Partnership AGROECOLOGY symposium on concepts and methods in agroecology transition research held in Brussels

13 December 2024 by Torsten Rødel Berg

AGRO, on November 21 and 22, together with the Thünen Institute and University of Liege organized a symposium with the title ‘Exploring methods for researching shifts in knowledge production for agroecology transition’. The European Commission’s Department for Agriculture and Rural development (DG-AGRI) as well as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) took part in the symposium, which saw 20 contributions from leading research institutions in 9 European countries. AGRO contributed with 4 speakers.

The symposium aimed to advance on the conceptual and methodological groundings that guide research and interventions for agroecology transition, including the partnership’s methodological toolbox. The focus on shifts in knowledge production for agroecology transition refers to a key proposition of Partnership AGROECOLOGY and related Horizon Europe agri-food missions and partnerships: that agroecology transition may be accelerated by means of co-created open innovation in living labs, with agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS) playing major roles. The proposition suggests the restructuring of centralized research models, into models where farmer’s and local communities’ roles as sources of knowledge are strengthened, something which potentially represents a paradigmatic shift in research.

Concepts and methods for research based on the recognition of farmers knowledge are already widely used. However, the addition of a ‘living labs, research infrastructures and AKIS in an agroecology transition context mix’ represents new levels of complexity, for which concepts and methods are only just emerging.