Organic farming is recognized as one source for innovation helping agriculture to develop sustainably. However, the understanding of innovation in agriculture is characterized by technical optimism, relying mainly on new inputs and technologies originating from research. The paper uses the alternative framework of innovation systems describing innovation as the outcome of stakeholder interaction and examples from the SOLID (Sustainable Organic Low-Input Dairying) project to discuss the role of farmers, researchers and knowledge exchange for innovation.
According to the literature on regime transition, niches are sources of innovation that may lead to the transformation of the dominant regime, if processes at other level of the system – the landscape and the mainstream regime - are supportive. A focus on actors involved in the transition process and the analysis of their specific role in knowledge networks can help assessing the robustness of a specific niche and its growth potential. Knowledge systems, and in particular the dynamics of local and expert knowledge, have in fact a key role in innovation models.
By referring to the developments of transition theories, this paper analyse the innovation pathways involving the wheat-bread value chain in Tuscany (Italy). The analysis sheds light on the relevance of the nature of social innovation carried out by grassroots initiatives in their pursuing radical change aimed at deeply redefining production-consumption practices through social interaction, to meet socially shared needs and achieving several social benefits.
The EU rural development policy has addressed challenges related to climate change in agriculture by introducing public voluntary schemes, which financially support the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. Several factors, most of which are non-financial ones, drive adoption and continuation of these schemes by farmers. Despite the importance of these factors, only a few studies explore their role in the European context. This paper contributes to filling this gap from a twofold perspective.
The research programme URBAL (Urban-driven Innovations for Sustainable Food Systems) (2018–2020), funded by Agropolis Fondation (France), Fondation Daniel & Nina Carasso (France/Spain), and Fundazione Cariplo (Italy), and coordinated by CIRAD (France) and the Laurier Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada), seeks to build and test a participatory methodology to identify and map the impact pathways of urban-driven innovations on all the dimensions of food systems sustainability.
Innovation is considered as one of the key drivers for a competitive and sustainable agriculture and the European Commission highlights the importance of tailoring innovation support to farmers’ needs, especially in European Rural Development Policy (reg EU 1305/2013). The scientific literature offers a wide panorama of tools and methods for the analysis of innovation in agriculture but the lack of data on the state of innovation in the farms hampers such studies. A possibility to partially overcome this limit is the use of data collected by the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN).
The European small ruminants (i.e. sheep and goats) farming sector (ESRS) provides economic, social and environmental benefits to society, but is also one of the most vulnerable livestock sectors in Europe. This sector has diverse livestock species, breeds, production systems and products, which makes difficult to have a clear vision of its challenges through using conventional analyses. A multi-stakeholder and multi-step approach, including 90 surveys, was used to identify and assess the main challenges for the sustainability of the ESRS to prioritize actions.
En esta investigación, realizada en el Programa Académico de Administración de Empresas Agropecuarias de la Universidad De La Salle, se confirma que la incorporación de técnicas pedagógicas de creatividad e innovación contribuye a generar una mejor formulación de proyectos relacionados con emprendimiento. Se deduce que no basta con disponer del acervo básico sobre técnicas de creatividad y de innovación sino que se hace necesario un desarrollo permanente, para reforzar el avance de los proyectos.
El objetivo de ese estudio fue identificar y analizar características relacionadas con procesos de gestión de la innovación tecnológica en doce microempresas chihuahuenses (México). Los resultados revelan que las microempresas objeto de estudio presentan las características que la literatura considera clave para la innovación; sin embargo, sus calificaciones resultan inferiores a evaluaciones aplicadas a pequeñas y medianas empresas.
Este articulo describe un estudio de caso de desarrollo de capacidades enfocado en el desarrollo rural en Sonora México. Se llevó a cabo un diagnóstico en el Distrito de Desarrollo Rural 142 Ures con la finalidad de detectar diversos problemas entre diferentes productores habiendo encontrado que el sistema producto predominante dentro del sector bovino para la región era la producción de leche fresca y sus subproductos como queso cocido y regional.