Diversification through agroecological principles may maintain and stabilize yields in an increasingly more unpredictable climate, including market price fluctuations, as well as preserve and enhance the threatened natural resource base and the environment. Based on a participatory interview process this article identifies the barriers encountered by a group of Danish biodynamic farmers striving for self-sufficient farm systems with no or very little dependency on imported materials by developing biologically, economically and socially diverse farms. Through an iterative interview process the study found that barriers outside farm management are hindering the transition toward diverse farming and that a further exploration of the need for and implications of food sovereignty in the Global North might generate the discussions needed to support implementation of more agroecological farming system practises.

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During farming demonstrations, peer-to-peer learning is known to be more effective than technology transfer when encouraging farmers to consider adopting more sustainable farming practices. Interactive knowledge creation has the potential to create a stimulating peer-learning environment focusing on the use of hands-on activities, knowledge scaffolding, discussions and negotiation. This study investigated how insight can be gained about the interactive knowledge creation that occurs during farming demonstrations by monitoring and evaluating a diverse sample of farming demonstrations in Belgium, Spain and Denmark via surveys and observations originally designed for the AgriDemo-F2F project. The study found that the selected monitoring tools provided insight about how participants experienced specific interactive knowledge creation. However, several stumbling blocks were also identified in using the proposed tools to monitor these learning processes, including the monitoring of abstract concepts and the reluctance among farmers to respond to self-administered open-ended survey questions. Based on these learning points, several proposals were made to improve the monitoring process of interactive knowledge creation. This study confirms that the improved understanding of learning practices and their impact on actual change presents a challenge, but it is essential if the adoption of sustainable farming practices is to be increased.

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