Dogliotti, S.

Pombo, C.

Rossing, W.A.H.

Scarlato, M.

English

Wageningen Yield 

Co-Innovation as a strategy to 
develop sustainable farm 
systems in South Uruguay
Agro 2010, the XI  ESA Congress, Montpellier
Dogliotti, S.1, C. Pombo1, M. Scarlato1, W.A.H. Rossing2
1 Departamento de Producción Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Uruguay
2 Biological Farming Systems Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
Problem description
Decreasing 
vegetables 
prices
Decreasing 
Family 
Income
Decreasing 
soil quality
Increasing use 
of irrigation 
and inputs
Increasing 
production 
costs
Increasing 
prices of 
inputs
Increasing 
crop yields ?
Intensify and 
specialize the 
farm system

Background
Main problems of the “innovation system” in 
vegetable production:
? Problem identification and solution design by 
system components, isolated from their interactions 
and emergent properties.
? Economic context and Policy instruments 
promoted specialization, production scale increase 
and concentration of production and markets.
? Lack of adoption by farmers was seen as caused 
by both, weakness of the extension service and by a 
general lack of willingness to change by farmers.
Background
A model-based explorative study (Dogliotti et 
al., 2005; 2006) showed that was theoretically 
possible to increase family income while 
improving soil quality:
? Strategies proposed to improve sustainability:
?Lowering the area of vegetable crops
? Introducing long crop rotations with pastures
?Green manure and animal manure during the inter-crop 
periods
? Integrating beef-cattle production into the farm systems
? Farmers attitude and skills to strategic and tactical 
planning need to be improved
Main Hypotheses
Improving the sustainability of vegetable family farms 
in South Uruguay require:
? A change in the mode of thinking of farmers and extension 
agents from tactical/operational to strategic
? A systems approach towards sustainability assessment and 
whole farm re-design
? A social learning process with farmers, extension agents 
and researchers as main participants
? Monitoring and evaluation tools to allow continuous 
reflection on project progress and to guide adjustments in 
project goals and activities.
Objective
We aimed to contribute to the improvement of 
sustainability of vegetable farming systems in 
South Uruguay by linking quantitative 
systems approaches to participatory learning 
processes and  monitoring and evaluation 
tools with farmers, extension agents and 
researchers as participants.
(Complex) systems approach
Social learning settingDynamic project monitoring
Co-innovation
Methods
2005-2006: 6 pilot 
farms
2007-2010: 16 pilot 
farms
Farmers’ unions
Local government
 
MONTEVIDEO
CANELONES
RÍO DE LA PLATA
Sistemas de producción convencional
Sistemas de producción orgánica
Capitales departamentales
1. Selection of Pilot Farms
Methods
How is the system to be improved?
• On-farm survey: management system 
and production system
• Identification of farmers’ objectives
• Determination of critical points
• Selection of relevant sustainability 
indicators
What will be considered an improvement?
• Agreement between stakeholders on 
aims and targets for the design phase: 
drawing of a problem tree for each farm
2. Pilot Farms characterization and diagnosis
Massera et al, 2000
Methods
a. Fields layout, drainage and erosion control 
support measures
b. Cropping plan design:
• Selection of crops, animal production activities and target 
areas: production plan
• Evaluation of feasibility of the production plan according 
to agronomic rules and resource availability
• Allocation of crops to fields of the farm for a number of 
years according to agronomic rules
• Design of inter-crop activities and weed control measures
c. Evaluation of environmental impact and economic 
performance
d. Information management system
3. Design and ‘ex ante’ evaluation of alternative systems
Methods
• Periodic visits to pilot farms to monitor and advise 
implementation of the plan and for data recording.
4. Implementation and evaluation
5. Dissemination
• Field days in pilot farms with participant farmers, 
neighbors and technical advisers
Methods
Co-Innovation process steps, interactions among farmers and scientists 
and monitoring tools
Visits to each farm twice a month
RE-DESIGN RE-DESIGN
Initial
agreement
Agreement 
on 
diagnosis
results
Implementation support
and monitoring
Negotiation and
agreement at 
strategic level
Process
monitoring
MSC
Records and analysis of the
interaction process between
farmers and scientists
Reflection
workshop
Feedback 
of results
to farmers
Agreement 
on re-design:
Working plan
Adjustement
of the
working plan
Records and analysis of the
interaction process between
farmers and scientists
MSC
Reflection
workshop
DIAGNOSIS
IMPLEMENTATION AND 
EVALUATION
IMPLEMENTATION AND 
EVALUATION
PIPA 
workshop
Reflection
workshop
Results
1. Observed implementation of planned activities  
Planned improvements % adoption
Drainage and erosion control 83
Green manures 88
Chicken manure 100
Crop Rotation 75
Rotation with pastures 64
Area of Crops 100
Crop manag 93
Strategic weed control 81
Record sheets 44
Farm % adoption
1 50
2 20
3 94
4 88
5 100
6 100
7 72
8 78
9 89
10 78
11 94
12 86
13 88
14 100
15 44
16 75
Results
Evolution of labor productivity in constant pesos per year since the beginning 
of the project in five pilot farms starting intervention in 2005
2. Results from intervention in pilot farms
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
Year
L
a
b
o
r
 
p
r
o
d
u
c
t
i
v
i
t
y
 
(
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-
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)
Cecilia Guidobono Labarrere Rabelo Zunino
Results
Estimated soil erosion using RUSLE and EROSION 5.91 on pilot farms 
before the start of the project intervention and after implementation of farm 
plans.
2. Results from intervention in pilot farms
Soil and Farm Previous 
management
Improved 
management
Slope 
(%)
Tolerance 
limit
Typic Argiudoll - Olivieri 7.2 5 1 5
Typic Argiudoll - Labarrere 21.1 14.5 3 5
Typic Argiudoll - Cecilia 31.4 14.4 3 5
Typic Argiudoll - Labarrere 22.9 7.2 1.8 5
Typic Hapludert - Guidobono 13.1 7.3 3.5 7
Typic Hapludert - Rabelo 30.4 9.1 3.5 7
Typic Hapludert - Guidobono 4.0 3.7 3.2 7
Typic Hapludert - Rabelo 10.2 4.2 2.8 7
Erosion Rate (Mg ha-1 yr-1)
Results
Estimated soil organic matter balance using ROTSOM on pilot farms before 
the start of the project intervention and after implementation of farms plans.
2. Results from intervention in pilot farms
Soil and Farm Initial SOM 
(%)
Clay + silt 
(%)
Previous 
management
Current 
management
Cecilia - field 2 - Typical Argiudoll 1.90 73 29 423
Cecilia - field 4 - Typical Argiudoll 1.90 79 38 359
Labarrere - field 3 - Typical Argiudoll 2.07 67 -144 886
Cecilia - field 5 - Typical Hapludert 1.20 78 27 371
González - Typical Hapludert 2.10 73 83 434
González - Typical Argiudoll 2.30 72 351 421
Rate of change (kg ha-1 yr-1)
Results
3. Perception of significant changes by farmers  
In 2010 MSC interviews, all farmers identified clear
and positive changes in their farms. Main changes
identified were: soil management and quality (12 
farmers), strategic planning (10 farmers), the
relationship with the technical advisers (6 farmers) 
and the quality of their own work (6 farmers).
Thank you !!!


Co-Innovation as a strategy to develop sustainable farming systems in South Uruguay

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