Farmer-extensionist relationships and knowledge co-construction : ethnographic case studies of public rural extension in central Chile : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract

This study explores how the relationship between small farmers and extensionists in central Chile shapes knowledge co-construction. While agricultural extension researchers increasingly recognize the importance of social-interpersonal relationships, there is little empirical and contextualized research exploring how this unfolds into practice. Through ethnographic methods, this research shows stories and descriptions from fieldwork, highlighting how farmers and extensionists organize their relationships and co-construct knowledge. While at an upper level, relationships are organized by structures and formal expectations drawn by policy and extension institutions, these constraints are navigated through interpersonal relationships. Findings reveal that farmers and extensionists build their relationships on trust and respect, usually leading to deeper layers like duty of care, commitment, and affection. This study maintains that relationships work as a mechanism that fosters social responsiveness and flexibility. Communication, as the ability to listen, enables a safe space to talk, providing better opportunities for the development of relationships and learning. In this research, knowledge is shown as a dialogic and negotiated, dynamic, subject to validity and contestation, and shaped by how actors perceive mutual trustworthiness. This study contributes to adding empirical evidence and insight that supports agricultural extension as a social phenomenon, where human relationships are core to understanding how extension programs happen at the level of implementation and knowledge co-constructed.