Using digital tools to support climate & agroecological transitions at scale

10 September 2024. Using digital tools to support climate & agroecological transitions at scale.

The workshop was held as part of the closing of the Inclusive Digital Tools (ATDT) Project, which looks at how digital resources can boost inclusivity and empower farmers to co-create sustainable practices.

The ATDT Project is part of the EU-supported Agroecological Transitions Program for Building Resilient & Inclusive Agricultural & Food Systems (TRANSITIONS), which advocates for climate and agroecological transitions by investigating holistic metrics; exploring public-private incentives and innovative pathways for sustainable practices, and developing digital tool innovations.

The Agroecological TRANSITIONS program, supported by the EU, advocates for climate and agroecological transitions by addressing several challenges.

The program has three projects: investigating holistic metrics to assess food and agricultural systems and guide policy and investment decisions; exploring public-private incentives and innovative pathways for sustainable practices; and developing digital tool innovations to support farmers and extension practitioners assess performance.
TRANSITIONS’ Inclusive Digital Tools (ATDT) Project looks at how digital resources can boost inclusivity and empower farmers in co-creating sustainable practices. ATDT has evaluated digital resources for technical advice and performance assessment to understand how they support agroecological transition. Regional partners and teams have developed and tested digital tools to support agroecology in Vietnam for rice and in Brazil for livestock.
As the ATDT project comes to a close this year, the panel exchanged ideas with a wider group of organizations and stakeholders actively working with digital resources. Through this work and the parallel projects on metrics and public-private incentives, the TRANSITIONS projects aim to improve food security, minimize negative ecological impacts, and foster climate-informed agroecological transitions in LMICs.

The interactive workshop, discussed opportunities and challenges to scale climate and agroecological transitions using digital resources. The objective was to share knowledge and exchange ideas among leaders and experts in this area on the following topics:

Climate and agroecology indicators in digital tools
Principles for digital inclusion of smallholder farmers
Digital tool design for co-creation
Incentives and pathways to scale digital tools for climate & agroecological transitions

Presentations:

Facilitator: Sandhya Kumar Agroecology TPP Scientific Coordinator
Lini Wollenberg University of Vermont & The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT - Digital tools for an agroecological transition?
Violaine Laurens Regional Manager – Digital Solutions, Solidaridad Latinoamérica - Co-creating agroecology practices for livestock in Brazil: Solis
Trang Vu/Katie Nelson, IRRI - Vertically integrated digital performance assessment for the 1 Must Do 5 Reductions in Vietnam
Fancisco Hidalgo Socio-environmental researcher, Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT - Leveraging digital traceability tools for agroecology transitions
Mary Crossland Livelihood systems associate scientist, CIFOR-ICRAF - Metrics for holistic assessment in digital tools
Kyle Dittmer Research Analyst, Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT Principles for socially inclusive digital tools for smallholder farmers

Panel: Will this work? What will it take?

Facilitator: Sandhya Kumar Agroecology TPP Scientific Coordinator
Oliver Oliveros Coordinator, Agroecology Coalition
Alesha Miller Chief Strategy Officer, Digital Green
Christophe Larose European Commission - Concluding statements @1:27:56 video recording

Christophe referred to the final report
EC (2024) “Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture. Ashared prospect for farming and food in Europe” September 2024 (# 110 pp.)

This dialogue brought together 29 major stakeholders from the European agri-food sectors, civil society, rural communities and academia to reach a common understanding and vision for the future of EU's farming and food systems. These suggestions will guide the work of the European Commission when shaping its Vision for Agriculture and Food, to be delivered in the first 100 days of President von der Leyen's second mandate.

Members call for launching an EU-wide benchmarking system in agriculture and food systems aiming to harmonize methodologies of on-farm sustainability assessments. (page 10) ... An agricultural benchmarking system can be used to better leverage the potential of sustainability certification schemes.(page 39) ... The current lack of a standardized and harmonized methodology has led to a multitude of methods for assessing sustainability of farms and the agri-food sector. That causes inconsistencies and variations making it sometimes impossible to follow a clear way of improvement. (page 41)

Regarding the uptake of innovation and technology, the need for de risking investments in innovation is emphasised, including through risk-sharing mechanisms and financial incentives. (page 104)

The speakers highlighted:

how digital tools can support farmer agency and negotiate top-down and corporate influence in digital tool design
how digital tools can best serve farmer needs through co-creation of knowledge and avoiding the pitfalls of current digital tool business models driven by non-farmer interests
how aligning metrics, policy, incentives, and digital tools can help integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation into agroecological practices and technical advice.

Resources

A summary blog – covering key highlights from the event
A video recording, so you can relive the best moments from the event, in case you missed it

Presentation slides on:

Wednesday, September 11, 2024