Sustainable agricultural intensification and measuring the immeasurable

Grabowski, Philip; Musumba, Mark; Palm, Cheryl; Snapp, Sieglinde S.

doi:10.4324/9781315561103-29

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…• Developing or adapting existing multidimensional assessment tools (e.g. Grabowski et al 2018;FAO 2019g;van Wijk et al 2020) is also central to building such understanding of change and predicting the magnitude of such change across scales, time and place.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 10 Elements of Agroecology: enabling transitions towards sustainable agriculture and food systems through visual narratives

Barrios

Gemmill-Herren

Bicksler

et al. 2020

Ecosystems and People

120

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The magnitude and urgency of the challenges facing agriculture and food systems demand profound modifications in different aspects of human activity to achieve real transformative change and sustainability. Recognizing that the inherent complexity of achieving sustainability is commonly seen as a deterrent to decision-making, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has approved the 10 Elements of Agroecology as an analytical framework to support the design of differentiated paths for agriculture and food systems transformation, hence facilitating improved decision-making by policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders in differing contexts at a range of levels on a number of scales. Biodiversity, consumers, education and governance are identified as promising entry points to build a structured process using visual narratives that rely on the 10 Elements of Agroecology to graphically dissect prospective social-ecological transition trajectories. We illustrate such applications with examples from agroforestry worldwide, public food procurement in Brazil and the United States of America, and agroecology education vis-à-vis secure access to land in Senegal. Nexus approaches are used to highlight and examine salient interactions among different sectors and entry points, and to develop visual narratives describing plausible theories of transformative change towards sustainable agriculture and food systems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 10 Elements of Agroecology: enabling transitions towards sustainable agriculture and food systems through visual narratives

Barrios

Gemmill-Herren

Bicksler

et al. 2020

Ecosystems and People

120

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“…Very often GAP adoption in Africa fails to reach the inflection point for spontaneous adoption. Benefits and risks associated with GAP adoption may not be immediately apparent to the smallholder, or to other stakeholders; a participatory action approach that considers diverse impacts of a GAP ( Figure 2) may be required to overcome barriers and achieve critical momentum (Snapp et al, F I G U R E 2 Hypothetical multi-disciplinary comparison of a good agronomic practice (GAP) innovation and the status quo using the SIToolKit (Grabowski et al, 2018;Stewart et al, 2018) across select indicators in the productivity, economic, environmental, human, and social domains. As in this hypothetical illustration, negative trade-offs associated with a GAP may make it unacceptable 2018).…”

Section: Enable Spontaneous Gap Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvement of smallholder farming systems in Africa

Wortmann

Amede²,

Bekunda

et al. 2020

Agronomy Journal

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This forum paper provides a synthesis and discussion of 14 categories of lessons learned from experiences for achieving farm-level impact with smallholder farmers in Africa. These lessons were reported in a symposium hosted by the Agronomy in Africa community of the American Society of Agronomy. The lessons, listed in order of frequency of reporting, were the need to: have adequate infrastructure and services; enable spontaneous adoption; have multidisciplinary and institutional collaboration; build on previous adoption of good agronomic practices (GAP); have farmer participation in research; encourage and learn from smallholder adaptations; make GAP promotion demand-driven; allow GAP choices; address challenges and trade-offs to GAP adoption; enable GAP-by-GAP adoption; reconcile conflicting messages; offer adequate profit potential with acceptable risk; reduce labor needs, especially for women; and build capacity for farming system improvement along the chain from farmer to research. The lessons are discussed and conclusions are reported.

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“…Efforts to understand soil fertility and production potential have often floundered on the heterogeneity of soil parent material, household topology, and soil amendments can vary at the scale of 1, 10 or 100 m (Tittonell et al, 2005). Not only do natural resources vary; farmers’ goals and market orientation are also highly variable (Humphries et al, 2015; Grabowski et al, 2018).…”

Section: Study Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6). Interdisciplinary research produces complicated outputs and it is important to visualize tradeoffs and synergies in an accessible manner (Bouma, 2015; Grabowski et al, 2018). In the SA performance visualizations presented here, grain yield depended on technology × environment interactions and technologies therefore varied markedly in terms of economic and environmental services.…”

Section: Study Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Traditional research and extension, which follows reductionist component research approaches, have proven inadequate at times to address site‐specific, complex, and value‐laden challenges involved in environmentally sound, sustainable production. Farmer participatory research generates locally relevant solutions and adaptation capacity, both of which are important for minimizing environmental harm from agriculture (Grabowski et al, 2018). Sustainable agriculture technologies such as conservation tillage and integrated organic and inorganic nutrient management often face steep barriers to adoption, such as the need for specialized knowledge, capital, and labor requirements and the potential for reduced crop yield, at least in the short term (Kassie et al, 2015; Wade et al, 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Farmer Participatory Research Advances Sustainable Agriculture: Lessons from Michigan and Malawi

2019

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Sustainable production for field crops has proved to be a challenging proposition. Farmer participatory research (FPR) is an important approach to help ensure relevance and define locally adapted solutions for enhanced adoption of sustainable agriculture (SA) technologies. The mother and baby trial (MBT) design has proved effective as a FPR approach to address challenges on smallholder farms. The MBT systematically links long‐term “mother” trials, where slow and erratic processes can be monitored, to “baby” trials led by farmers to capture a wide range of farm practices and environmental contexts. Communication and learning is facilitated through MBTs as well. This distributed FPR approach documents the performance of technologies in diverse contexts and provides multiple opportunities for joint planning, observation, and reflection. We describe two MBT case studies, one within a developing country context (Malawi) and the other representing a novel application of MBT within an intensive agriculture context (Michigan). To explore tradeoffs in SA performance, multiple domains (productivity, environmental, and economic) are presented via radar charts as a visualization tool. In both FPR experiences, farmer perspectives and a wide range of practices were revealed. In Malawi, a mesic site was associated with steep SA tradeoffs compared with a marginal site. In Michigan, diversity in tillage practices, field crop performance, and soil health were found to be conditioned by the environment. Overall, the MBT approach supported the development of SA technologies adapted to local conditions. Core Ideas Sustainable agricultural technologies are needed for environmental services. Agricultural learning communities support joint learning and on‐farm adoption. Case studies from Michigan and Malawi illustrate the mother and baby trial approach. Farmer participatory research enhances stakeholder communication and adaptations.

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Sustainable agricultural intensification and measuring the immeasurable

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

The 10 Elements of Agroecology: enabling transitions towards sustainable agriculture and food systems through visual narratives

The 10 Elements of Agroecology: enabling transitions towards sustainable agriculture and food systems through visual narratives

Improvement of smallholder farming systems in Africa

Farmer Participatory Research Advances Sustainable Agriculture: Lessons from Michigan and Malawi

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