The adult education activities of Lincoln College

Abstract

Since Lincoln College was founded in 1878, it has been closely linked with the farming community. The College has not confined its activities to teaching and research but has carried out extra mural activities in the field of adult education. The aim of this adult education work is two-fold. The first aim is to provide information for farmers for the purpose of raising farming efficiency with the consequential better way of life for both farmers and the remainder of the Community. As an example, the Ashley Dene Farm has been the model for the development of Canterbury light land since the middle 30's. The experiments on this farm showed how to raise carrying capacity of light land from 3/4 ewe to 3 1/2 ewes per acre. The farm itself has been a demonstration of how to integrate the key management factors in light land farming so that farmers could emulate the procedure. Frequent field days coupled with other extension methods have spread this knowledge to nearly all the millions of acres of light dry stony soils of New Zealand.