Designing agroecological farming systems with farmers: A review

Lacombe, Camille; Couix, Nathalie; Hazard, Laurent

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2018.06.014

Cited by 95 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This paper presents the methodology developed for the creation of a small network of organic farmers in the Lazio Region (central Italy), and the steps of the co-innovation process that we implemented. Part of the research was also to reach a clearer understanding of the role, assets, and skills of researchers and farmers throughout the process [3,7,13]. The activities started in 2015 and are still ongoing.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, it is well acknowledged how the modern and present food system has negative impacts (i.e., negative externalities) on public health and on the environment (e.g., pollutions and related human diseases), as well as on rural poverty and on power imbalances in globalised food chains [2]. With the modernization of agriculture, farmers, especially smallholders, are losing their central role in the food system, being reduced to simply implementing "recipes" [3], with consequences on decision-making power and opportunities. The challenge is hence transformed into a need for urgent reform, moving away from the globally standardized and business-oriented approach of the current agriculture, toward a process of redesigning food systems in order to achieve ecological, economic, and social sustainability [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, agroecology, as a scientific discipline, agricultural practice, and political or social movement, can meet the needs of the stakeholders and drive an effective change of the food system from the local to the global scale, considering the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of agriculture [5]. Moving towards an agroecological farming system can lead to a restoration of the decision-making role of farmers in the food system, encouraging their direct involvement in the research, enriching it with their knowledge and experience [3,6]. Farmer-oriented, integrative, and participatory approaches to research could enable the preservation or increase of food system productivity in terms of yield, ecosystem services, and welfare [7], promoting dynamic innovation processes [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participatory action research (PAR) and its methodological approach can then be used to collaborate with local communities, to directly contribute to redirect current agrifood systems toward sustainability, responding to research questions of farmers and other actors of the territory, as well as guaranteeing greater autonomy and self-management [15][16][17]. In recent years, several studies investigated how to implement PAR at the local and European level as a tool to incentivize community-led local development strategies [3,17,18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Italian agri-food market institute (ISMEA) communication[28] 2. Utilized Agricultural Area[29] 3. Data were estimated by using data from Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT)[30] and National Information System on Organic Farming (SINAB)[29] 4.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Participatory Research towards Food System Redesign: Italian Case Study and Perspectives

Ciaccia¹,

Pierro

Testani³

et al. 2019

Sustainability

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Industrial agriculture and its requirement for standardized approaches is driving the world towards a global food system, shrinking the role of farmers and shifting decision-making power. On the contrary, a holistic perspective towards a new food-system design could meet the needs of a larger share of stakeholders. Long-term experiments are crucial in this transition, being the hub of knowledge and the workshop of 'participation in' and 'appropriation of' the research in agriculture over a long term. We present a methodology applied during the creation of a small network of organic farmers in Italy and detail the steps of the co-innovation process implemented. After a context analysis of the area to define the type of research and degree of participation, three steps were performed: (1) Identification of stakeholders; (2) dialogic identification of common activities; and (3) validation and feedback from participants. In the first participatory step, five organic farms were engaged for the second and third steps. We organized meetings to discuss future plans, facilitating the interaction process between farmers and researchers. These activities led to: (i) the definition of a research protocol based on farmers' research needs for a new long-term experiment; (ii) committing farmers to take an active role in the research; and (iii) hosting experimental satellite trials in their own farms.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Participatory Research towards Food System Redesign: Italian Case Study and Perspectives

Ciaccia¹,

Pierro

Testani³

et al. 2019

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Co‐design: Working with farmers in Europe to halt the loss of biological diversity

Hölting

Busse

Bülow³

et al. 2022

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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Biodiversity loss in European agricultural landscapes is progressing rapidly despite a growing number of conservation efforts. One of the reasons for this is that farmers do not have enough decision‐making power and do not receive adequate advice to tailor conservation measures to local conditions and regional biodiversity targets. In this paper, we therefore address the potential and practical implementation of co‐designing conservation measures through close collaboration between farmers and other stakeholders (e.g. other practitioners, conservation experts, agricultural advisors, scientists and policymakers). Based on interviews with four researchers from ongoing European co‐design projects, one national and one European farmers’ organizations, we discuss the challenges and provide recommendations for co‐design in the context of biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. Our aim is to reach scientists, practitioners and local decision makers working on innovative and locally adapted conservation efforts.

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Interventions promoting resilience through climate smart agricultural practices for women farmers: A systematic review

Saran,

Singh,

Gupta

et al. 2024

Campbell Systematic Reviews

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BackgroundClimate change poses a significant threat to agricultural production worldwide, with developing countries being particularly vulnerable to its negative impacts. Agriculture, which is a crucial factor in ensuring food security and livelihoods, is particularly vulnerable to changes in climate patterns, such as increased temperatures, drought, and extreme weather events. One approach to addressing these challenges is by promoting the adoption of climate‐smart agriculture (CSA) practices among farmers. CSA combines traditional agricultural practices with innovative techniques and technologies to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. infrastructure. By adopting CSA practices, farmers can enhance their resilience to climate variability and improve their productivity.ObjectivesThis review examines the effectiveness of interventions promoting CSA to enhance farmers' knowledge of the benefits of CSA approaches, subsequent adoption of CSA, and disadoption of harmful agricultural practices in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs).Search MethodsWe searched 39 academic and online databases, websites, and repositories and screened over 19,000 experimental and quasi‐experimental publications to identify studies promoting CSA practices to women farmers. We conducted a citation tracking process on included studies and contacted experts to ensure a thorough search.Selection CriteriaThe review focused on studies that included interventions promoting climate‐smart agricultural approaches. Using EPPI Reviewer 4, two review authors independently screened the impact evaluation using a standardized screening tool.Data Collection and AnalysisInformation about participant characteristics, intervention characteristics, control conditions, research design, sample size, bias risk, outcomes, and results were gathered. Data collection and quantitative analysis were conducted using standard Campbell Collaboration methods.Main ResultsEight impact evaluations were found (two randomized controlled trials) evaluating the effects of CSA practices on farmer's knowledge gains of the benefits of CSA practices and subsequent adoption. Knowledge dissemination approaches such as Farmer Field Schools and weather and climate information services were found to positively impact farmers' knowledge and adoption of specific CSA practices. However, the evidence supporting this claim is uncertain as a high risk of bias was assessed for five of the eight included studies. However, we found no effects on the disadoption of harmful practices such as pesticide overuse.Authors' ConclusionsThe evidence base for studies promoting climate‐smart agricultural approaches (CSA) to farmers in LMICs is small, and there is a lack of studies reporting sex‐disaggregated data and studies explicitly targeting women farmers. The review suggests that knowledge dissemination techniques are significantly effective in improving CSA knowledge and adoption, including integrated pest management techniques and their benefits, adoption of climate‐resilient rice seed varieties (STRVs), and use of botanical pesticides by farmers. More and better confidence studies are needed to inform policy and programming, including those that look at a wider range of interventions, including changing norms, values, and institutional arrangements.

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Designing agroecological farming systems with farmers: A review

Cited by 95 publications

References 46 publications

Participatory Research towards Food System Redesign: Italian Case Study and Perspectives

Participatory Research towards Food System Redesign: Italian Case Study and Perspectives

Co‐design: Working with farmers in Europe to halt the loss of biological diversity

Interventions promoting resilience through climate smart agricultural practices for women farmers: A systematic review

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