AKIS in England - overview and spotlights

Abstract

A situation analysis of the AKIS in England was undertaken in the time from January to May 2024 with a special focus on the private sector advisory subsystem’s actor constellation and performance based on grey and peer reviewed literature, expert and stakeholder interviews. Results show a particular diversity of actor types, characterised by different organisational features. Thus, it seems that in many places in England, farmers have many choices among service providers when it comes to making use of advisory services. Secondly, the public actor, the governmental department for environment, food and rural affairs (DEFRA) plays a fostering role for offering advisory services in combination with setting up ecosystem service and climate mitigation related measures. Thirdly, a shared conviction of the advantages of peer-to-peer learning formats among all service providing actors in the AKIS was observed as well as a readiness to collaborate with other AKIS actors across all organisational types and subsystems. On the other hand, there is a widely expressed need of coordination among AKIS actors, but no strategic planning or initiative in this regard. Former significant actors have shifted or reduced their roles and influence and, there is a considerable number of hybrid initiatives and innovation networks emerging, which represent and promote an array of new farming practices, technologies and food (production) styles and bridge various communities of farmers, researchers, consumers, citizens and other actors. Although the present study fulfils its objective of providing a (snapshot) overview of the AKIS in England, it equally reveals the blind spots and information deficits with respect to farmers’ needs and interests and the degree to which they are satisfied through the diversity of service actors.