The role of citizen science in addressing grand challenges in food and agriculture research

Abstract

The power of citizen science to contribute to both science and society is gaining increased recognition, particularly in physics and biology. Although there is a long history of public engagement in agriculture and food science, the term ‘citizen science’ has rarely been applied to these efforts. Similarly, in the emerging field of citizen science, most new citizen science projects do not focus on food or agriculture. Here, we convened thought leaders from a broad range of fields related to citizen science, agriculture, and food science to highlight key opportunities for bridging these overlapping yet disconnected communities/fields and identify ways to leverage their respective strengths. Specifically, we show that (i) citizen science projects are addressing many grand challenges facing our food systems, as outlined by the United States National Institute of Food and Agriculture, as well as broader Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations Development Programme, (ii) there exist emerging opportunities and unique challenges for citizen science in agriculture/food research, and (iii) the greatest opportunities for the development of citizen science projects in agriculture and food science will be gained by using the existing infrastructure and tools of Extension programmes and through the engagement of urban communities. Further, we argue there is no better time to foster greater collaboration between these fields given the trend of shrinking Extension programmes, the increasing need to apply innovative solutions to address rising demands on agricultural systems, and the exponential growth of the field of citizen science.

Citizen science in developing countries: how to improve volunteer participation

“…; Ryan et al . ). Our study focused on a large‐scale citizen‐science program in Argentina; as of now, such studies are a rarity in the Southern Hemisphere (Figure ).…”

“…Citizen science can improve data collection for research and consequently can deliver social, economic, and ecological benefits (Conrad and Hilchey 2011; Theobald et al 2015;Ryan et al 2018). Our study focused on a large-scale citizenscience program in Argentina; as of now, such studies are a rarity in the Southern Hemisphere (Figure 1).…”

“…; Ryan et al . ). Citizen science may also spur innovation through the exchange of ideas, information, and inspiration (Herrick et al .…”

From intent to implementation: Factors affecting public involvement in life science research

“…In the total valid response cohort of 110 researchers, 23 different areas of the life sciences were identified as primary research areas ( figure 1A); with a median of 5 respondents per research area (range [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Respondents were overwhelmingly laboratory-based at a university or research institute (n=99 (90.8%); Fig 1B).…”

“…Across the life sciences, narrowing the gap between research production and research use is a key challenge. There is increasing evidence that public involvement and stakeholder engagement is key to achieving impact and true provision and use of scientific knowledge for the benefit of society [5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”