Innovative cooperation and collaboration in agricultural extension and education

The 26^th Annual AIAEE Conference, “Innovative Cooperation and Collaboration”, was held from May 16^th-19^th in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The opening session included greetings from the President of the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Peter MacKinnon, and the Mayor of Saskatoon, Donald J. Atchison.

The keynote address was given by Mr. Bill Patrie, Executive Director of Common Enterprise Development Corporation, a North Dakota non-profit development corporation focused on the development of community-owned enterprises and cooperatives in all sectors, including value-added agriculture (http://www.cooperationworks.coop/about/members/common-enterprise-development-corporation). Mr. Patrie spoke on the value of using appreciative inquiry techniques to foster collaboration and referenced books on the subject by David Cooperrider (http://www.primarygoals.org/Readings/AppreciativeInquiry/PosRevInChange.pdf).

Conference sessions included training and evaluation, learning and extension systems, globalization, extension communication, and diffusion of technology and development (http://www.aiaee.org/upcoming.html)

story by Barbara Hutchinson