Journal of Sustainability Education Vol. 17, February 2018 ISSN: 2151-7452 Dr. Lucas Ihlein is an artist and ARC DECRA Research Fellow at University of Wollongong Dr. Laura Fisher is an artist, sociologist and art historian, and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Sydney University Ms. Kim Williams is an artist and PhD researcher at University of Wollongong Mr. Simon Mattsson is a farmer and chair of Central Queensland Soil Health Systems, Mackay, Queensland Contact: lucasi@uow.edu.au Socially Engaged Art and Agriculture: Experimenting with Extension Lucas Ihlein - University of Wollongong Laura Fisher - Sydney University Kim Williams - University of Wollongong Simon Mattsson - Central Queensland Soil Health Systems Abstract: Solutions to environmentally damaging human practices require cooperation between many different communities. This article explores sustainability-focused education through the lens of a current work-in-progress, Sugar vs the Reef?, which involves collaboration between sugarcane farmers and artists in the arable catchment of the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland. This is a socially engaged art project that is addressing the fraught relationship between the region’s agriculture and the fragile ecology of the Reef. We introduce some of the specific aspects of socially engaged art (SEA) which commend it as a cross-disciplinary method for bridging diverse individuals and organisations - in particular, the notion of a “holding environment” for complex socio-ecological situations. We consider how this approach might broaden the agricultural practice of “extension” which aims to transform farming through educational outreach. Ideas emerging from contemporary socially engaged art practice may contribute to a toolkit for researchers and practitioners within and beyond the academy who are searching for ways to overcome the limitations of current methodologies and movements for social change. Key Words: Socially Engaged Art, agriculture, extension, Great Barrier Reef, Sugarcane.