Living Labs: Paving the way for practical, farmer-led solutions

By: Georgina Smith

Food is a common thread linking all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. But when economic, social and environmental factors are considered, reducing emissions in food systems can be a complex, undertaking to attain these global targets 

But there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to reducing emissions in farming. Different farmers have differing practices and challenges; social networks; partners or organizations; work within complex governing arrangements or enabling environments; and on varied geographic terrains. But over time, researchers working with farmers to improve production and now reduce emissions have made the following important realization.  

Praveen Kumar, an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Boston College, explains: “Gone are the days when you create something in the lab, you bring it to the field, and farmers or communities would just take it and use it,” he explains. “When top-down interventions, and closed-ended, quantitative questionnaires, extract data from a farmer, and a sophisticated conclusion is drawn.” 

“This is not sustainable. Instead, co-creating solutions is more productive for everyone involved. And one of the key ingredients of co-creating solutions is to adopt a participatory way of working. We must understand what farmers really believe is important and who they listen to; take the opportunity to build on voices from the ground. Participatory approaches such as Net mapping and fuzzy cognitive mapping help us unpack this,” notes Kumar.  

Net mapping and fuzzy cognitive mapping  

To understanding complex social, economic, livelihood and behavioral or even technological systems that farmers operate in, these two tools – net mapping and fuzzy cognitive mapping – can help researchers to zoom in to understand certain behaviors, challenges and power dynamics. “First, we did a mapping exercise, to understand the connections among multiple community members and organizations. We wanted to understand how power, resources, intellectual capacity, flow between organizations and people,” Kumar says.   

“This highly specialized approach referred to as net mapping, enables us to identify key organizations that we may want to partner with, to realize our ultimate goal of low emissions development along with sustainable benefits to the farming communities.” Next comes another approach, called fuzzy cognitive mapping. “There are many different social systems interacting with each other, like social, economic or behavioral ­systems,” Kumar says. “It’s important to unpack these connections, to see where the barriers and enablers of change may arise. This helps us understand the key leverage points of the social system. These leverage points help us to intervene, and to advance development in low-emission food systems.”  

Balancing low-carbon practices with economic needs in China  

In Qingshan village, Zhejiang province in China, a Living Labs for People approach was tested among farmers and partners, to understand low-emission potential within food systems.  

The village of around 2,600 people, is mostly covered by bamboo forest, with the remainder used for rice, tea, and vegetable cultivation.  

A living lab was created, with the team renting a large piece of farmland to cultivate rice using nine different low-carbon technologies. A “smart house,” was also created, where zero-carbon approaches like installing solar power, were tested and designed into the house using recycled materials. Over the course of a year, carbon emissions and economic feasibility of each technology were measured, to prove that sustainable farming practices can be both environmentally friendly and affordable.  

“By working with diverse groups within the village—local farmers, migrant workers, government officials, and women— we wanted to understand their perceptions and barriers driving low-carbon practices,” explains Xinxin Wang, professor in the School of Economics of Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China. “By becoming active participants in the community, we tried to better understand local needs, to understand the role of the whole system.”  

Fuzzy cognitive mapping and net mapping tools were used to help uncover the community’s  mental models about low-carbon technologies, revealing their concerns about costs, effectiveness, and long-term benefits. For many farmers, the immediate financial pressures of feeding their families often outweigh the potential future benefits of adopting sustainable practices, thus providing us key food for thought: the perpetuating tangle between immediate benefits and long-term returns. Through workshops and interviews, the project allowed an inclusive dialogue, so that the community could express their ideas and concerns and build trust. 

Building on innovation in Nandi County, Kenya  

In the lush green hills of Nandi County, Kenya, these new tools have been tested with Kaimosi Agricultural Training Centre (KATC). Birgit Habermann, an expert on farmer-led innovation and learning for adaptation to climate change at the International Livestock Research institute, recalls the early days of the initiative.  

“The reality is that when we started this, none of us really knew what the Living Lab was,” she admits. “But now, many appreciate that it is not always us self-appointed experts bringing wisdom to the people. Our wisdom should be in listening and trying to understand the view of farmers and those implementing their farming practices in the field. This perspective emphasizes a fundamental shift in power dynamics, where local voices actively shape the innovations that emerge,” she explains.  

“If you focus on technologies, then there needs to be a supporting environment that enables those technologies to exist,” Habermann notes, underscoring the need to understand social dynamics within a community before any technology can thrive. “We shifted to find solutions among people, listening to local voices and supporting existing grassroots initiatives. The Living Lab was envisioned as a platform for scaling technologies and as a fertile ground for discovering and nurturing local ideas and solutions.” 

Kibet Walter, an agricultural economist with the International Livestock Research Institute, said that a collaborative process has had some novel results. “The success of what we are doing is anchored more on the process than the destination,” he notes. “By empowering stakeholders to drive the conversation and engage in knowledge exchange, they believe a more sustainable and impactful outcome is achievable. Everybody has valuable information to share.”  

As countries strive to meet their Sustainable Development Goals, progress cannot only be from the top down, but driven by communities themselves, for success. In the future, it is hoped that these tools and the living labs approach, can support local ownership as part of a more holistic model of progress.