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Social Media–Enhanced Lifelong Learning Strategies in Agricultural Engineering

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  2026 ASABE Annual International Meeting  2600063.(doi:10.13031/aim.202600063)
Authors:   Christina Maria Sebald, Maximilian Sedlmair, Linda Ring, Tobias Pachler, Heinz Bernhardt
Keywords:   Lifelong Learning; Smart Farming; Technology Adoption; Social Media Learning; Extension Services; Digital Agriculture; Knowledge Transfer

Abstract. The rapid development of smart farming technologies offers substantial potential to improve efficiency, sustainability, and resilience in agricultural production systems. However, adoption rates remain uneven, particularly among small and medium-sized farms. In agricultural engineering, this challenge is closely linked to lifelong learning, as technological innovation cycles are accelerating while access to continuous, practice-oriented education remains limited for many practitioners.

Traditionally, lifelong learning in agricultural engineering relies on face-to-face formats such as extension services, workshops, field demonstrations, and advisory programs. While these approaches remain an essential pillar of professional education, they are constrained by time, location, personnel requirements, and limited scalability. At the same time, social media platforms have become firmly established communication channels within the agricultural sector, offering new opportunities for continuous and informal learning that are not yet systematically integrated into agricultural engineering education systems.

This contribution combines findings from two complementary empirical studies addressing digital lifelong learning in agriculture. The first study evaluates a short video-based learning unit developed within a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) concept for adult education in smart farming. Results show high acceptance, positive learning outcomes, and strong suitability of modular video content as a low-threshold introduction to complex agricultural engineering topics. The second study is based on an online survey analyzing the role of social media in smart farming knowledge transfer. The results indicate widespread use of platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook for accessing agricultural information, particularly among younger, digitally-affine users, while traditional education formats remain preferred for in-depth learning.

The combined findings demonstrate that social media should not replace established lifelong learning structures in agricultural engineering but complement them strategically. Integrating concise, technically sound educational content distributed via social media with modular digital learning formats and classical extension services enables a scalable, flexible, and resource-efficient lifelong learning system. Such an approach supports continuous professional development and contributes to closing the adaptation gap of smart farming technologies.

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