Reforms to Rural Research and Development Viewed in a New Light: the Importance of the Individual

The reforms accomplished in the rural research and development (R&D) sector throughout the 1980s and 1990s revolutionised the conduct of scientific inquiry in Australia. Surveys of these reforms have viewed the accomplishment of this change as an evolutionary, smooth and uncontroversial process (see Lovett 1993; 1994). However, it is not until the developments prior to 1985 are examined that the apparent ease and seamlessness of the reforms become challenged. It is now clear that rather than being a planned and ordered process, the changes made to rural (R&D) were sporadic and dependent upon specific personalities who happened to be in 'the right place at the right time'. This article exposes this Contrary account in order to highlight the true nature of the changes made to the area. In so doing it challenges previous accounts of the period and provides a basis from which to understand the transformation of the rural (R&D) sector in Australia.     

CHANGE IN THE GOVERNANCE OF AUSTRALIAN RURAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract: Australian rural research and development underwent a period of sustained organisational and managerial change during the 1980s and early 1990s. The transition from a scattered and disparate research effort prior to 1985, to one which is today highly structured, commodity-specific and strategically oriented, raises a number of issues concerning the processes used, the motivation for the change, and the manner in which that change has been accomplished. This article reviews the reforms that have been made in the sector, and seeks to assess their impact on the stakeholders involved. In so doing it highlights the changing nature of the expectations placed upon the rural research and development community, and raises questions concerning the appropriateness of the reforms and the methods by which they were implemented.