The action of Technical Assistance and Rural Extension within the arenas of Construction of Agroecological Knowledge

Abstract

The present text addresses the transition through which professionals from the Technical Assistance
and Rural Extension in Brazil point out, through the analysis of the experience of Dom
Feliciano-RS, the possibility of the emergence of a space of change. 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 pervades the entire article based on the Actors’ Oriented Perspective-POA. Methodologically,
semi-structured interviews conducted with farmers and extensionists and their speeches
were analyzed. The main results highlight the real possibility of the CCA arenas being sites for
the development of a series of extension actions. 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.