Ex-Post Evaluation of the Impacts of the Science-Based Research and Innovation Program: A New Method Applied in the Case of Farmers’ Transition to Organic Production in the Camargue

Quiédeville, Sylvain; Barjolle, Dominique; Mouret, Jean-Claude; Stolze, Matthias

doi:10.3917/jie.022.0145

Cited by 24 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…As part of the evaluation of the Camargue organic rice programme, the impact pathway of the research programme was reconstructed and drawn in a participatory manner with the various actors during a workshop[49] (Quiédeville et al, 2017). The participants first identified the different changes pertaining to the transition to organic farming in Camargue since 2000.…”

Section: Recreating the Impact Pathway Of The Innovation In A Particimentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation and development in agricultural and food systems

Faure¹,

Chiffoleau²,

Goulet³

et al. 2018

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Much more than a fashionable notion or buzzword, innovation has become a key issue for companies, policies and, more generally, society. In the Global North as in the Global South, innovating, i.e. introducing a novelty in an economic and social environment, appears more than ever as a factor of competitiveness for enterprises, leading to cost reductions, improved productivity or product quality, or the creation of new markets in a context of globalized competition (Porter and Heppelmann, 2014). In an extension of Schumpeter's (1934) work, innovation is more widely reaffirmed as a source of macroeconomic growth, at the heart now of a 'knowledge economy', deriving value from creativity, learning and communication (Foray, 2004; Stiglitz and Greenwald, 2014). It is also put forward as a solution to the problems generated by economic development itself, especially in the ecological, energy and food fields, leading to what Callon et al. (2015) call a regime of the economy of techno-scientific promises. Finally, across frontiers opened up by new technologies, in the digital and biotechnology fields for example, innovation is envisaged as the possible catalyst of a more radical social transformation, moving the world towards increased knowledge sharing (Rifkin, 2011), transhumanism (Ferry, 2016) and a break with the current forms of capitalism (Latouche, 2006). Of course, critical points of view question this craze for innovation (Godin and Vinck, 2017; Petit, 2015). Both creative and destructive, innovation can lead to social exclusion, destroy jobs and businesses, result in monopolies and misappropriations, and generate new technical and societal risks that need to be understood and addressed (Joly et al., 2015; Temple et al., 2018). But these critics often end up relying on the notion of innovation itself to suggest, or sometimes rehabilitate, alternative paths or avenues of resistance, for example through innovations qualified as 'social' or 'frugal'. Whether in the scientific, political, industrial arenas, or more broadly those of entrepreneurship and the media, innovation appears as a notion that is open to analysis, encouragement and criticism regarding societal changes. But it is also capable of underpinning the transformations of our contemporary societies. This primacy of innovation seems to have won over every corner of society, attracting attention, debate and engagement in all its economic sectors. It is in this context that this book presents contemporary perspectives on innovation in one of these sectors: agriculture and food. Several books and collection of studies have helped shed light on the issue of innovation in agriculture from different disciplinary and geographical perspectives (

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Section: Recreating the Impact Pathway Of The Innovation In A Particimentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation and development in agricultural and food systems

Faure¹,

Chiffoleau²,

Goulet³

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Apart from Quiedeville et al . () it has not been used to analyse the impact of agricultural science in Europe. Applications to other impact evaluation topics include educational innovation (Middlemas and Shaw, ) and rural broadband provision (Pant and Odame, ).…”

Section: Pathways To Agricultural Science Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While there are fewer constraints of this type in so-called advanced economies, evidence from literature suggests that take-up is slow, so far. Apart from Quiedeville et al (2017) it has not been used to analyse the impact of agricultural science in Europe. Applications to other impact evaluation topics include educational innovation (Middlemas and Shaw, 2009) and rural broadband provision (Pant and Odame, 2016).…”

Section: Participatory Impact Pathways Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

The Science of Impact and the Impact of Agricultural Science

Midmore¹

2017

J Agricultural Economics

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Research impact and its measurement are of increasing importance. This is particularly significant for agricultural science, which is expected to produce solutions to future challenges that will arise from population growth, climate change and ecosystem degradation. Much econometric effort has been devoted to analysis of investment in agricultural research and its effects on farm productivity. This analysis, reviewed here, has produced a consensus suggesting that returns are high, although they are achieved only after long lags. However, policy‐makers perceive the occurrence of impacts as too few, and poorly targeted with respect to their needs. An attribution gap between the outcomes of agricultural research and how they reach farmers has motivated evaluation of the process of transmission and translation of agricultural research outputs into ultimate impacts. This gap can be narrowed by Participatory Impact Pathway Analysis, implemented mostly so far in low income countries. However, it is a costly and cognitively complex approach. Content analysis of the UK's 2014 REF Impact Case Studies uncovers the mind set of researchers and their managers regarding the description of impact and how it is supposed to occur. This reveals a nascent conservatism that focuses on research that can be shown to have impact, rather than research impact itself. From the overall discussion it can be concluded that the impact evaluation of agricultural science raises more profound issues than simply efficiency or transparency. Confirmation bias threatens impact evaluation, principally by distracting from other important stories about how and why the ultimate effects occur, but also by transforming the nature of the process itself. Methodological pluralism, with greater integration and triangulation between different evaluation approaches, is a promising means of resolving these problems.

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“…The approach proposed by Quiédeville et al (2017), to which the SNA described in this paper contributes, is made up of 5 steps. In this paper, we use only 4 steps, which are specifically relevant to SNA.…”

Section: Materials and Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our study is based on the methodology proposed by Quiédeville et al (2017), which is based on the Participatory Impact Pathway Analysis (PIPA) and other methods including SNA. The organization of stakeholder workshops is a key element in the analysis, and the approach can be described as participative.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using social network analysis to evaluate the impacts of the research: on the transition to organic farming in the Camargue

2018

Self Cite

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Évaluer les impacts des recherches en agriculture sur la société : outils, méthodes, études de cas. Abstract -This paper evaluates the relevance of undertaking a Social Network Analysis (SNA) to better understand the role played by the network of actors during innovation processes as well as validate stakeholders' views on actors' relationships in a case study on the transition to organic farming in the Camargue territory (South of France). The SNA method is part of a set of methods that forms an approach that was developed to evaluate ex-post the impacts of agronomic research in the framework of the European research project IMPRESA. The analysis particularly confirms, through the indicator of Betweenness, the growing role played by INRA (French National Institute of Agronomic Research) in the network and its contribution to the transition to organic agriculture. This is due in particular to closer relationships between farmers and INRA. The results also indicate a growing role played by CIRAD (Agricultural Research Center for International Development) through the lens of increased relationships with farmers. Additionally, the analysis confirms the great influence of the creation of the firm Biosud in 2003 on the transition to organic farming. SNA proved to be an excellent research tool for confirming stakeholders' statements about impact pathway, the events described in it, and the intensity of links between events. The reconstruction of the actor network over 5 different periods allows a significant deepening of the analysis. This method could be more largely used in evaluating impacts of research. Keywords: ex-post impact assessment / innovation / network analysis / information flow / riceRésumé -L'analyse du réseau social pour évaluer les impacts de la recherche : la transition vers l'agriculture biologique en Camargue. Cet article évalue la pertinence de réaliser une Analyse du réseau social (SNA) afin de mieux comprendre le rôle joué par le réseau d'acteurs au cours des processus d'innovation, ainsi que pour valider les dires des parties prenantes sur les relations entre acteurs dans un cas d'étude sur la transition vers l'agriculture biologique en Camargue (sud de la France). La méthode SNA fait partie d'un ensemble de méthodes formant une approche qui a été développée pour l'évaluation ex-post des impacts de la recherche agronomique dans le cadre du projet de recherche européen IMPRESA. L'analyse confirme en particulier, à travers l'indicateur de Betweenness (intermédiarité), le rôle grandissant joué par l'INRA (Institut national de la recherche agronomique) sur le réseau et sa contribution à la transition vers l'agriculture biologique. Ceci est la conséquence en particulier de relations plus étroites entre les agriculteurs et l'INRA. Les résultats indiquent également un rôle plus important joué par le Cirad (Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement) par le biais de relations renforcées avec les agriculteurs. De plus, l'analyse confirme l'influence importante ...

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Ex-Post Evaluation of the Impacts of the Science-Based Research and Innovation Program: A New Method Applied in the Case of Farmers’ Transition to Organic Production in the Camargue

Cited by 24 publications

References 23 publications

Innovation and development in agricultural and food systems

Innovation and development in agricultural and food systems

The Science of Impact and the Impact of Agricultural Science

Using social network analysis to evaluate the impacts of the research: on the transition to organic farming in the Camargue

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