Co-innovation in family-farming livestock systems in Rocha, Uruguay: A 3-year learning process

Abstract

There are opportunities to improve livestock family farms (LFFs) sustainability in Uruguay by using the co-innovation approach to change management practices and incorporate technologies. To harness these opportunities, between 2012 and 2015, a research project was implemented in Eastern Uruguay, where three simultaneous processes occurred at three levels: farm, region, and research team. At farm level, the work was carried out in seven LFF as case studies following three steps: (i) characterization and diagnosis; (ii) redesign; and (iii) implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. At the regional level, a participatory approach to planning, monitoring, and evaluating the project’s progress with regional stakeholders was adopted. At the team level, a Participatory Action Research approach was used. Consensus on the objectives and methods allowed for combined knowledge to solve practice-oriented problems. The 3-year project demonstrated the effectiveness in improving LFF sustainability, opened a learning space with stakeholders, and utilized a co-innovation model to improve rural development outcomes.

Mobilizing Ecological Processes for Herbivore Production: Farmers and Researchers Learning Together

“…For this, using social learning and collaboration approaches (Warner, 2006;Armitage et al, 2008) has a large potential to promote interactions between farmers and researchers. In Uruguay, scientific knowledge on cow reproduction physiology, plant growth, plant-herbivore interactions, and labor organization were used in a systemic way leading to a proposal of management options in the cow-calf system based on farm-specific diagnosis (Albicette et al, 2017;Ruggia et al, in review). Farmers adapted the proposals in action, with researchers supporting the processes by providing quantitative information on consequences and spaces for reflection.…”

“…Though these advances are potentially powerful levers (Do Carmo et al, 2016;Modernel et al, 2018), uptake of the findings has been slow if not absent. It was hypothesized that a key element for the low adoption was that the scientific findings were not presented in an integrative, farm system perspective and were difficult to make locally salient for the farmers (Albicette et al, 2017). This analysis prompted a project in which a multidisciplinary team of researchers, advisors, and cow-calf family farmers worked closely together over a period of 3 years (Ruggia et al, in review).…”

“…Engaging with farmers and other local stakeholders to generate "actionable knowledge, " that is, "knowledge that specifically supports stakeholder decision making and consequent actions" (Geertsema et al, 2016), allows for the fostering of agroecological innovations. This implies integrating farmers' practices, perceptions, and values (Kosgey et al, 2006;Coquil et al, 2018), accounting for the singularities of the local production system to be transformed, e.g., edaphic and climatic conditions, new demands for products and markets (Oosting et al, 2014), and disseminating knowledge among local communities and regional stakeholders (Albicette et al, 2017). The "how to" question thus involves changes in the perspectives and values that underlie perceptions of how things need to be done (Tittonell et al, 2016).…”

Agroecology in Large Scale Farming—A Research Agenda

“…For example, simply organizing the herd and the grazing regime to increase forage allowance, forage height, and plant biomass leads to enhanced energy consumption per animal and forage production by native grassland species (Carvalho et al, 2011;Carriquiry et al, 2012;Do Carmo et al, 2016). Other agroecological strategies include matching grassland growth rates during the year with forage demands by different animal categories, multi-species grazing designs to stimulate complementarity, matching spatial heterogeneity to different quantity and quality of forage requirements, respecting reseeding, and maintaining a permanent soil cover, all of which have proven successful at both experimental and real farm conditions, doubling current productivity levels (e.g., Albicette et al, 2017;Do Carmo et al, 2018). These transitions require also animal breeding support, an agenda that has been highlighted for ruminants, pigs and poultry (Phocas et al, 2016).…”

“…While measures for their ecological intensification do exist and prove technically viable, their wide adoption by farmers is still challenging, no less due to the aging of this farming population and the gradual disappearance of this traditional lifestyle. When ranching farmers retire, the land is often leased out to agricultural enterprises that grow export crops (Albicette et al, 2017).…”