Designing better on-farm research in Australia using a participatory workshop process

Lawrence, David; Christodoulou, N.; Whish, Jeremy

doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2007.03.018

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In various empirical studies on the topic, using the term 'trying' instead of 'experimenting' in interviews has been seen as being more expedient (Sumberg & Okali, 1997), while in other cases local terms are used to address the subject in the field (Stolzenbach, 1999). Other terms used in literature are i) 'farmer research', which refers to 'research conducted by farmers for discovery or production of information' (Wortmann et al, 2005) and ii) 'on-farm research', which means research conducted, and usually also controlled, by scientists on farms, involving the farmer more or less actively (Lawrence et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Keeping the Actors in the Organic System Learning: The Role of Organic Farmers’ Experiments

Vogl¹,

Kummer²,

Leitgeb³

et al. 2015

SAR

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<p>The creative process that leads to farmers’ innovations is rarely studied or described precisely in agricultural sciences. For academic scientists, obvious limitations of farmers’ experiments are e.g. precision, reliability, robustness, accuracy, validity or the correct analysis of cause and effect. Nevertheless, we propose that ‘farmers’ experiments’ underpin innovations that keep organic farming locally tuned for sustainability and adaptable to changing economic, social and ecological conditions. We first researched the structure and role of farmers’ experiments by conducting semi-structured interviews of 47 organic farmers in Austria and 72 organic/agroecology farmers in Cuba in 2007 and 2008. Seventysix more structured interviews explored the topics and methods used by Austrian farmers that were ‘trying something’. Farmers engaged in activities that can be labelled as farmers experiments because these activities include considerable planning, manipulating variables, monitoring effects and communicating results. In Austria and Cuba 487 and 370 individual topics, respectively, were mentioned for experimenting by the respondents. These included topics like the introduction of new species or varieties, testing various ways of commercialization or the testing of alternative remedies. Two thirds (Austria) and one third (Cuba) of the farmers who experimented had an explicit mental or written plan before starting. In both countries, the majority of the farmers stated that they set up their experiments first on a small scale and expanded them if the outcome of the experiments was satisfactory. Repetitions were done by running experiments in subsequent years and the majority of the farmers monitored the experiments regularly. In both countries, many experiments were not discrete actions but nested in time and space. For further research on learning and innovation in organic farming we propose an explicit appreciation of farmers’ experiments, encouraging further in-depth research on the details of the farmers’ experimental process and encouraging the inclusion of farmers’ experiments in strategies for innovation in organic and non organic farming. Strategic research and innovation agendas for organic farming would benefit from including organic farmers as co-researchers in all steps of the research process in order to encourage co-learning between academic scientists and organic farmers.</p>

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Keeping the Actors in the Organic System Learning: The Role of Organic Farmers’ Experiments

Vogl¹,

Kummer²,

Leitgeb³

et al. 2015

SAR

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“…A common concept of on-farm experimentation is 'on-farm research', which means research conducted, and usually also controlled, by scientists on farms, involving the farmer more or less actively (Lawrence, Christodoulou, & Whish, 2007). Another term used in literature is 'farmer-initiated research', which refers to 'research conducted by farmers for discovery or production of information' (Wortmann et al, 2005, p.244) in cooperation with research and extension.…”

Section: Defining Farmers' Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmers’ Own Research: Organic Farmers’ Experiments in Austria and Implications for Agricultural Innovation Systems

Kummer

Leitgeb

Vogl

2017

SAR

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Farmers' experiments can be defined as the autonomous activities of farmers to try or introduce something new at the farm, and include evaluation of success or failure with farmers' own methods. Experiments enable farmers to adapt their farms to changing circumstances, build up local knowledge, and have resulted in countless agricultural innovations. Most research on the topic has been conducted in countries of the south. In this paper, however, we present experiments of randomly sampled organic farmers in Austria, and we discuss implications for agricultural innovation systems. In 76 structured questionnaire interviews we investigated topics, motives, methods and outcomes of farmers' experiments, and factors related to the frequency of experimentation. From the interviewed farmers, 90% reported experiments, and the majority of experiments (94%) involved monitoring and evaluation strategies. Farmers who reported a high frequency of experimentation showed a significantly higher propensity to plan, document and repeat their experiments, and had a more positive attitude towards experimenting than farmers that rarely experimented. We conclude that experimenting is a common activity among organic farmers in Austria, and that farmers have their own methods to conduct and assess their experiments. The most significant outcome is the creation of new knowledge, stressing the importance of experimentation for learning and adaptive farm management. Farmers' experiments are significant on two levels, i.e. at individual farm level and at the level of agricultural innovation systems. Taking full advantage of this innovative potential requires a better involvement of farmers as co-researchers into the development of agricultural innovations.

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“…There is increasing recognition of the value of local information (Lawrence, Christodoulou & Whish, 2007) and farmers' own expertise (Aubert, Schroeder & Grimaudo, 2012) as sources of information for learning and decision making.…”

Section: Information and Information Technology In Supporting Farmersmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Unearthing farmers' information seeking contexts and challenges in digital, local and industry environments’

Starasts

2015

Library & Information Science Research

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This study describes the contexts surrounding the information seeking of Australian grain and cotton growers. Information seeking activities of 16 growers over an 18 month period provided insights into what guided their information seeking and what they considered to be 'information' that supported their self-directed learning. Contexts were highly situated, experiential and social. They found most online information to be devoid of these critical contexts, and it therefore did not contribute to their learning. Future agricultural information systems could better facilitate growers' information seeking if they incorporated local and environmental parameters, and enabled information sharing and connecting on local issues.

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Designing better on-farm research in Australia using a participatory workshop process

Cited by 23 publications

References 15 publications

Keeping the Actors in the Organic System Learning: The Role of Organic Farmers’ Experiments

Keeping the Actors in the Organic System Learning: The Role of Organic Farmers’ Experiments

Farmers’ Own Research: Organic Farmers’ Experiments in Austria and Implications for Agricultural Innovation Systems

‘Unearthing farmers' information seeking contexts and challenges in digital, local and industry environments’

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