper presents the common framework on CD for AIS developed by TAP and points to the relevance of meta-learning and the importance of “functional capacities”, if higher education institutions and their graduates are to become active players in the agricultural innovation system. The Framework was developed through an inclusive, participatory and multi-stakeholders approach with contributions by TAP Partners, including FARA and the Global Conference on Higher Education and Research in Agriculture.

This paper draws on data collected during 12 months of fieldwork in Northern Ghana. The fieldwork researched two communities in two districts of Northern Ghana and three Agricultural Development Agencies (ADA); Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and World Vision Ghana (WVG). Data collection was achieved through formal surveys, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and observations. A total of 120 individual interviews were conducted for the formal survey guided by the questionnaire.