“Empowering everyone to innovate”, Sharing vision(s) and practices of how to achieve it through collaboratories. : Workshop

International audienc

Multi-scale modelling as a tool for sharing the perspectives of researchers, practitioners and farmers on beneficial management practices to be adopted in an intensive agricultural watershed

International audienceCanadian agricultural production systems are facing issues related to maintaining high crop yields and profitability while adopting beneficial management practices (BMPs) that mitigate their impact on the health of the environment. Since 2014, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) has been collaborating on the development of an open innovation platform, namely the “L'Acadie-Lab” living laboratory, initiated by an interactive community of farmers, practitioners and researchers to increase the adoption of BMPs in the L'Acadie River watershed, in southern Quebec' Canada. So far, workshops were held featuring farmers, practitioners, scientists and other stakeholders. These workshops have revealed a disconnect between farmers’ expectations and research organisations' ability to provide a consistent array of practices and knowledge. To get new knowledge and technology adopted, consistent choices between various practices that interact on a range of spatial and temporal scales have to be proposed to the users and the economic and ecosystem benefits have to be demonstrated. In response to these issues, the authors propose the development and use of a participatory modelling approach as a tool for sharing the perspectives of researchers, practitioners and farmers on innovative practices to be adopted. The approach links the knowledge of researchers and certain modelling tools at the plot level or the farm level with ecosystem services simulation models at the landscape level to produce quantitative or semi-quantitative results. Farmers and advisors will play a special role in defining the scenarios to be simulated to ensure that their situations and concerns are reflected and to increase the commitment to innovation