Living lab, agroecology, transformation, stakeholders, sustainability, farming
Abstract :
[en] This perspective paper draws on insights from a 2024 symposium entitled ‘Exploring methods for researching shifts in knowledge production for agroecology transition’. The symposium critically examined emerging conceptual and methodological challenges arising from combining agroecology with living labs and research infrastructures as key instruments promoted within EU policy to strengthen Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS). Through presentations, group discussions, and iterative reflections, we identified four key tensions: structural constraints limiting farmers’ agency within living lab approaches, the problematic nature of AKIS as supposedly neutral frameworks, the oversimplification of transition frameworks as linear rather than overlapping categories, and risks of definitional dilution or cooptation. We then demonstrate that these tensions are not unique to agroecology, bridging the concepts and methods within agroecology research with those used in other fields of sustainable food system transition research, such as transdisciplinary research and sustainable transitions. This conceptual mapping of shared tensions reveals opportunities for mutual learning. Bridging these fields would help create clarity at the conceptual and methodological levels, ultimately strengthening the theoretical foundations and enabling more nuanced approaches to food system transition research.
Disciplines :
Agriculture & agronomy Life sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others Sociology & social sciences Social & behavioral sciences, psychology: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Averbuch, Bonnie; Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University
Stone, Tiffanie; Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University
Sandén, Taru; Department for Soil Health and Plant Nutrition, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES)
Schwarz, Gerald; Thünen Institute of Farm Economics
Thorsøe, Martin Hvarregaard; Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University
Bindelle, Jérôme ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Animal Sciences (AS)
Boeraeve, Fanny ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Plant Sciences
Cassart, Pauline ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Plant Sciences ; Sustainability, Systems and Prospectives Department, Walloon Agricultural Research Centre
Dalgaard, Tommy; Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University
Dumont, Benjamin ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Plant Sciences
Herrera, Beatriz; Department of Communication and Advisory Services in Rural Areas
Kambashi, Bienvenu; TERRA Teaching and Research Center, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege
Karikallio, Hanna-Maija; Luonnonvarakeskus
Knierim, Andrea; Department of Communication and Advisory Services in Rural Areas
Koutsouris, Alex; Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development
Kozar, Raffaela; Leibniz-Zentrum fur Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e V
Lagneaux, Séverine; Sustainability, Systems and Prospectives Department, Walloon Agricultural Research Centre
Lahnamäki-Kivelä, Susanna; Luonnonvarakeskus
Leitheiser, Stephen; Farming Systems Ecology Group
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