Impact as encounter:Research and agrarian

culturesTodd A. Cranetodd.crane@wur.nl Knowledge, Technology and Innovation

Achieving Impact

Outline Introduction Conceptual clarifications Examples of encounter between research and

practice Concluding remarks

Conceptual clarifications

Impact

Culture Behaviors and technologies (material) Social organization (institutional) Knowledge, beliefs and values (ideational)

Marka Maintain extensive

agriculture Intensify pastoralism ↑ local authority

Fulani Maintain extensive

pastoralism Intensify agriculture ↑ national authority

Rural Development Goals

(Crane 2010)

Co-production of Knowledge?

Micro-politics and soil fertility trials Cow manure applications

• 2t/year• 5t/3years

Co-production of Knowledge?

Micro-politics and soil fertility trials Goat and sheep manure?

• Goats and sheep integral part of HH economies• Farmers’ LK values goat and sheep manure highly

Why only cow manure?• Presumed ↑ availability of cow manure• Scientists’ access to standardized supply• Publishability of rigorous results• Political objective of program

Led to comparative trials Validating local knowledge Illustrating ↑ diversity of options

Co-production of Knowledge? Rotational grazing

Individual animals Entire herds Rehabilitation of grassland Intensify production

4 5

21 3

6

1 2 3 4 5 6

(Crane 2009, Crane submitted)

ENSO-based forecasts and Ag. Risk Mgmt.

El Niño La Niña

Facilitating Use of ENSO-based DSS

Enable users to evaluate forecasts Publish forecast history Publish forecast performance records Explain probability upfront

Integrate users’ feedback Content Form Medium

http://agroclimate.org/

(Crane et al. 2010)

Tradeoffs in climate adaptation

Seasonal forecasts and agric. planning in Indonesia Is information the main constraint?

(Siregar and Crane 2011)

Action Research

Convergence of Sciences – Strengthening Innovation Systems (http://www.cos-sis.org/) Benin, Ghana, Mali Simultaneous on farm-innovation AND

institutional change• Undirected change• Avoiding preset indicators• Not modeled, but practiced

Change as self-organization

Farmers’ practice as Dynamic Heterogenous Complex

Science Policy

Development 3.0 ?

SciencePolicy

Practice

Leeuwis, Sherwood and Crane 2012

Concluding Remarks on Achieving Impact Tradeoffs, thus “impacts”, are inherently political

Change is too complex to plan or predict perfectly, it is emergent from practice and relationships Impact requires stepping outside of systems

perspectives Achieving impact is a process, not a goal

Avoid pre-defined targets (and indicators)

Research on research

References Crane, T. A. 2009. "If farmers are first, do pastoralists come second? Political ecology and

participation in central Mali," in Farmer First Revisited: Innovation for Agricultural Research and Development. Edited by I. Scoones and J. Thompson, pp. 88-91. Bourton on Dunsmore, UK: Practical Action Publishing.

—. 2010. Of models and meanings: Cultural resilience in socio-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 15:19.

—. submitted. Participatory technology development as cultural encounter between farmers and researchers: Bringing science and technology studies into agricultural anthropology. Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Crane, T. A., C. Roncoli, and G. Hoogenboom. 2011. Adaptation to climate change and climate variability: The importance of understanding agriculture as performance. NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 57:179-185.

Crane, T. A., C. Roncoli, J. Paz, N. E. Breuer, K. Broad, K. T. Ingram, and G. Hoogenboom. 2010. Forecast skill and farmers' skills: Seasonal climate forecasts and risk management among Georgia (U.S.) farmers. Weather, Climate and Society 2:44-59.

Röling, N., D. Hounkonnou, D. Kossou, T. W. Kuyper, S. Nederlof, O. Sakyi-Dawson, M. Traoré, and A. van Huis. 2012. Diagnosing the scope for innovation: Linking smallholder practices and institutional context: Introduction to the special issue. NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 60–63:1-6.

Sherwood, S., C. Leeuwis, and T. A. Crane. 2012. Development 3.0: Development practice in transition. Farming Matters 12:40-41.

Siregar, P. R., and T. A. Crane. 2011. Climate Information and Agricultural Practice in Adaptation to Climate Variability: The Case of Climate Field Schools in Indramayu, Indonesia. Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment 33:55-69.

Questions and comments?

© Wageningen UR

Knowledge frames

(Rickards et al. 2012)

Quantum physics ?

Is light a particle or a wave? Yes, depending on

what tools you use to analyse it.

Systems is just one analytical approach

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v437/n7059/full/nature04040.html

Farmer Back to Farmer

Rhoades RE, Booth RH (1982) Farmer-back-to-farmer: A model for generating acceptable agricultural technology. Agricultural Administration 11:127-137.