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On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture

Nature Food volume 3, pages 11–18 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Restructuring farmer–researcher relationships and addressing complexity and uncertainty through joint exploration are at the heart of On-Farm Experimentation (OFE). OFE describes new approaches to agricultural research and innovation that are embedded in real-world farm management, and reflects new demands for decentralized and inclusive research that bridges sources of knowledge and fosters open innovation. Here we propose that OFE research could help to transform agriculture globally. We highlight the role of digitalization, which motivates and enables OFE by dramatically increasing scales and complexity when investigating agricultural challenges.

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Fig. 1: The OFE process.
Fig. 2: OFE designs to capture field-scale variations.
Fig. 3: Examples of OFE initiatives connecting across the world.
Fig. 4: OFE scientific directions.

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Data availability

The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information (sources of Figs. 1–3).

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Premier’s Agriculture and Food Fellowship Program of Western Australia. This Fellowship is a collaboration between Curtin and Murdoch Universities and the State Government. The Fellowship is the centrepiece of the Science and Agribusiness Connect initiative, made possible by the State Government’s Royalties for Regions program. Additional support was provided by the MAK’IT-FIAS Fellowship programme (Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions – French Institutes for Advanced Study) co-funded by the University of Montpellier and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (co-fund grant agreement no. 945408), the Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab #DigitAg (grant no. ANR-16-CONV-0004) supported by ANR/PIA, and the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust. Contributions toward enabling workshops were made by the USDA (USDA AFRI FACT Los Angeles 2017), the International Society for Precision Agriculture (ICPA Montreal 2018 OFE-C, On-Farm Experimentation Community), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0201303) and ADAS (Cambridge 2018), the European Conference for Precision Agriculture (ECPA Montpellier 2019) and the OECD Co-operative Research Program for ‘Biological resource management for sustainable agricultural systems – Transformational technologies and innovation’ towards ‘#OFE2021, the first Conference on farmer-centric On-Farm Experimentation – Digital Tools for a Scalable Transformative Pathway’. L. Tresh assisted with the design and preparation of Figs. 2 and 3. Members of the #OFE2021 Working Groups also contributed their experiences and insights.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Digital Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    Myrtille Lacoste, Simon Cook & Danielle Gale

  2. Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK’IT), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Myrtille Lacoste

  3. Centre for Digital Agriculture, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    Simon Cook

  4. Department of Agriculture, Falkland Islands Government, Stanley, Falkland Islands

    Matthew McNee

  5. Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK

    Julie Ingram

  6. Technologies and methods for the agricultures of tomorrow (ITAP), University of Montpellier–National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE)–L’Institut Agro, Montpellier, France

    Véronique Bellon-Maurel

  7. Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab (#DigitAg), National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Montpellier, France

    Véronique Bellon-Maurel

  8. Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, UK

    Tom MacMillan

  9. ADAS, Cambridge, UK

    Roger Sylvester-Bradley & Daniel Kindred

  10. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Rob Bramley

  11. Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada

    Nicolas Tremblay

  12. School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Louis Longchamps

  13. Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Falls City, NE, USA

    Laura Thompson

  14. Watershed and Aquatic Ecosystem Interactions Research Centre (RIVE), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada

    Julie Ruiz

  15. Latin America Southern Cone Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Fernando Oscar García

  16. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, National University of Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Argentina

    Fernando Oscar García

  17. Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA

    Bruce Maxwell

  18. Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

    Terry Griffin

  19. Southeast Asia Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Penang, Malaysia

    Thomas Oberthür

  20. Business and Partnership Development, African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), Benguérir, Morocco

    Thomas Oberthür

  21. Scientific Direction of Agriculture, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Paris, France

    Christian Huyghe

  22. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences and National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Weifeng Zhang

  23. National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Pullman, WA, USA

    John McNamara

  24. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Andrew Hall

Authors
  1. Myrtille Lacoste
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  20. Weifeng Zhang
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Contributions

M.L. and S.C. developed the study concept. M.M., D.G., J.I., V.B.-M., T.M., R.S.-B. and A.H. contributed additional concept development. M.L. and D.G. obtained the data and prepared the results. M.L., M.M., L.T., D.K., F.O.G., B.M., V.B.-M., J.R., C.H. and W.Z. contributed data. M.L. wrote the manuscript with input from all other authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Myrtille Lacoste.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Food thanks Carol Shennan, Petro Kyveryga, Nicolas Martin and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Lacoste, M., Cook, S., McNee, M. et al. On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture. Nat Food 3, 11–18 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00424-4

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