The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyse the attitudes of agricultural extension workers towards organic farming in Kermanshah Township, Iran. The statistical population in this study consisted of all agriculture extension workers of Jihad-e- Agriculture management and centres of agricultural services in Kermanshah Township (N=148), of whom 123 were available and provided data for this study. The main instrument in this study was a questionnaire, administered face to face in the Persian language, comprising 20 statements pertaining to organic agriculture (adapted from a study by Chouichom & Yamao, 2010) along with demographic questions and sources of information questions. The 20 statements covered organic farming knowledge (7 items), environmental aspects (5 items), marketing aspects (4 items), costs and benefits (4 items), which were rated by respondents on a five point Likert response scale (from 1=entirely agree through to to 5=entirely disagree). Results showed that the attitude of the agricultural extension workers toward organic farming was at the neutral to negative level. There were no differences in attitude based on age, gender, marital status, work experience, level of education (bachelor versus masters degree), or amount of time reading newspapers. Those with studies in agriculture were more negative towards organic agriculture than those with backgrounds in other fields. The attitudes to organic farming were more favourable (or less negative) for respondents who used more data sources, used the internet more, read more science magazines or read more scientific research journals. It is concluded that, in general, more informed agricultural extension workers will express more favourable attitudes towards organic farming. The results indicate that agricultural extension workers could be supplied with more information about organic farming and perhaps specialist organic agriculture extension workers would facilitate the faster uptake of organic farming in Iran.

Keywords: Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, agricultural extension.