The Christmas and New Year break is now past – and January 2016 has started with a rush!  Some welcome rain is falling around Queensland and it gives some hope for many of the properties that have faced drought over recent years.A delight in a recent trip to New Zealand was a visit to Hobbiton.  A great example of diversification!  There in the middle of a sheep and cattle property, among the beautiful green rolling hills of New Zealand was this magical legacy of Hobbiton – with clothes drying on the line, food on the tables in front of the hillside dwellings and so well kept that you can imagine that the hobbits are just away for the day!

It’s now Spring – and it is very evident in Toowoomba – host to the annual Carnival of Flowers!  This year we even got to the parade and viewed some of the flowers – usually we are away somewhere and leaving Toowoomba for the tourists!There are other ‘new beginnings’.  Australia has a new Prime Minister and who knows what that will bring for rural and agricultural policy?  One interesting change already is putting agriculture and water together in the hands of the rural focused National Party!  Agriculture certainly has a strong interest in water and its management and it is hoped that it is mature enough to recognise other water needs and to be able to negotiate mutually beneficial policies and approaches.

The conference in Wageningen, The Netherlands, was great! It combined two extension streams – the Association of International Agricultural and Extension Education (US dominated) and the European Symposium on Extension and Education (European dominated) and brought about 380 delegates to the combined event. The theme was ‘Competence and Excellence in Extension and Education’ – and there was certainly a smorgasbord to choose from! I gave a paper on Changing Evaluation Approaches in Australia (see the papers section) and chaired a session on evaluation. It was fitting that the event was held in Wageningen – it has a long history of taking the lead in extension thinking and practice over the last decades. For me, it was where my family lived while I completed my Masters and then completed my PhD.

It’s autumn and time for a blog update from me.  What is exciting for our web page is that Amy is also writing a blog and bringing in her insights and perspectives.  The topic of using social media in extension and its evaluation, for example, is an area that there is growing interest – not just in Australia – but world-wide.  She also has a twitter feed (@amyrsamson) – and I think I am going have to get more active in that area as well!  We are certainly using social media (Whatsapp) to get regular updates on Amy’s daughter Evie’s milestones – first crawl, first word (nana) and first standing up in the cot!  We are also using this app in some projects in which I am involved – with great effect.

December finds us back in Canada for a family Christmas – the full complement of three children, spouses and three grandchildren! This time in New Brunswick where our daughter has family and has moved back to from their last posting in Quebec Province. From 30+degrees C in Toowoomba to -1 today and a nice covering of snow. The picture shows me at Hopewell Rocks – just outside of Moncton – remarkable because of the high tides and flower pot shaped rocks – and this time with a dusting of snow! It’s the seasonal contrasts that makes it all so exciting – between hemispheres and over the annual cycle.It’s been another full year with new projects and some new directions. From program reviews, project evaluations, visits to New Zealand and new M&E platforms for cotton, sugar and dairy. There has been on-going interest and work in developing M&E frameworks/guides for organisations and large programs. I enjoy this type of work because it establishes the basis for on-going rigorous M&E and provides a way for organisations and programs to better “tell their story”. There is remarkable work being done in the RD&E agricultural and natural resource management sectors – most of it under-reported and hence not understood.