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Removing applied agricultural research from the academy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

William Lockeretz
William Lockeretz
Affiliation:
Professor, School of Nutrition, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155.
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Abstract

Applied agricultural research that is concerned with highly specific production methods and growing conditions differs in its purposes and social value from more “academic” kinds of research intended to advance knowledge in a more general and less immediately practical way. Nevertheless, it is conducted in an institutional setting established largely for the latter kind of research. Many people have suggested that the resulting conflicts could be reduced by introducing greater flexibility into the professional reward system for agricultural researchers. However, the mismatch may go too deep to be fixed this way. An alternative would be to remove highly applied researchfrom the academic domain and treat it instead as a service to the university's outside constituencies. A service orientation is especially appropriate for publicly supported universities, which is where most such research is done.

Keywords

peer reviewland-grant collegesalternative agriculture
Type
Forum on Alternative Agriculture Research Policy
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , March 1995 , pp. 19 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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