Appendix 1: Glossary
Appendix 1: Glossary Agricultural advisory services: Set of approaches and schemes to support farms (crop, animal and fish production) and FOs in production management (choice of techniques, organisation of work, etc.), economic management and management of resources (natural, financial, labour), and in the acquisition and mastery of savoir-faire and knowledge. Agricultural service: Any scheme allowing the farmer to run his or her farm with regard to production, management of natural resources and sale of products. The main agricultural services are: supply of inputs and equipment, grouped or individual sales, agricultural loans, equipment-sharing, supply of irrigation water, animal health and agricultural advisory services. “Tangible” agricultural services: Services providing a tangible good or money: loan; supply of fertiliser, pesticides or seeds; animal health. If the good is not consumed, it may be kept or resold. “Intangible” agricultural services: These include providing the crop or livestock farmer with advisory services or training, which should have an impact on the performance of the farm. The farmer cannot resell, loan or rent this type of service. Managerial advisory services (for farms): Managerial advisory services take into account the farm in its entirety and, through discussions with the farmer, try to find ways to improve over a period often lasting several years (Faure and Kleene, 2004). Managerial advisory services offer an opportunity to work with beneficiaries (on a voluntary basis or in response to a request) to help them boost their skills in analysis, decision-making, problem-solving and implementation of solutions. It is characterised by an approach (the global approach), a method (the management cycle), a teaching style (coaching), management tools and specific skills (Rigourd et al., 2014). Advisory services for family farms (conseil à l’exploitation familiale, or “CEF”): Coaching provided to family farms to help farmers and active members of their family improve their skills so that they can master their production system by taking into account: all the farm’s activities; the technical and economic aspects (and sometimes even legal aspects) of farm management; the complexity of the production systems from a technical, economic, environmental and social point of view. It is therefore not a standardised approach, but rather an approach that must be adapted to each context. The producer must make specific decisions, with support from the advisor, in order to meet predefined objectives (Dugué and Faure, 2003; Faure et al., 2004). Managerial advisory services for FOs: Coaching provided to FOs to strengthen group capacities and the capacities of the elected leaders and salaried employees in order to help them master the development of their activities and ensure their technical, economic and social sustainability. Business advisory services: Advisory services for entities involved in production (farm) or services (service centre) that have achieved a good level of organisation and that have mastered the principles of management. Business advisory services seek to improve the management of targeted sub-systems or of the business as a whole (Rigourd et al., 2013).
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