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

Abstract

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.

Determinants of the Acceptance of Sustainable Production Strategies among Dairy Farmers: Development and Testing of a Modified Technology Acceptance Model

“…Since providing information and knowledge is costly, increased public efforts in the direction of increased free access to information resources as well as increased provision of information, advisory, and extension services are paramount to the adoption of sustainable production strategies in the dairy supply chain. Farmer-led research could be an effective way for researchers and the farmer together to develop sustainability of agriculture [38]. In the future, the role of information sharing practices is likely to become increasingly crucial to achieve higher levels of sustainability-in all domains: environmental, economic, and social-of supply chains, even outside of the agro-food sector.…”

Determinants of the Acceptance of Sustainable Production Strategies in Conventional and Organic Dairying in Europe: An Empirical Analysis

“…Since providing information and knowledge is costly, increased public efforts in the direction of increased free access to information resources as well as increased provision of information, advisory and extension services are paramount to the adoption of sustainable production strategies in the dairy supply chain. Farmer-led research could be an effective way for researchers and the farmer together to develop sustainability of agriculture [35].…”

Organic and Low‐Input Dairy Farming: Avenues to Enhance Sustainability and Competitiveness in the EU

“…Eighteen participatory projects were conducted with close collaboration between farmers and researchers, covering various strategies related to feeding and forage, natural resource use, environmental and animal management. The experience showed that such a collaborative approach contributes to developing practical knowledge about sustainable organic and low‐input dairying (Padel et al ., ) (see Box 2).…”