Analyzing co-design of agroecology-oriented cropping systems: lessons to build design-support tools

Abstract

If the challenges involved in agroecological transition are to be addressed, cropping systems (CS) need to be changed profoundly, which in turn requires innovative design adapted to local conditions. This is however by no means an easy task since such design activity requires extensive knowledge on objects and processes rarely studied until now, most of which is distributed amongst numerous stakeholders. Since the 2000s, research on design in agriculture has aimed at developing participatory methods to support on-farm design of new systems, but few studies have focused on the elaboration of design-support tools. With a view to defining the features of tools intended to support the design of agroecology-oriented cropping systems, ergonomists recommended an analysis of the activities of the future users of these tools in their real work situations. We started out by implementing a diagnosis of use situations, based on observations of real collective design activities. To this end, we took part in six design workshops, which differed in terms of goals and of designers participating (i.e. farmers, advisors, students, or scientists). We first identified the diversity of features of these design situations, and then analyzed three processes across the design workshops: i) the reformulation of the design goal; ii) the large exploration of candidate solutions; and iii) the local adaptation of these solutions while anticipating the on-field implementation. Here we show, for the first time, the type of reasonings and knowledge that designers and facilitators displayed and used throughout the agroecological cropping system design process. We identify the features that future design-support tools should have to guide co-designers of agroecological CS. Such tools should promote several types of design reasoning and allow the development of external representations of the object under design. Our results provide operational guidelines for the elaboration of new design-support tools.

Transition to legume-supported farming in Europe through redesigning cropping systems

“…Considerations of interactions between crop management and crop choices were thereby emphasized. This "functionbased reasoning" (Quinio et al 2022) was also visible in discussions about crop choices in order to reduce weed and pest issues. The need for break crops due to a limited number of registered herbicides and the inclusion of soybean as a break crop in maize monocultures were mentioned by Austrian and German actors, supporting findings from step 1.…”

“…While the Irish actors reported a reluctance of feed manufacturers to include more grain legumes such as faba bean, the network Schwäbisch Hall Producers reported on an expanded grain legume use as a valuable pig feed on farm resulting in premium prices for regional pork products. Previous workshops have also shown that mixing actors with different objectives can broaden the discussion (Quinio et al 2022).…”

“…Thus, site-specific conditions and local (knowledge) resources must be considered when designing legume-supported cropping systems. The facilitation of knowledge flows and the involvement of a diversity of actors is crucial in every stage of the process and is often implemented through co-design workshops enabling the integration of three key processes, namely reformulating the design goal, exploring candidate solutions, and locally adapting solutions (Quinio et al 2022).…”

Unravelling the step-by-step process for farming system design to support agroecological transition

“…Thus, most cropping or farming systems are designed for one location, one farm and one environment, and differ from the ones designed elsewhere: farming system design is situated. To fuel such a situated design process, several authors stress the importance of mobilizing local knowledge of farmers, combined with scientific and technical knowledge (Leclère et al, 2018;Girard and Magda, 2020;Quinio et al, 2022), in a dynamics of open innovation.…”

Soutenir la conception collaborative de nouveaux objets de travail qui participent au développement durable : le cas d’un collectif d’enseignants‑chercheurs en Sciences du Sport

“…En outre, plusieurs études soulignent que le processus de conception collective à l'oeuvre dans les transitions vers la durabilité est un processus de conception collaborative, c'est-à-dire un processus dialogique au sein duquel est mise en jeu une confrontation d'idées et de valeurs (par ex., Le Bail, Baker & Détienne, 2022 ;Quinio, Jeuffroy, Guichard, Salazar & Détienne, 2022). Ces travaux reposent sur une approche sociocognitive de la conception, c'est-à-dire qu'ils envisagent la conception comme un processus social de négociation entre différents points de vue, représentations ou disciplines (Bucciarelli, 1988 ;Détienne, Martin & Lavigne, 2005 ;Schön, 1988).…”