As enablers of change we often find ourselves working in complex systems where change isn’t just about swapping one practice for another. We actually need to understand how the whole system works, in order to provide constructive support via extension. In one of our earlier episodes we shared a framework described by Geoff Kaine, Vic Wright and Suzanne Vallance which gave us a way to understand practice change not as a single category, but as something a bit more complex. So in this episode we’re going to explore that further.
In the framework introduced by Kaine et al. (2024) they classify farm practice change into four types of change: strategic, tactical, complex, and simple. They argued that it was important to understand the type of change being proposed to be able to tailor advice and support to farmers. Last year Geoff and Vic Wright published another paper, Measuring strategic, tactical, complex and simple changes to farm systems, that expanded on this idea (Kaine and Wright, 2025a). It helped us understand the framework better and gave us helpful tips for designing extension for complexity, so we’re exploring it further here.
In the new paper they outline work to test the framework and types of change. They wanted to explain why adoption rates differ for the same practice across different farms. Farm systems have critical inputs such as land, feed, labour and water access. Not only that, but farmers face a lot of variability. Think of the weather and markets! Farmers cope with variability through tactical change, such as adjusting inputs within the existing system, or with strategic change, when they change what the system produces or how it is structured. In addition, changes also vary by complexity. There are simple changes (incremental or modular change) and complex changes (architectural or radical changes).
They hypothesised that adoption is slower and less likely when a practice requires strategic or complex change, even if the practice itself looks simple to those outside the farm. They did a survey of New Zealand dairy and sheep and beef farmers, exploring four environmental practices: fencing streams, fencing wetlands, cover crops and laneway buffers. They measured perceived complexity, the impact on critical inputs, learning effort, decision effort, and whether the nature of change was strategic or tactical.
They found that for simple changes there were high adoption rates and for complex or strategic changes, there were low adoption rates. What they also discovered was that the same practice can be simple for one farmer but strategic and complex for another. In other words, farmers don’t adopt practices slowly because they are resistant to change. They adopt slowly when a practice forces them to rethink how their whole farm works.
So as enablers of change, we can’t assume that just because practices look easy, like fencing or buffers, that they are. Because these practices might reduce usable land, disrupt grazing flow, and increase labour pressure for some farmers. And when that happens, those farmers face the need for more learning, planning and risk. So adoption slows down!
Extension can fail when we assume that one pathway fits all. Instead, we should ask ourselves whether a new practice affects a critical input, whether it could be handled by tactical adjustment, or whether it forces system redesign and whether it requires changes across multiple parts of the farm system. If the answers to these questions indicate it’s a simple change, then information provided through extension might be enough. But if the answers indicate that the change is complex or strategic, then information alone will be unlikely to help increase adoption.
They suggest segmenting farmers by change type, rather than whether they are early adopters or laggards. Instead, a more helpful grouping is to think about simple change contexts versus complex change contexts. Think about whether a new innovation fits into a system rather than the attitude or innovativeness of a farmer.
What does this mean for extension? Well it means we need to think about different extension approaches, depending on the type of change. For simple changes, factsheets, short webinars and awareness campaigns will be helpful. For tactical change, providing support through advisors and having targeted troubleshooting will be more helpful. For complex change, consider peer-to-peer learning, and co-design. And for strategic change, we’ll need to think longer term and make sure there’s good financial modelling as well as alignment with policies and incentives. Remember that learning and decision effort increase significantly when we’re talking about complex change.
We liked the reminder that when we’re considering complex change in a system, we might also need to advocate for more research to broaden the applicability of an innovation. We might also need to think about incentives that offset risk, or start talking to policy makers about regulatory approaches if we really want to see change. As enablers of change, we play a role in translating farmer needs into wider conversations that can influence research agendas and policy direction. It’s part of the feedback loop that helps make extension effective.
So when we think about delivering extension in complex systems it always starts with understanding the type of change. And then designing an extension project that helps farmers and other stakeholders make sense of the change, providing them with tools that help navigate decision making around that change, connecting farmers and stakeholders that help build the networks required to support that change and spaces to learn that allow farmers to test what’s needed before implementation.
As usual you’ll find the references below. We’ve also added other papers that might be of interest. They’re all worth a read!
Well, you’ve read our thoughts, now we’d like to hear yours! Add a comment below and tell us about your experiences with delivering extension in complex systems, including any tips and further ideas about it. We don’t want this to be just a one-way conversation—join in by sharing your thoughts and ideas with us!
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Resources
Kaine, G., & Wright, V. (2025a). Measuring Strategic, Tactical, Complex and Simple Changes to Farm Systems. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. Available online
Kaine, G., & Wright, V. (2025b). Farm Context and Farmers’ Perceptions of the Compatibility, Complexity and Relative Advantage of Innovations. Agriculture, 15(17), 1841. Available online
Kaine, G., & Wright, V. (2022). Relative advantage and complexity: Predicting the rate of adoption of agricultural innovations. Frontiers in Agronomy, 4, 967605. Available online
Kaine, G., Wright, V., & Vallance, S. (2024). Strategic, tactical, complex and simple changes to farm systems. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. Available online