The arenas for the construction of Agroecological knowledge as spaces for the emergence of a "new professionalism" of the extensionist action

Abstract

The present text approaches the transition that the professionals of the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension in Brazil points out, through the analysis of the experience of Dom Feliciano-RS, the possibility of the emergence of a space of change from a diffusionist perspective to a participatory extensionist action. The main objective of this work is to present the arenas of the Construction of Agroecological Knowledge- CCA as places of development of a "new professionalism" in rural extension. The theoretical reference that permeates the whole of the article is based on the Orientative Perspective by the Actors (LONG, 2001). Methodologically, semi-structured interviews with farmers and extensionists were carried out and their speeches analyzed. The main results are the realpossibility that the CCA arenas are a place for the development of a series of extension actions dichotomically different from the period of "modernization of agriculture". The roles of mediator of the groups, facilitator of the processes, driver of participatory methodology and translator of languages become central, without necessarily losing the perspective of a technical specialist.