The privatization of farm advisory services resulted in the creation of new service firms. Surveys conducted in three regions of Germany, France, and the Netherlands in the cereals sector show the emergence of new types of farm advisory providers in the form of consulting firms and suppliers of software to support decision making. The logic of performance and the back-office configurations of these firms are very different from those that prevailed in public extension services or that exist in the upstream and downstream enterprises that provide advice to farmers, such as cooperatives and commodity traders. This evolution leads to a new research agenda on the evolution of the quality of the evidence available to support farm advisory services. (JEL : B520, D830, L840, O320, Q160, Q550).
Keywords
- farm advisory services
- evidence-based policy
- food safety
- performance
- privatisation