On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture

Lacoste M 1 , Cook S 2 , McNee M 3 , Gale D 2 , Ingram J 4 , Bellon-Maurel V 5 Show all authors , MacMillan T 6 , Sylvester-Bradley R 7 , Kindred D 7 , Bramley R 8 , Tremblay N 9 , Longchamps L 10 , Thompson L 11 , Ruiz J 12 , García FO 13 , Maxwell B 14 , Griffin T 15 , Oberthür T 16 , Huyghe C 17 , Zhang W 18 , McNamara J 19 , Hall A 20

Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre for Digital Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. myrtille.lacoste.ag@gmail.com
  • 2 Centre for Digital Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 3 Department of Agriculture, Falkland Islands Government, Stanley, Falkland Islands
  • 4 Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK
  • 5 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
  • 6 Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, UK
  • 7 ADAS, Cambridge, UK
  • 8 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  • 9 Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada
  • 10 School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
  • 11 Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Falls City, NE, USA
  • 12 Watershed and Aquatic Ecosystem Interactions Research Centre (RIVE), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada
  • 13 Latin America Southern Cone Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 14 Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA
  • 15 Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
  • 16 Southeast Asia Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Penang, Malaysia
  • 17 Scientific Direction of Agriculture, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Paris, France
  • 18 College of Resources and Environmental Sciences and National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
  • 19 National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Pullman, WA, USA
  • 20 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Nat Food, 2022 Jan;3(1):11-18.
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.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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