Pathways for impact: scientists' different perspectives on agricultural innovation

Röling, N.G.

doi:10.3763/ijas.2009.0043

Cited by 166 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The advisors nominated by the farmers are independent with a high level of commitment to their work, and often have a key role in enlarging the individual farmers knowledge systems. The "transfer of technology" typical of a top-down linear process of innovation is not effective in the new context of sustainability [20,44], which is characterised by complexity and uncertainty [45]. The role of technicians identified by the four farmers is more similar to that of innovation brokers.…”

Section: Discussion: Moving Through An Agroecological Innovation Paramentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Knowledge Management Strategies Can Support Emerging Innovative Actors in Organic Agriculture: The Case of Participatory Plant Breeding in Europe

Ortolani

Bocci

Bàrberi

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The "transfer of technology", typical of a top-down linear process of innovation cannot be used in the new contexts of sustainability, characterised by uncertainty and complexity. There is a need to redefine categories and concepts around which innovation and agricultural policies are built, as those currently in use provide only a partial representation of reality. Innovation paradigms underpinning technological development and public policies design will have a direct impact on decisions regarding which agricultural models will ultimately be supported. Looking at local learning capacity and systems of relations can help to understand the potential to develop innovation within a specific context. This work contributes to the definition of new actors who are developing innovation for sustainability in rural areas. The study focuses on the knowledge systems of farmers who are applying alternative breeding strategies: it uses a network approach to explore the knowledge system in which individual farmers are embedded in order to understand their specific relational features. Three main conclusions emerge from the study: for enhancing the agro-ecological innovation paradigm there is a need to define the 'innovation broker', to revise the evaluation system of public research and to integrate innovation and agricultural policies.

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Section: Discussion: Moving Through An Agroecological Innovation Paramentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Knowledge Management Strategies Can Support Emerging Innovative Actors in Organic Agriculture: The Case of Participatory Plant Breeding in Europe

Ortolani

Bocci

Bàrberi

et al. 2017

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“…The literature on adoption of innovations offers the tools required to make sense of these decisionmaking processes. While much of this literature in the past has been devoted to understanding the adoption of new technologies or farm production practices (see Röling, 2009), this framework is compatible with the factors that motivate the adoption of alternative marketing strategies.…”

Section: Insights From Innovation Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Adoption is more likely if farmers are already familiar with the relevant practices (Marra, Pannell, & Ghadim, 2003;Wejnert, 2002), or have useful knowledge or experience (Prokopy, Floress, Klotthor-Weinkauf, & Baumgart-Getz, 2008). Likewise an alternative strategy may fit their philosophical or lifestyle goals (Moreland & Hyland, 2009), or mesh well with the current trajectory of their farm enterprise (Röling, 2009).…”

Section: Relative Advantagementioning

confidence: 99%

The Conventionalization of Local Food: Farm Reflections on Local, Alternative Beef Marketing Groups

Mount

Smither

2014

JAFSCD

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Across North America, the local food market has been peddled as an alternative or value-added production and marketing niche for small and midscale family farms. Many former commodity farmers are now selling product to local consumers -either on their own, with groups of farmers, as cooperatives, or through intermediaries with active distribution chains.The literature on the conventionalization of organic suggests that larger farm scale and an intermediary-controlled chain may produce unintended effects for producers in these local markets. The same literature also questions the role of farm scale in shaping motivations. Reflections from first-adopters on their experiences in local food marketing channels -both direct-toconsumer and through intermediaries -could provide insight into the effects of "scaling up" and a potential move toward the conventionalization of local food.In this paper we investigate two models of "local beef" groups that operate in the province of Ontario: one organized by farmers and reliant on direct marketing, and a second, larger-scale model, led by intermediaries that purchase and market the product from farmers. Through an analysis of interviews with farmers, and borrowing from adoption of innovation frameworks, we presentin the farmers' words -some of the factors and motivations that attract commodity producers to these two types of marketing innovation, and try to expose the gap between expectations and outcomes. The findings help to gauge how scale of farm and group operation influences results, how a *

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“…The concept of 'innovation' is not restricted to invention or a new idea itself, but includes also the embedding of an idea in the relevant sector (Schumpeter et al, 1980). However, within agriculture innovation is seen mainly as the search for new inputs and technologies (Röling, 2009) while the potential of social/societal innovation for achieving societal and political goals is not recognized (Bokelmann et al, 2012). This maybe not so surprising, given the long period during which "efficiency came … to mean the application of the new agricultural technologies, which were beginning to emerge onto the market."…”

Section: From Technology Transfer To Supporting the Innovation Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, innovation in agriculture is currently frequently understood as referring exclusively to the need for new inputs and technologies that originate from research (Röling, 2009). Garnet and Godfray (2012) referred to this as technological optimism in the debate about sustainable intensification.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting Innovation in Organic Agriculture: A European Perspective Using Experience from the SOLID Project

Padel¹,

Vaarst²,

Zaralis³

2015

SAR

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Organic farming is recognized as one source for innovation helping agriculture to develop sustainably. However, the understanding of innovation in agriculture is characterized by technical optimism, relying mainly on new inputs and technologies originating from research. The paper uses the alternative framework of innovation systems describing innovation as the outcome of stakeholder interaction and examples from the SOLID (Sustainable Organic Low-Input Dairying) project to discuss the role of farmers, researchers and knowledge exchange for innovation. We used a farmer-led participatory approach to identify problems of organic and low-input dairy farming in Europe and develop and evaluate innovative practices. Experience so far shows that improvements of sustainability can be made through better exploitation of knowledge. For example, it is recognized that optimal utilization of good quality forage is vitally important, but farmers showed a lack of confidence in the reliability of forage production both in quantity and quality. We conclude that the systems framework improves the understanding of innovation processes in organic agriculture. Farmer-led research is an effective way to bring together the scientific approach with the farmers' practical and context knowledge in finding solutions to problems experienced by farmers and to develop sustainability.

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Pathways for impact: scientists' different perspectives on agricultural innovation

Cited by 166 publications

References 13 publications

Changes in Knowledge Management Strategies Can Support Emerging Innovative Actors in Organic Agriculture: The Case of Participatory Plant Breeding in Europe

Changes in Knowledge Management Strategies Can Support Emerging Innovative Actors in Organic Agriculture: The Case of Participatory Plant Breeding in Europe

The Conventionalization of Local Food: Farm Reflections on Local, Alternative Beef Marketing Groups

Supporting Innovation in Organic Agriculture: A European Perspective Using Experience from the SOLID Project

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