Organic Agroforestry Long-Term Field Experiment Designing Trough Actors’ Knowledge towards Food System Sustainability

Corrado Ciaccia, Elena Testani, Angelo Fiore, Ileana Iocola, Marta Di Pierro, Giuseppe Mele, Filippo Ferlito, Marcello Cutuli, Francesco Montemurro, Roberta Farina, Danilo Ceccarelli, Alessandro Persiani, Stefano Canali and Mariangela Diacono
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Corrado Ciaccia: Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 00184 Roma, Italy
Elena Testani: Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 00184 Roma, Italy
Angelo Fiore: Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 0125 Bari, Italy
Ileana Iocola: Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 00184 Roma, Italy
Marta Di Pierro: Italian Association of Organic Farmers—Lazio Branch (AIAB—Lazio), 00153 Rome, Italy
Giuseppe Mele: Agenzia Lucana di Sviluppo e di Innovazione in Agricoltura (ALSIA), 75100 Matera, Italy
Filippo Ferlito: Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops (CREA-OFA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 95124 Acireale, Italy
Marcello Cutuli: Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops (CREA-OFA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 95124 Acireale, Italy
Francesco Montemurro: Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 0125 Bari, Italy
Roberta Farina: Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 00184 Roma, Italy
Danilo Ceccarelli: Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops (CREA-OFA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 0134 Rome, Italy
Alessandro Persiani: Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 0125 Bari, Italy
Stefano Canali: Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 00184 Roma, Italy
Mariangela Diacono: Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA), Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 0125 Bari, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: The implementation of agroecology principles within organic farming research is a crux to redesign sustainable agri-food systems. To govern this transition, the local research demand should be addressed by direct engagement of all stakeholders in the research process. The first step is the involvement of farmers and technicians, with the aim of restoring their decision-making role, switching governance to local scale. The co-design/co-management of Long-Term Experiments (LTEs) can be crucial to govern the above-described transition through networking and participatory activities. In this study, we report the experience of co-designing a new LTE in Southern Italy by local actors and scientists. Through a participatory action research methodology, an LTE was considered as a biophysical component of an agroecological living lab, a public–private environment aimed to design a local food system. The setup of parallel field trials in satellite farms stands for the other biophysical component, whereas the stakeholder platform represents the social one. Through definition of common objectives, a step-by-step process is presented, which highlights the interest of local organic actors to share ideas and perspectives for the territory, pointing out the inclusion of end-users (the consumers) in the process to complete the transition to sustainable food systems.

Keywords: living lab; participatory action research; agroecology; organic agriculture; system redesign; long-term experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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