Land-grant lessons for Anthropocene universities

Abstract

Established amidst the bloodshed of the Civil War, land-grant universities, together with the associated agricultural experiment stations and cooperative extension services, have played a crucial role in democratizing scientific knowledge and addressing intertwined educational, environmental, economic, and democratic challenges within the USA. Indeed, they have arguably pioneered the idea of “usable science.” Today, the urgent challenges of the Anthropocene demand a more robust relationship between scientific research and on-the-ground action, strong networks sharing local lessons globally, and channels for injecting global, long-term perspectives into the noise of short-termism. The land-grant experience provides lessons for “Anthropocene universities” seeking to tackle these challenges, including the importance of (1) establishing or expanding university-based boundary organizations akin to cooperative extension, (2) incentivizing the integration of engagement into the university’s research, teaching, and service missions, (3) centering values of democracy, justice, equity, and inclusion in engagement, and (4) cooperating across institutions and sectors. Given the urgency of fully engaging academic institutions as players and connectors in the real-world challenges of addressing climate change and biodiversity loss, there is little time to waste.

Meaningful climate science

“…For example, a new portal for community science (including a journal that will publish case studies) has recently been launched (Fiser et al 2021). More generally, Kopp (2021) argues that making (climate) science useable requires "a more robust relationship between scientific research and on-the-ground action, strong networks sharing local lessons globally, and channels for injecting global, long-term perspectives into the noise of short-termism". (He also argues that the US land-grant universities, at their best, provide a potential model for this.)…”

Entrepreneurial Talent Building for 21st Century Agricultural Innovation

“…Such clusters could fit well in United States university towns where some of the nation’s top universities in the agriculture field are found and have strong connections to surrounding rural communities as well as in peri-urban areas globally, such as in high-population density areas. Indeed, the United States land grant universities were founded during and after the Civil War in the heart of agrarian regions to ensure innovation and dissemination for farmers, providing an infrastructure for updating research and education to meet the agricultural challenges of the next 150 years . The Food Valley of The Netherlands also offers an inspiring vision of a cluster for promoting agricultural education, training, entrepreneurship, and translation in a coordinated manner; , implementing the AgTech Pioneer ecosystem will expand on this success and support the development of future entrepreneurial farmers committed to agricultural innovation.…”

Making a Difference: Planning for Engaged Participation in Environmental Research

“…First, universities (and other research-focused organizations) tend to prioritize the production of novel, generalizable knowledge (i.e., basic science published in peer-reviewed literature) over practical, place-based, or “usable” knowledge and associated products and outcomes (Cvitanovic et al 2015 ; Cvitanovic et al 2019 ; Foster 2010 ; Gaziulusoy et al 2016 ; Kopp 2021 ). Second, this institutional legacy limits opportunities for researchers to be trained in TDA methods and approaches (Rozance et al 2020 ).…”

“…Second, this institutional legacy limits opportunities for researchers to be trained in TDA methods and approaches (Rozance et al 2020 ). Third, the academic evaluation system is still largely focused on publication in peer-reviewed journals, a metric that is easier to quantify than societal impacts (Penfield et al 2014 ; Alvesson et al 2017 ; Spaapen and van Drooge 2011 ; Meadow and Owen 2021 ) and that does not place much value on other outputs such as reports, workshops, or services that may be more relevant to societal partners (Kopp 2021 ). Finally, the prioritization of basic research is often reflected in funding mechanisms that do not adequately support activities such as travel and additional time for meetings and engagement, including support for societal partners’ participation, that are critical to the success of transdisciplinary research efforts (Arnott et al 2020 ; Gaziulusoy et al 2016 ; Rowe and Lee 2012 ; Shanley and López 2009 ).…”