On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture

Myrtille Lacoste^{1

2}, Simon Cook^{3

4}, Matthew McNee⁵, Danielle Gale³, Julie Ingram⁶, Véronique Bellon-Maurel^{7

8}, Tom MacMillan⁹, Roger Sylvester-Bradley¹⁰, Daniel Kindred¹⁰, Rob Bramley¹¹, Nicolas Tremblay¹², Louis Longchamps¹³, Laura Thompson¹⁴, Julie Ruiz¹⁵, Fernando Oscar García^{16

17}, Bruce Maxwell¹⁸, Terry Griffin¹⁹, Thomas Oberthür^{20

21}, Christian Huyghe²², Weifeng Zhang²³, John McNamara²⁴, Andrew Hall²⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Digital Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. myrtille.lacoste.ag@gmail.com.
² Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK'IT), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France. myrtille.lacoste.ag@gmail.com.
³ Centre for Digital Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Digital Agriculture, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵ Department of Agriculture, Falkland Islands Government, Stanley, Falkland Islands.
⁶ Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK.
⁷ Technologies and methods for the agricultures of tomorrow (ITAP), University of Montpellier-National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE)-L'Institut Agro, Montpellier, France.
⁸ Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab (#DigitAg), National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Montpellier, France.
⁹ Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, UK.
¹⁰ ADAS, Cambridge, UK.
¹¹ Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
¹² Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada.
¹³ School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
¹⁴ Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Falls City, NE, USA.
¹⁵ Watershed and Aquatic Ecosystem Interactions Research Centre (RIVE), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada.
¹⁶ Latin America Southern Cone Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹⁷ Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, National University of Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Argentina.
¹⁸ Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
²⁰ Southeast Asia Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Penang, Malaysia.
²¹ Business and Partnership Development, African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), Benguérir, Morocco.
²² Scientific Direction of Agriculture, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Paris, France.
²³ College of Resources and Environmental Sciences and National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
²⁴ National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Pullman, WA, USA.
²⁵ Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

PMID: 37118482
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-021-00424-4

Review

On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture

Myrtille Lacoste et al. Nat Food. 2022 Jan.

. 2022 Jan;3(1):11-18.

doi: 10.1038/s43016-021-00424-4. Epub 2021 Dec 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Digital Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. myrtille.lacoste.ag@gmail.com.
² Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK'IT), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France. myrtille.lacoste.ag@gmail.com.
³ Centre for Digital Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Digital Agriculture, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵ Department of Agriculture, Falkland Islands Government, Stanley, Falkland Islands.
⁶ Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK.
⁷ Technologies and methods for the agricultures of tomorrow (ITAP), University of Montpellier-National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE)-L'Institut Agro, Montpellier, France.
⁸ Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab (#DigitAg), National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Montpellier, France.
⁹ Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, UK.
¹⁰ ADAS, Cambridge, UK.
¹¹ Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
¹² Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada.
¹³ School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
¹⁴ Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Falls City, NE, USA.
¹⁵ Watershed and Aquatic Ecosystem Interactions Research Centre (RIVE), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada.
¹⁶ Latin America Southern Cone Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹⁷ Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, National University of Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Argentina.
¹⁸ Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
²⁰ Southeast Asia Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Penang, Malaysia.
²¹ Business and Partnership Development, African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), Benguérir, Morocco.
²² Scientific Direction of Agriculture, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Paris, France.
²³ College of Resources and Environmental Sciences and National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
²⁴ National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Pullman, WA, USA.
²⁵ Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

PMID: 37118482
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-021-00424-4

Abstract

Restructuring farmer-researcher relationships and addressing complexity and uncertainty through joint exploration are at the heart of On-Farm Experimentation (OFE). OFE describes new approaches to agricultural research and innovation that are embedded in real-world farm management, and reflects new demands for decentralized and inclusive research that bridges sources of knowledge and fosters open innovation. Here we propose that OFE research could help to transform agriculture globally. We highlight the role of digitalization, which motivates and enables OFE by dramatically increasing scales and complexity when investigating agricultural challenges.

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References

1. Whitfield, S., Challinor, A. J. & Rees, R. M. Frontiers in climate smart food systems: outlining the research space. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 2, https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2018.00002 (2018).
1. Scoones, I. & Thompson, J. (eds) Farmer First Revisited: Innovation for Agricultural Research and Development 1st edn (Practical Action Publishing, 2009).
1. Stone, G. D. Towards a general theory of agricultural knowledge production: environmental, social, and didactic learning. Cult. Agric. Food Environ. 38, 5–17 (2016).
1. Hansson, S. O. Farmers’ experiments and scientific methodology. Euro. J. Phil. Sci. 9, 32 (2019).
1. Maat, H. & Glover, D. in Contested Agronomy: Agricultural Research in a Changing World (eds Sumberg, J. & Thompson, J.) 131–145 (Routledge, 2012).

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On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture

Affiliations

On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

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LinkOut - more resources

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