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On-Farm Experimentation Community Info No. 12
Apr 19, 2021
On-Farm Experimentation Community (OFE-C) of the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA)
Farmers’ Experiments and Scientific Methodology
This study investigates methodological and philosophical issues pertaining to farmers’ experiments, including the choice of interventions to be tested, the planning of experiments, and the use of control fields and other means to deal with confounding factors. [Hansson, Sven Ove. 2019. “Farmers’ Experiments and Scientific Methodology.” European Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (3): 32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-019-0255-7.]
OFE: Experimental Approaches, Analytical Frameworks, Case Studies, and Impact
This open access 2019 special issue of Agronomy Journal 111(6): 2633–2768 is a must read. It contains papers that show how to improve data analyses and summarization of a large number of experiments containing similar treatments across years and locations.
The Farmers’ Perspective on Data Governance
Fragmented and unclear data governance arrangements may weaken farmers’ willingness to adopt digital solutions. This, in turn, may reduce the availability and accessibility of agricultural data for policymaking, for the agricultural innovation system, and for developing services for farmers. This OECD report focuses on farmers’ concerns around access, sharing and use of agricultural data and explores whether and how existing policy frameworks and other sectoral initiatives can help to foster greater trust. [Jouanjean, M., et al. (2020), “Issues around data governance in the digital transformation of agriculture: The farmers’ perspective,” OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers, n° 146, Éditions OCDE, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/53ecf2ab-en.]
Data Visualization and Analysis Tool for Synthetizing on‐farm Research Networks Data
ISOFAST simultaneously reports all trial results about the same management practice to simplify interpretation of multi‐sites and multi‐year summaries. [Laurent et al. 2021. Research Synthesis Methods 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/jrsm.1440.]
Farmer-Led Innovation Network in the UK
A Farmer-Led Innovation Network (FLIN) was established in October 2018 to share knowledge and experiences and provide a collective advocacy voice for farmers in the UK. The main aim is to understand, learn from and “power-up” farmer-led innovation initiatives and increase their economic, environmental and social impact across the industry.
Recordings of the #OFE2021 Webinar Series are Available
The four OFE2021 webinars recordings are now available at https://www.ispag.org/Events/OFE
- Value Creation. OFE creates value for varied stakeholders, value is shared, and scientific disciplines can contribute. May 10, 2021.
- People and Processes. People are the real key to digital transformation. Transformation occurs when individual changes scale up through their networks and their organizations. May 12, 2021.
- Data and Analytics. Appropriate procedures and well-targeted analytics can be deployed to exploit the valuable data and metadata collected on the farm. May 17, 2021.
- Policy Linkages. Currently, initiatives around OFE are happening in spite of funding mechanisms, career paths and norms favoring traditional experimentation. Harnessing the transformational potential of OFE for agricultural sciences and innovation requires more strategic institutional alignment. May 19, 2021.
Should you have something to share with the Community or the Community leaders, let us know here.