Hyperbole is often found in literature when an author wants to heighten the effect of their words or add vibrancy and magnitude to catch the reader’s attention. Singer John Legend said, “I think writers are prone to hyperbole sometimes.” I’m guilty, but I hope the bait caught the fish.
Anyone in agriculture has heard the term “technical assistance” (TA). I know what it means, but it doesn’t exactly capture the essence of relationships on the ground, of people helping people. It’s more of a catch-all suite of beneficial items, like the stuff collecting in your pickup console.
I’m suggesting it might be time to redefine the term and focus on these relationships and connections that make agriculture and the context of grazing land stewardship strong.
Could we rebrand it into something softer and more poignant like “Practical knowledge enrichment between humans”?
“Technical assistance is not a new concept; it is one of the oldest things in the world. Probably the first time it occurred was when Eve, with her superior sense of dress, helped Adam fix his fig leaf,” quipped Sir Gerard Clauson.
The phrase is frequently used by conservation organizations, service providers, Extension educators and governmental agencies who strive to help farmers achieve certain personal, production, financial, environmental and social goals. TA is also frequently used in narratives for garnering financial resources to support the people who help said producers. The support system seems to always be tied to a “program.”
The TA definition says it “involves providing farmers, ranchers and other land managers with knowledge, expertise and tools to help them improve their operations and conserve natural resources.” TA descriptors usually go like this: “One-on-one advice and consultation, conservation planning, sharing the latest scientific research, information and training opportunities, best management practice or infrastructure implementation support, holding outreach events with peers and guiding farmers to available financial assistance.” That’s the short list!
Examples of TA I personally draw from are walking and reading someone’s land who wants an independent perspective, making a map and coordinating the fields on a grazing chart, taking before and after pictures of a practice, designing a watering system, vetting management options within a specific context, helping pull a calf, suggesting another farmer to talk with, facilitating a pasture walk event and being on the phone after hours to help with a problem.
Technically, technical assistance is about the relationships formed, no matter when that takes place. Submitted photo
Another critical aspect of TA is what I call “reverse TA.” That is the farmer who becomes the real expert from their experiences of what works or doesn’t work and shares peer-to-peer mentoring and reality training to professional and novice staff folks. This is where great partnerships prosper, like at the countless Northeast agricultural support organizations in which TA is coordinated and topics and relationships are facilitated in concert with each other. Talk about knowledge enrichment.
For me, with my dinosaur brain, I look at the TA term as a bit too governmental and too broad. It lacks the emotion and real stories of hard-working people helping each other on the land. I looked up other “technical” sentiments that might be wordsmithed and found practical, scientific, applied, smart solutions, knowledge empowerment, guided troubleshooting, proactive outreach and precision support, but didn’t find the ring I was looking for – yet.
Another aspect to the TA relationship is continually proving the human-to-human connection works. It can be hard to measure or see in a brochure. Concrete and steel projects are way more visually appealing for public support than, say, a grazing planning conversation on the tailgate of the truck.
Facetime is undervalued and misunderstood. Part of the underrated story is farmers and the folks that help are generally humble and go about their work without fanfare, so the ideas, plans and decisions vetted are specific, confidential and not in the public eye.
It’s why TA funding is always under pressure because, as we all know, producers are asked to tell their story or outcome from a connection after they get done working, when it’s difficult to muster the energy to jot down a letter of support. The helping human or field person is generally very appreciative of a testimonial but it often gets lost in translation unless there is a direct threat to keeping a valued TA person on the ground in the local community.
Technically, technical assistance is the staple by which one makes a quality decision, whether it’s a fig leaf design or how you leave the operation for the next generations to manage. Let’s celebrate the human connectiveness, innovation and creativity of people helping people (even if I can’t wordsmith the TA out of it).
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