What can support services do to stimulate innovations at farm level? The method and manual for how to succeed with supporting innovation processes via the Cross Visit method are now finalized.
In the context of AgriSpin, mixed teams, composed of colleagues from partner organisations in AgriSpin, have visited different regions of Europe during 3-5 days, to find an answer to the central question: What can support services do to stimulate innovations at farm level? In total, 13 Cross Visits have been conducted. The method and manual for using the Cross Visit to help answer the question have now been completed.
How Does the Cross Visit Method Help Innovations Along?
The Cross Visit method is useful for exchanges between professionals who work on similar tasks in different environments. In the AgriSpin innovation context, this means professionals who work as support agents to innovations.
Eelke Wielinga, the leader of Work Package 2 of the AgriSpin project, has been responsible for developing the Cross Visit method. According to him, support agents can gain much from such exchanges:
– The Cross Visit method helps support agents to think out of the box. It is stimulating to discover that others have found different solutions for similar problems. Also, you don’t realise what you are actually doing until you have others observing you, Eelke explains.
He goes on to elaborate further:
– Apart from this, the Cross Visit method gives the support agents the opportunity to reflect on what matters most, which is crucial for the learning process. However, professionals on the job rarely take the time to do it, Eelke stresses.
What Does the Cross Visit Method Achieve?
The AgriSpin Cross Visits have collected information about innovations that have taken place or are in progress. As Eelke Wielinga explains the Cross Visit method aims at achieving four desired outcomes:
– First on the agenda of the Cross Visit is inspiration for improvements in the services being offered, second a deeper understanding of innovation processes, third a method for exploring innovation practices and the role of support service providers, and finally, the creation of a professional network of innovation support agents, Eelke Wielinga emphasizes.
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