Demo Fields: Transforming Agriculture Through Innovation, Technology and Knowledge

Innovative solutions, digitalization and new technologies play an important role in safeguarding the environment and improving the overall quality of life in the 21st century. To find out why are these aspects crucial for adapting the agricultural sector to climate change and how can farmers be empowered to implement new practices, read the interview with Dragan Terzic, PhD, professor at the Faculty of Agriculture in Krusevac and FAO Consultant for the project „Strengthening Disaster Resilience in Agriculture“.

Why are new technologies, knowledge and practices important for strengthening the resilience of agriculture to climate change?

Development cannot happen without knowledge, which must be generated and applied at the national and often local level. Adoption of sustainable practices by family-owned farms is a prerequisite for adapting to climate change. However, insufficient, or slow acceptance of new knowledge and innovative solutions in agriculture slows down the transition to more sustainable agriculture. An additional reason is that the adoption of climate-smart practices often requires collective action by farmers and cooperation between sectors, which contributes to the complexity of climate-smart interventions. There is already a significant amount of knowledge available in response to new challenges, but it is often not applied in practice.

What is slowing down the implementation of new practices and technology?

Analyzing the situation in our country, it can be said that there are numerous causes of insufficient acceptance of new technologies, from the fact that manufacturers are not familiar with some technologies to that they are not able to apply them, i.e. sometimes there is no suitable environment for the development and adoption of innovations needed by agricultural holdings. In a survey, conducted by FAO, farmers were asked to name three resources that would be most helpful for them to improve their business. The most common response was: resources for the acquisition of mechanization. Research suggests that insufficient technical equipment is a factor that often makes it difficult to apply new technologies and practices to farms. In addition to the technical component, manufacturers often do not have all the prerequisites for making decisions about investing in new and innovative solutions.

How can these processes be accelerated and what role do demo fields have?

The benefits of innovation are not always safe and clear, and it is not always certain that innovation is a better alternative compared to the previous practice. It often happens that the application of the same measure/innovation in different agroecological conditions (climate, soil, genetic potential of plants and animals) has different (positive or negative) financial effects on the farm. There is uncertainty about the consequences after adoption and the process of deciding on innovation is essentially the search and processing of information in which an individual wants to reduce uncertainty about the pros and cons of innovation.

In order to facilitate decision-making on the farm, it is necessary to create a favorable environment in which the decision-maker is able to create a process of recognizing, reviewing, assessing and comparing new and already existing solutions, leading to improvement. In this process, demonstration and pilot farms can play a significant role in diffusion of innovation, technology and knowledge and the dissemination of best practices. They play a major role in learning by observing or imitating the work of others and allow farmers to evaluate innovation/technology in conditions similar to their own and are an effective tool in the transfer of knowledge.

How can advisors and researchers contribute to the transfer of knowledge and how exactly do demo fields facilitate this process?

The advisory work is aimed at providing expert assistance, advice and recommendations and includes providing all relevant information related to the application of innovations and technologies. In order to further adopt these innovations, following the information that they exist, farmers need to look at all the attributes of the innovation and evaluate that innovation in conditions similar to their own. Just providing information and giving advice is often not enough for farmers to make the decision to invest in innovative technology or practice.

Precisely for all the above reasons through the FAO project "Strengthening Disaster Resilience in Agriculture” advisory services, secondary agricultural schools, associations and cooperatives will get equipment that will help them to easily demonstrate new technologies and practices and form demo fields on farms. In this way, a favorable environment will be created in which advisors will be able to form demo fields together with farmers. New conditions will be created for producers to see all the attributes of innovation, such as relative advantages, compatibility with their system and complexity. Equipment for easy experimentation will be available, and visibility for other producers in the field will be increased through schools in the field. Also, what is important is that farmers are the main source of information for other farmers and that their opinion and experience is often crucial for the further dissemination of innovation. Therefore, at the FAO project "Strengthening Disaster Resilience in Agriculture" within the innovation platforms – climate smart schools in the field, aims to demonstrate new approaches in agriculture that should contribute to the accelerated creation of critical mass in the adoption and dissemination of innovations, technologies, and knowledge.

What activities are being carried out when it comes to climate-smart schools in the field?

The schools in the field for farmers is an approach that was originally developed in 1989 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In recent years, this approach has evolved in the climate smart school in the field. It can best be described as a "school without walls", where farmers learn through observation and experimentation in their fields, which allows them to gain knowledge through experimental and participatory learning techniques about things that are important to them, through observation, group discussion, analysis, decision-making and action planning. Different methods such as demonstrations, field experiments, lectures, action research and discussions, are combined in a collective learning process. Regular meetings provide opportunities to see the results of changes in the farm over time.

What role does digitalization play in improved access to information when it comes to demo fields?

The new mobile "laboratories" enable rapid farm analysis and, together with other ICT technologies, provide the possibility of easier organization of participatory action research, faster identification of problems and easier cooperation in finding solutions. The new technology better connects farmers, advisors, researchers and other stakeholders and provides answers to how to improve existing practices and apply knowledge in a real-world environment. Also, they enable faster application of research results and easier linking of research and education, providing greater opportunities in organizing action and experimental learning. New ICT technologies enable easier and faster mobilization of knowledge.

What are the specific measures that can be taken at the local level, in the context of demo fields?

What is a climate-smart intervention in one area or economy does not have to be in another. We need solutions that are tailored to the conditions that manufacturers are in. Given the importance of land for carbon sequestration, but also infiltration and storage, the main focus of interventions and demonstrations of technologies and practices in demo fields is on the soil. Some of the specific objectives are: practices aimed at reducing physical, chemical and biological soil degradation, advanced irrigation practices (e.g. solar-powered irrigation systems), drainage and numerous advanced practices in plant and livestock production.

When and where are the fields going to be established?

During this year and next year, demo fields will be set up to show examples of more resilient and climate-smart agriculture. Within the project, demo fields will be set up in cooperation with local partners – agricultural advisory services, agricultural schools, agricultural associations and cooperatives. They will be supplied with equipment that will enable the establishment of a demo field, which will be used in the future for the installation of demo fields and further transfer of knowledge to farmers.

Ten democenters will be established within the framework that will form a larger number of demo fields. The activities themselves will be organized within the framework of climate-smart schools in the field. In this way, farmers at project sites will have direct access to new knowledge, technologies and practices that can help them adapt to climate change.