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Using a whole family approach the theses examines ten families owning medium sized farms in the south east of Scotland. The attitudes to gender are reflected in expectations and job allocations which result in a restrictive environment, making it difficult for daughters or wives to show interest or to be involved in the farm and also for sons to turn away from agriculture. In the same vein, who does what task usually depends on availability, expertise and personal preference and is not gender-neutral. However, the research also revealed, that the presence of stock on the farm makes it more likely for female family members to be involved in farming activities. All agree that ‘equal input’ should be rewarded with an equal share in the farm. However, the parents’ judgement of what is considered ‘equal input’ is influenced by traditional views of gender and the economic realities of farm succession. It is still mainly the eldest able and willing son(s) who takes over and only if there are no boys interested will the girls be given a chance to take on the family farm. (Agriculture remains a physically demanding industry while equal sub-division of the family wealth would frequently result in a non-viable outcome for the farming successor.) Overall, the thesis suggests that gendered expectations have been present throughout the whole process of children growing up and inheriting family farms, but given the right situation, these are not unsurmountable any longer.

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The complex of organisations within countries that provide advice to agricultural producers has become increasingly diverse since the Second World War. This study aims to (1) improve the understanding of the process of development of such Extension Complexes in relation to changes in agricultural policy and production and (2) to relate this understanding to the development of policies with regard to agricultural extension institutions in Estonia. A detailed analysis of the evolution of the Extension Complex in the United Kingdom is undertaken that forms a background for elaborating a Conceptual Framework characterising qualitative changes in the complex of extension institutions in relation to changes in policy orientation. In order to validate this Conceptual Framework, relevant changes in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are first described and then compared to the Framework. Data about developments in Extension Complexes, for background and validation studies were gathered from a variety of sources using different methods: (1) a review of official publications to obtain information about changes in public advisory organisations and agricultural policies; (2) in-depth interviews with senior staff in private advisory organisations; (3) a mail survey of small independent consultancy operations; (4) an open ended questionnaire was mailed to senior representatives involved in advisory work in the countries chosen for validation of the framework. The Conceptual Framework has been validated against conditions in a variety of European countries and it is concluded that it can be of relevance in assisting decision making concerning development of the Extension Complex in Estonia.

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In sub-Saharan Africa, forecasts of regional or national scale malnutrition are prepared using a variety of 'Early Warning Systems', based upon supply-side data such as crop forecasts and satellite images of vegetation growth. Three agencies are developing more localised targeting systems using historical indicators to prepare 'vulnerability assessments' and so predict malnutrition at sub-national scales. This work argues that an alternative approach of short-term simulations of local food systems, may offer benefits. The design of a modelling framework to carry out such a simulation, for a rural community of Zimbabwe, is presented together with the association data requirements. The thesis reviews the current literature concerning food security, particularly the monitoring of food shortages, the targeting of emergency food aid and the economic and nutritional perspectives of the causes of malnutrition. The extent of spatial and temporal variability amongst households is analysed from primary survey data. The design implications of this variability and of the hierarchical structure of the rural socio-economy and grain trading are discussed. Two versions of the modelling framework are reported, the first using systems dynamics modelling and the second using expert systems simulation techniques. The first framework uses the UNICEF diagram of the 'malnutrition-infection complex' to develop the central component the simulation. The second framework combines a 'rulebase' of household and community behaviour with rainfall and health statistics to effect changes upon a database of households, data for which are extrapolated from the primary survey and secondary data obtained. The effectiveness of the framework and the direction of future work thereon are discussed.

Within the European Union and throughout the world, apples are an important fruit crop and the EU apple industry sustains a healthy internal and external market. Consumers demand a high quality blemish-free product, which has inevitably dictated an intensive pattern of pesticide use to control pests and diseases throughout the industry. As a consequence, apple orchards are often treated with a continuous dosage of chemical sprays during its operational life, defending the crop against insect and fungal diseases. In turn, this pattern of intensive agro-chemical management has created social, economic and environmental impacts with hundreds of millions of people being exposed to pesticides each year, both on and off farm. However, against this, the economic benefit derived by the demand for pesticides for apples in the EU has led to the development of a sector generating an approximate turnover of six billion EURO, which clearly reflects social (employment) and economic gain. However, given the environmental problems associated with existing technologies, a collaborative European project was instigated to examined the improvements in environmental quality which might be gained through the introduction of new apple varieties, bred for their resistance to the most significant apple diseases, scab and mildew. Since such new varieties would still need to meet market requirements and would also need to be capable of delivering similar social and economic returns to the apple industry, assessing the likely success of the new apple variety involved a complex, multi-dimensional decision problem. This study shows the development of a mathematical programming model constructed to provide a tool for overcoming this multi-dimensional problem. Specifically, a Goal Programming model was developed to allow the simultaneous appreciation of Social, Environmental and Economic Goals within the EU apple industry. In constructing this model, this study was able to test the main hypothesis of whether it was possible to simultaneously compare the social, economic and environmental components of a whole industry when goals in each of these sectors are measure in quite different units.

This research is concerned with how farmers' knowledge networks are socially developed, in order to facilitate the development of a conceptual model focusing on the generation and transfer of technology. The conceptual background is that farmers' knowledge, goals and objectives should be integrated into a participatory model for the development of an agricultural knowledge information system (AKIS). In order to develop this research focus, two communities of Brazilian beef farmers belonging to different eco-regions were selected as the target social groups. Further, the National Centre for Beef Cattle Research (CNPGC-EMBRAPA) is the linked regional agency for the development of applied technology for beef. The objectives of this research are: (a) to investigate how farmers' information flows are socially developed, in relation to farm decision-making; (b) to identify and describe the structure of beef farmers' information systems; (c) to analyse relationships between "farmer" knowledge and CNPGC-EMBRAPA's technologies; (d) to develop a methodological learning approach in order to assess farmers' information demands and to improve the process of generating and transferring technology. This research has indicated that each group of farmers develops its own information system. The social construction of the farmers' information networks presents some common characteristics, but each farmer builds the network on the basis of his/her values, beliefs, education, time preferences, and intensity of using the available sources of information; however, this is always marked by the presence of a "trusted person". Informal communication is preferred among farmers rather than reading to obtain information. The participation of CNPGC-EMBRAPA in the farmers' information networks has been peripheral. Although the farmers are using some of the developed technologies, the more advanced and wealthy farmers are taking advantage of the overall technologies. A participatory conceptual framework, both to link the technological innovation to the majority of farmers' needs and, at the same time, to increase the institutional efficiency, is proposed.

The decision-making process, as the human component of the system, has been either neglected or oversimplified in many ways producing negative effects on the development of useful and fully adopted decision-support systems and in the identification of research priorities, recommendation domains, targets and media in technology transfer activities. These weaknesses of the Farming Systems Research and Extension have diminished their impact in producing development in agriculture. The study of this process seems to be fundamental to overcome the above explained weakness through incorporating the human "block" in the building process that is already taking place within this discipline of the agricultural sciences. The aims to this thesis were: 1-To develop a conceptual model of the decision-making process based on the literature and identified key issues to be studied. 2-Study the Objectives hierarchies, the Decision-making units and the Personal Information sources, as components of the process, in terms of factors affecting them and defining the population profiles. 3-Quantify the impact of these decision-making profiles on management and on the bio-economical performance of the farms. The conceptual model developed showed a very complex decision-making process with multiple components, steps, information flows, actors and activities. Three aspects i.e. Objectives, Decision-making units and Personal information sources, were identified as very relevant to be studied. Results showed that a synergetic affect of age, educational level and the dimension of the farm had the biggest impact on the Objectives hierarchies, Decision-making units and actors involved, and on the preferences towards different personal information sources. In terms of Objectives hierarchies, a very diversity of orientations was found, from the monetary maximisation to familiar and personal orientations, being the former the most frequent. In terms of Decision-making units the results showed that the importance of the units depends, apart from the farmers'/farms' characteristics, on some intrinsic characteristics of the farming decisions and that some very strategic decisions are either delegated or shared with several actors.