How do you bring farmers, researchers, advisors, policymakers and value chain partners together to truly rethink farming? And what happens when farmers’ experimentation in their own fields is encouraged and supported, so that they can pursue their own questions, with their own crops and challenges, in consultation with researchers and other stakeholders? The new Learning Histories from the SIMONE project will investigate answers. They show not only what is being tested, but also how collaboration emerges, what works, and which insights it generates.
Six histories take a closer look at 6 Living Labs in France, Wallonia, West Flanders, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany. Each year, they will tell the story of how a Living Lab is built and grows, from initiating collaborative on‑farm experiments to nurturing the dynamics between participants:
- Who is involved – From farmers and advisors to research institutes, cooperatives, local authorities and value chain partners. Some networks are new, others build on long‑standing relationships.
- How their network is structured – Each Living Lab forms a new ecosystem within others: sometimes broad, connecting several institutions and organisations, sometimes smaller and strongly anchored in local groups and businesses
- Which On‑Farm Experiments are being carried out, what practices are tested and with what designs and technologies
- The local context – Soil types, climate, cropping systems and regional priorities that shape questions
- Which dynamics emerge – What are the motivations of participants? Do farmers find it worthwhile to invest time in these collaborations? What role do advisors play? How is knowledge shared? What works well, and where are limits?
- Which next steps are needed
The first pages of the Learning Histories focus on the Living Labs’ creation: their network, their context, the on-farm experiments, and key features surrounding their first years of existence.
Already, the documents show how different the Living Labs are even if they are connected by the same ambition of accelerating the transition to agroecological farming through local, applied, collaborative experimentation. As the Living Labs grow, the Learning Histories will make visible what works and where pitfalls lie, to reveal the reality behind co-creation. The objective is to share these insights across regions and countries, to accelerate learning for all concerned by the agroecological transition.
The Learning Histories are an inspiration for anyone working with Living Labs, co‑creation or on‑farm experimentation: researchers, policymakers, advisors and farmers alike. They show that change does not arise from new techniques or technologies alone, but from collaboration, learning in practice, and reflecting on what was learnt.