Stakeholder-driven adaptive research (SDAR): better research products

Abstract

Rapid changes in economic, environmental and social conditions generate both problems and opportunities in agriculture. The cycle from problem identification through discovery of potential solutions is lengthy. The objective of this study was to use collaborative methods to speed the cycle of discovery in sustainable organic strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) production systems in the southeastern USA. This method, stakeholder-driven adaptive research (SDAR), combines farmers' experiential knowledge with scientists' experimental knowledge to develop rigorous research design collectively. Farmers evaluated our biological research and co-designed research experiments with scientists. Farmers and other stakeholders (1) evaluated on-station experiments individually and then made recommendations as a group, (2) served as advisory council members to direct our goals and objectives, and (3) conducted farmer field trials where they implemented aspects of our on-station experiments under their management regimes. The results eliminated potential solutions that were not feasible, ineffective or too costly for farmers to adopt. Key results included eliminating treatments using high tunnel systems altogether on one field trial on a University of Florida (UF) research facility, adding a leguminous cover crop mix treatment, adding companion planting, and eliminating strawberry cultivars Strawberry Festival and Florida Beauty from our research trials. Our proposed methodology allows farmers and other stakeholders to inform the biological research from design through dissemination to reduce the time needed to create research products in an era of rapid bio-physical, social and economic change. Accelerating the discovery cycle could significantly improve our ability to identify and address threats to the USA and global food and fiber production system.

Trojan Horse on the Great Plains: Landowner Thresholds, Coping Capacity, and Management of Kentucky Bluegrass

“…Alternatively, the current engagement and interest of some rangeland landowners in mob grazing to manage Kentucky bluegrass may provide a fruitful area for more participatory research, building on existing experiments at the USDA-Agricultural Research Services-Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory. While potentially disheartening to rangeland scientists and managers interested in restoring fire to the northern Great Plains for a suite of additional ecological benefits, a step back from fire may allow for more authentic participatory exploration and co-creation of solutions that better account for existing values, beliefs, and management needs of North Dakota landowners (e.g., Sorice and Donlan 2015 ;DeLong et al 2022 ). Additionally, a sole focus to simultaneously overcome landowner ambivalence about Kentucky bluegrass, as well as entrenched negative beliefs about fire, may slow actors in the social-ecological system into a state of nonresponse.…”

“…Going further, participatory processes including diverse compositions of scientists, managers, landowners, interested and affected parties and rights holders can provide social learning environments conducive to joint exploration of problems and refinement of actionable solutions. Codesigning research and solutions with end users incorporates benefits of human-centered design to innovate sustainable solutions (e.g., Sorice and Donlan 2015) and promises not only better research products but also faster discovery, dissemination, and uptake of new approaches specifically in agricultural contexts (Wilmer et al 2018; DeLong et al 2022).…”