AGROECOLOGY, the European Partnership ‘Accelerating Farming Systems Transition: Agroecology Living Labs and Research Infrastructures’, is a large-scale European research and innovation endeavour between the European Commission and 26 Member States, Associated Countries and Third Countries. AGROECOLOGY will support an agriculture sector that is fit to meet the targets and challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, food security and sovereignty, and the environment, while ensuring a profitable and attractive activity for farmers. Major change is needed to make the agriculture sector more sustainable, resilient, and responsive to societal and policy demands. Agroecology builds on natural, biological interactions while using state-of-the-art science, technology and innovation based on farmers’ knowledge.
The Conversations on Agroecology will form the first steps towards strengthening agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS) for agroecology transition by facilitating linkages between Living Labs & Research Infrastructures actors across Europe. The online conversations on agroecology will run on a monthly schedule throughout the partnership and enable mobilisation and networking of agroecology actors across and beyond Europe.
Content
- Welcome
- Torsten Rødel Berg: „Living labs and agricultural innovation: Where are we coming from (and where may we be headed?)”The presentation situates agricultural research in a rural development ‘trajectory of ideas’ that has seen a shift from top-down transfer of technology thinking, via ‘participation’, towards the co-creation, co-learning and multi-actor approaches that are associated with living labs. Hence, the potential of these user-driven approaches to foster innovation for sustainability (i.e transition), is associated with rural social capital and the capacities of agricultural knowledge and innovation system (AKIS) actors that underpin innovation. However, the capacities and characteristics of these innovation intermediaries vary considerably across Europe, with implications for transition and the role of the Agroecology Partnership in fostering transition.
- Pénélope Lamarque: “Participatory science for agroecological transition: changes are also observed on the research side”Transition towards a more sustainable and resilient food system induces urgent and profound changes, involving a diversity of stakeholders who perceive change and act differently. To grasp this diversity, scientists increasingly cross their disciplinary boundaries and connect with stakeholders to jointly deal with complex issues to achieved the agroecological transition. Since several years, we have developed different participatory approaches in which researchers from different disciplines and various stakeholders (consumers, farmers, business actors in supply chain and/or public sector actors) have been involved along different stages of the process (from formulating questions to results dissemination) to co-construct innovative agroecological solutions in Wallonia (Belgium). We have identified not only barriers and levers encountered by stakeholders to achieve agroecological transition, but also the difficulties met by researchers emerging from the need of more transdisciplinary and participatory science. During this online discussion, we will share our thoughts and questioning about the changes occurring in our work of researcher when doing participatory science for agroecological transition.
- Discussion
- Closing words
Target group
Researchers, farmers, policymakers, funders, all agroecology interested stakeholders.
You are also welcome to send your topic-related questions in advance to akademie@ages.at.
The questions collected will be answered by the speakers during the seminar.
Language
English
Registration information
Please register by 22.04.2024 at the latest.
This event will be held as an online event.
Conversation Leads
Dr. Taru Sandén
Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES)
Department for Soil Health and Plant Nutrition
Institute for Sustainable Plant Production
Division Food Security
Dr. Carla Brites
Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, I. P. (INIAV), Portugal
Speaker
Dr. Torsten Rødel Berg
Aarhus University, Denmark
Department of Agroecology
Dr. Pénélope Lamarque
Walloon Agricultural Research Centre
Sustainability, systems and prospectives Department
