Farm advisors play a key role in integrating crop-livestock at the farm level: perceptions and experiences in Brazil and France

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) can foster agroecological transitions. However, knowledge on how extension services influence such systems is still lacking. The manuscript analyzes ICLS advisors’ perceptions of the conditions toward recoupling crops and livestock at the farm level.

Methodology/Approach

We conducted and analyzed 20 semi-structured interviews with advisors and project managers currently working with ICLS in Brazil and France.

Findings

The results revealed the following advisors’ activities undertaken to support recoupling crop and livestock systems: i) gathering ICLS knowledge by building a network as a knowledge source, along with mobilizing and combining tools and skills, ii) communicating and facilitating arrangements between farmers and farmers´ groups, iii) supporting ICLS co-design by assisting farmers in setting goals and plans, and iv) assisting on-farm transitions by supporting implementation and monitoring.

Practical implications

This research highlights the key role of advisors in the transition toward the recoupling of crops and livestock at the farm level. ICLS advising could be improved and simplified with better-adapted tools, training to acquire knowledge, and skills specific to the ICLS context.

Theoretical implications

Systemic thinking, facilitation, communication, and mobilizing a broad network to exchange knowledge are key requirements for advising complex systems such as ICLS. This is a typical case of a ‘knowledge brokering’ approach in which advisors engage in systemic facilitation to encourage innovation adoption.

Originality

Our analysis provides promising insights into the specific advisor experiences in the transition towards adopting agroecological approaches, such as ICLS. This research opens avenues for future research to encourage ICLS adoption.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Extension services
• Knowledge brokering
• Mixed farming systems
• Rural development
• Sustainable transition
• ICLS adoption

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all people who took the time to participate in the interviews. We thank Benoit Garcia, Jenifer Ramos, and Gilnei Copini for their help with the transcripts of the interviews. We thank the artist Maria de Lurdes Flores Fernandes for helping to illustrate this research. We thank Dr. J.D. Wulfhorst for his correction of the English language of this article. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for helpful suggestions on this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel/CAPES: [Brazilian-French collaboration Project 886/2017].

Notes on contributors

Fernanda Gomes Moojen

Fernanda Gomes Moojen holds a doctoral degree in Animal Science from the University of Rio Grande do Sul. She is part of the Aliança SIPA and the Long-term Agroecosystem Research Network. Her research in agronomy and agroecology focuses on integrated crop-livestock systems.

Myriam Grillot

Myriam Grillot is a researcher in agroecology at AGIR's lab, INRAE (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment). Her research in agronomy and agroecology focuses on the reconfiguration of livestock systems in the agri-food transition, development of crop-livestock integration and promoting circular biomass flows.

Paulo César de Faccio Carvalho

Paulo César de Faccio Carvalho is a full professor at the Department of Forage Plants and Agrometeorology at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, director of the Aliança SIPA and President of the Brazilian Society of Integrated Crop-livestock Systems. His research in agronomy-animal science and agroecology focuses on the sustainable intensification of pastoral ecosystems, whether natural, cultivated or integrated with crops.

Julie Ryschawy

Julie Ryschawy is a researcher in agroecology at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment and a professor at L'Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse. Her research in agronomy and agroecology focuses on developing co-design methods to favor crop-livestock integration beyond the farm level, within farmer collectives.