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Agricultural innovation systems has become a popular approach to understand and facilitate agricultural innovation. However, there is often no explicit reflection on the role of agricultural innovation systems in food systems transformation and how they relate to transformative concepts and visions (e.g. agroecology, digital agriculture, Agriculture 4.0, AgTech and FoodTech, vertical agriculture, protein transitions). To support such reflection we elaborate on the importance of a mission-oriented perspective on agricultural innovation systems. We review pertinent literature from innovation, transition and policy sciences, and argue that a mission-oriented agricultural innovation systems (MAIS) approach can help understand how agricultural innovation systems at different geographical scales develop to enable food systems transformation, in terms of forces, catalysts, and barriers in transformative food systems change. Focus points can be in the mapping of missions and sub-missions of MAIS within and across countries, or understanding the drivers, networks, governance, theories of change, evolution and impacts of MAIS. Future work is needed on further conceptual and empirical development of MAIS and its connections with existing food systems transformation frameworks. Also, we argue that agricultural systems scholars and practitioners need to reflect on how the technologies and concepts they work on relate to MAIS, how these represent a particular directionality in innovation, and whether these also may support exnovation. • Agricultural innovation systems (AIS) can support food system transformation • AIS often remain implicit on directionality in view of transition pathways • Mission-oriented AIS (MAIS) is proposed as a novel approach for analysis • Mapping of missions and sub-missions of MAIS within and across countries is suggested • Agricultural Systems scholars need to reflect on how their work relates to missions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural innovation system (AIS) is an approach that considers agricultural innovation from a multidisciplinary perspective. The Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems is one of the commonly used operational methods. It involves a series of structured and participatory activities, including interviews, focus group discussions, and stakeholder workshops, to identify the actors, institutions, and relationships involved in the AIS, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the system. This approach has been structured in such a manner that it adapts easily to different contexts where different stakeholders, such as developers, academicians, and policymakers are working with community members on innovation. A reflection on the concept -what to know (the requirements) and what to get (the outputs) is necessary for coming up with practical, reflective analysis and applicable procedures for a deeper understanding of the context where the innovations are introduced. Following this will enable us to fully understand the bottlenecks in transitioning from conventional systems to an agroecological model thus pinpointing potential entry points for promoting these systems' dissemination and scaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to understand whether different types of strategic decisions warrant the influence of different types of knowledge providers. Design/Methodology/Approach: A survey of 28 horticulture farmers was conducted in Belgium to explore their knowledge providers and recent strategic decisions. Farmers reported their microAKIS configuration, up to three strategic decisions and detailed the interaction with each of their knowledge providers. Findings: Horticulture farmers configure their microAKIS in unique ways partly depending on their subsector, while purposefully mobilizing only part of this configuration for each strategic decision. The findings suggest that the role of knowledge provider can be context- or decision-specific. Practical Implications: Advisors and policy makers should consider the specificity of advisory services when developing support tools aimed at specific innovations, as farmers do not necessarily rely on topic specialists alone. Theoretical Implications: The results highlight the complexity of the influence of knowledge providers on innovation and the need for research on general strategic decisions and multiple decisions per farmer. Originality/Value: The paper applies a broad methodology to study the mobilization of agricultural knowledge providers by utilizing strategic decisions rather than specific innovations and capturing multiple decisions per farmer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to explore how sustainable business models (SBM) can be developed within agri-innovation systems (AIS) and emphasize an integration of the two with a systemic understanding for reducing food loss and value loss in postharvest agri-food supply chain. Design/methodology/approach: This study conducted longitudinal qualitative research in a developing country with food loss challenges in the postharvest supply chain. This study collected data through multiple rounds of fieldwork, interviews and focus groups over four years. Thematic analysis and "sensemaking" were used for inductive data analysis to generate rich contextual knowledge by drawing upon the lived realities of the agri-food supply chain actors. Findings: First, this study finds that the value losses are varied in the supply chain, encompassing production value, intrinsic value, extrinsic value, market value, institutional value and future food value. This happens through two cumulative effects including multiplier losses, where losses in one model cascade into others, amplifying their impact and stacking losses, where the absence of data stacks or infrastructure pools hampers the realisation of food value. Thereafter, this study proposes four strategies for moving from the loss-incurring current business model to a networked SBM for mitigating losses. This emphasises the need to redefine ownership as stewardship, enable formal and informal beneficiary identification, strengthen value addition and build capacities for empowering communities to benefit from networked SBM with AIS initiatives. Finally, this study puts forth ten propositions for future research in aligning AIS with networked SBM. Originality/value: This study contributes to understanding the interplay between AIS and SBM; emphasising the integration of the two to effectively address food loss challenges in the early stages of agri-food supply chains. The identified strategies and research propositions provide implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to accelerate sustainable practices for reducing food loss and waste in agri-food supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To advance understanding about the way endogenous knowledge on mangrove swamp rice (MSR) farming is transmitted, reinvented and negotiated between generations and highlight the implications this has for R4D. Long-term qualitative research using an ethnographic approach, technography and biographies of farmers. The endogenous Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) is dynamic but faces shortcomings owing to socio-environmental changes. This highlights the relevance of knowledge exchanges from multiple sources, eroding the divide between endogenous and exogenous from the farmers' point of view. For positive exogenously induced socio-technical change to occur, external actors must fully understand the conditions under which (a) endogenous knowledge is produced and reinvented and (b) endogenous innovations flow among farmers. This will then allow the co-production of innovations adapted to each specific agro-ecological, cultural and socio-economic context, leaving them to be further transformed and refashioned by smallholders to meet their individual 'dispositions' and generate the roots necessary for a strong AKIS. This paper highlights the importance of locally embedded processes of learning and innovation, the better understanding of which can provide a more solid basis for the co-production of technologies and the establishment of an AKIS. This paper improves understanding of socio-technological change in smallholder agriculture by focusing on endogenous processes of learning and innovation. This paper advances the knowledge on endogenous processes of learning and socio-technical change in smallholder agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although agriculture around the world faces similar challenges in terms of technology, climate and market, it is important to identify specific local strategies due to multiple factors arising from the local level. Using the Mission-Oriented Agricultural Innovation Systems (MAIS) approach, this study analyzes social, environmental and technological variables as a pathway for the transition of Persian lime farming systems toward sustainability in two production regions in Veracruz, Mexico. To this end, a survey was applied to 343 producers, and semi-structured interviews using participatory methods were conducted with the production chain stakeholders; also, time series analysis of production and climatic variables was performed. The results indicate that production is expected to grow at a rate of 5% over the next twenty years. However, this trend is not sustainable in the long term from a social and environmental perspective. Both regions are forecast to have increased temperatures and abrupt changes in precipitation patterns (P ≤ 0.05). Farmers identify challenges related to marketing, the presence of pests and diseases and changes in the climate. They propose solutions such as a producers' organization and use of new technologies to meet these challenges; however, the solutions mentioned are seen more as a reconfiguration of the current production system and not as a way toward a true transition. The inclusion of other stakeholders such as academia, experts and government complements this vision through the MAIS. It is concluded that a multidisciplinary approach from the local level is crucial for the sustainable transition of current agri-food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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While considerable efforts have been made to conceptualize and outline the theoretical and normative logic of mission-oriented innovation policies and the role of the entrepreneurial state, there is a stark lack of empirical studies concerning how missions are designed and executed, and when they may work or do not. This monograph reviews theoretical rationales for mission-oriented innovation policy and provides an empirical overview of 30 articles which together cover 51 concluded or ongoing missions from around the world. We synthetize varieties of mission formulations, actors involved, and analyze characteristics of missions described as more or less failed or successful. Among the projects analyzed, many do not fulfill common definitions of "innovation missions." Missions related to technological or agricultural innovations seem more often successful than broader types of missions aimed at social or ecological challenges, and challenges in the governance and evaluation of missions remain unresolved in the literature. None of the mission cases contain a cost-benefit analysis or takes opportunity cost into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farm advisors are recognised as playing an increasingly central role in facilitating interactions between scientists and farmers to improve local implementation of sustainable soil management practices and agricultural innovations more broadly. However, there has been limited scrutiny of what farm advisors do when faced with conflicting interpretations among actors over techniques or approaches for facilitating agricultural innovation. This article advances knowledge in this area by investigating the role of farm advisors in aligning different frames on agricultural soil research and extension across seven Australian mixed farming regions. Drawing upon theoretical work on frame alignment, we argue that farm advisors use three types of strategies to align conflicting frames—frame bridging, frame amplification and frame transformation. These strategies seek to frame local soil research and extension priorities in ways that are assumed to resonate more closely with the frames of multiple constituents, such as farmers and soil scientists. Through our analysis, we argue that the application of a frame alignment approach enables greater precision in identifying which (a) interactive and social learning processes, (b) key local influencers and communities of practice and (c) resourcing and governance arrangements are most likely to be effective in facilitating soil research and extension that is locally useful and useable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science and technology innovation are crucial components underpinning agriculture. We constructed an evaluation framework including 4 pillars and 21 indicators, taking 31 provinces in China as examples to examine the level of agriculture science and technology development from a regional perspective. We found that there is an obvious gap between east and west nationwide, and that only about half of the provinces have reached the high and medium levels. It was worth noting that the innovation conditions in Shanghai and Beijing presented huge advantages, of vital importance to a first-class talent team, a complete innovation system, a stable and prosperous market, and active exchanges and cooperation. In addition, to maximize the transformation of agricultural science and technology achievements into real productivity, local government should also strengthen the construction of agricultural research and innovation platforms, technology transfer, and transformation of results. The findings advance understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the evaluation subjects' agricultural science and technology development from a regional perspective and are expected to provide some basis for the government and stakeholders to make relevant decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the pineapple fruit contributing significantly towards Ghana's non-traditional export, the empirical space deficiently accounts for innovations within the sector. This article addresses prime questions that beg answering such as: the origin of innovations, when, how, what conditions facilitate adoption intensity or otherwise, what type of innovations are systematically associated with pineapple production. This study fills this lacuna by chronicling the main pineapple innovations using innovation history methodology embedded in an agricultural innovation system conceptual framing. Relying on a qualitative approach, the findings showed the emergence of two varieties – smooth cayenne and sugar loaf, overtaken by the MD2 variety. Degreening, forcing, and global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) dominate. The Millennium Development Authority programme consolidated business plan development, efficient marketing, record keeping, and farming as a business. Successes were recorded in some instances with the transfer of technology extension model, but this article argues that the agricultural innovation system can be prioritized given the plurality of actors. The innovation history is trivialized, but it is essential for learning and co-learning in building stronger partnerships. This article underscores a radical use of innovation history both as a methodological tool and means of documenting innovations, particularly in the global south, where copious record-keeping remains rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of innovations may boost the transition to sustainable agricultural models. Among these innovations, precision farming offers a fundamental contribution to sustainable soil management and the improvement in product quality. The work is set against this background and aims to analyse the rate of introducing precision farming tools and the variables that prevent/facilitate this adoption. Although adoption rates in Italy remain relatively low, it is vital to underline the obstacles that limit the broader use of precision agricultural technologies inside farms. To this end, the literature has highlighted various elements of complexity (farm characteristics, socio-economic and psychological), which can hinder or generate perceived complexity and significantly reduce the potential for technology adoption. In this context emerges the increasing importance of public and private activities related to knowledge transfer. The paper focuses on agricultural knowledge and innovation systems, which are also relevant in light of the recent proposal for the new regulation on rural development. The awareness–knowledge–adoption–product (AKAP) sequence was used to reveal the gap between the potential and actual adoption of innovation on Italian farms to comprehend the adoption process and identify relevant barriers and the role knowledge systems played. Empirical findings show that AKIS has a critical mediating function in promoting innovation uptake. Strengthening knowledge systems, acting on the different phases of the AKAP sequence, could allow a greater understanding of precision agriculture techniques and bottlenecks to adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide novel empirical evidence on the role of advice in technological and non-technological innovation uptake decision-making processes from the perspective of European farmers, we develop the microAKIS (farmer microscale knowledge and innovation systems) framework. The MicroAKIS framework is expanded to gather empirical evidence built on quantitative data from a sample of 675 European farmers. Different types of innovation lead to different microAKIS, and farmers' involvement with innovation introduces new dynamics in advice supply. MicroAKIS supporting innovations tend to be small in size and diversity, suggesting the anticipated pluralism of advice resulting from advisory services privatisation across Europe did not work as expected, i.e. not translating into pluralistic microAKIS. Pluralism in advice for innovation is needed and could be enhanced by integrating different sources of advice: professional and non-professional, formal and informal, agricultural and cross-sectorial. We advance the scope of the AKIS concept by accounting for the temporal dynamics of innovation uptake decision-making and adopting multi-level analysis that combines micro (farm) and meso (region) scales. Empirical evidence at the European level, gathered from the common farmer's perspective on the dynamics of farm-level microAKIS and the role played by farm advisory, accounting for diversity of innovations and regional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that large-scale agricultural programmes embedded with the Agricultural Innovations Systems (AIS) thinking helps in facilitating innovations. The study adopted a qualitative approach involving focus group discussions, key informant interviews and secondary document analysis. This approach helped to obtain an in-depth understanding of the processes involved, why and how innovation takes place. The design and implementation of the MiDA programme had elements of the AIS embedded. This helped to contribute to success in areas that aligned and failures in areas that fell short. Stakeholders encountered implementation challenges that did not ensure reflective learning, conversely, some actors worked independently of others, mimicking linear extension approaches. The future of extension and research in Ghana should not be prescriptive (top-down) but fully integrate farmers and wider stakeholders in the design and implementation of agricultural investment programmes. This is premised on addressing challenges relating to trust, effective leadership and entrepreneurship. Adds on to the limited use of AIS as a conceptual and operational tool in supporting large-scale agricultural investment in the global south by incorporating AIS thinking in policy formulation and implementation of large-scale programmes. This article adds to the unbalanced literature in Sub-Saharan Africa on the use of AIS in the design and implementation of large-scale programmes. Additionally, it highlights the use of AIS in extension and research in facilitating innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-quality development of agriculture is closely related to technological innovation, but the evolutionary characteristics of the relationship between agricultural transformation and technological innovation have received little study. This study takes 13 main grain-producing areas of China as the research object. Data collection was from 2004 to 2019. Based on the coupling coordination and responsiveness models, we analyze the spatio-temporal agriculture comprehensive level and the associated response degree of agricultural transformation to technological innovation. The results showed that (1) the comprehensive development of technological innovation showed a growth trend, while the agricultural transformation showed a U-shaped growth trend; (2) the coordinated development of these two systems has been significantly improved, but there are differences in the development speed of each province; (3) the coordinated gravity center moved southward in the spatial pattern, eventually presenting the characteristics of "higher level in the east and lower level in the west, while the higher level in the south and lower level in the north"; (4) the influence of technological innovation on agricultural transformation gradually changed from inhibition to positive promotion. In the end, this paper puts forward suggestions on the high-quality development of agriculture from the relationship of technological innovation and agricultural transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores to what extent a Delphi consensus study can help in designing a framework for assessing agricultural innovation systems (AIS), and this in a perspective of transformation of these systems in a diversity of countries. First, we reviewed the diversity of existing assessment methodologies in terms of their assessment rationales and associated epistemological and methodological debates. Second, we facilitated a process of framework design through an adapted group-based Delphi technique that we developed, based on an expert dialogue format with an initial online survey and six rounds of enriched controlled feedback. The adapted Delphi process appears to be effective since experts reached a consensus on a capacity-oriented assessment model with standardized and flexible components. Dissenting views remained but were suggested as a basis for further research, with a focus on the nature and use of high-level indicators and on ways facilitating the use of evidence by decision-makers in a capacity development perspective. Several factors that triggered and hindered consensus building during the Delphi process were detected. A number of lessons were drawn to enhance participation and consensus in further Delphi studies applied to framework design. Our study underscores the different worldviews on transformation and assessment of AIS. It opens the way for the use of group-based Delphi studies to initiate the co-production of knowledge on AIS science at the international level. The value of Delphi studies in addressing framework design issues has been little explored so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the nineteenth century the notion of climate changed radically. Traditionally a term for a geographical and cultural concept, climate became a meteorological category: the “average weather” in a given region. Stifter’s references to weather and climate document both this conceptual transition and his own critical attitude towards it. His novella “Brigitta,” set in the harsh climate of the Hungarian puszta, takes up this process of redefining climate. The novella shows how “air” shapes not only the landscape and living conditions of its inhabitants but also the protagonists. By cultivating the land and its air through agricultural innovation and social reform, the novella’s protagonists manage to tame not only the local climate, but also their tempestuous personalities. Confronted with the emergent modern notion of climate that is no more than data and averages, Stifter highlights an older understanding of climate that reflected the intense relation between human life and “the air.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrient runoff from catchments that drain into the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a significant source of stress for this World Heritage Area. An alliance of collaborative on-ground water quality monitoring (Project 25) and technologically driven digital application development (Digiscape GBR) projects were formulated to provide data that highlighted the contribution of a network of Australian sugar cane farmers, amongst other sources, to nutrient runoff. This environmental data and subsequent information were extended to the farming community through scientist-led feedback sessions and the development of specialised digital technology (1622™WQ) that help build an understanding of the nutrient movements, in this case nitrogen, such that farmers might think about and eventually act to alter their fertilizer application practices. This paper reflects on a socio-environmental sustainability challenge that emerged during this case study, by utilising the nascent concept of digi-grasping. We highlight the importance of the entire agricultural knowledge and advice network being part of an innovation journey to increase the utility of digital agricultural technologies developed to increase overall sustainability. We develop the digi-MAST analytical framework, which explores modes of being and doing in the digital world, ranging from 'the everyday mystery of the digital world (M)', through digital 'awareness (A)', digitally 'sparked' being/s (S), and finally the ability of individuals and/or groups to 'transform (T)' utilising digital technologies and human imaginations. Our digi-MAST framework allows us to compare agricultural actors, in this case, to understand present modes of digi-grasping to help determine the resources and actions likely to be required to achieve impact from the development of various forms of digital technological research outputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability transitions in agriculture are explored through an analysis of niche initiatives within a common production system, relying on sustainable transitions, multi-level perspectives, and agroecological frameworks, and involving multi-actor, agricultural knowledge, and innovation systems (AKIS). The article focuses on how experimental niches and sustainable activities affect farmers' relationships with nature, and the reconceptualisation of the production system in which they operate, particularly where this system is embedded in less sustainable conventional or dominant regimes and landscapes. The need for fundamental changes, in the way that humans interact with nature, is widely argued for in order to achieve sustainable development, and farmers occupy a central role through participation in complex networks of agri-food systems. They have also found themselves disconnected from nature through conventional agri-industrial production practices. Four niches (biological control, ecological restoration, soil health, and ecological pond management) within the greenhouse sector of Almeria (SE Spain) are explored in a case study. Our results indicate that a farmer's interaction with nature is functional, but through agroecological practices, a deeper understanding of the ecosystems in which greenhouse landscapes are embedded may be gained. As they become more connected to nature and benefit from ecosystem services, they can transition to more sustainable agricultural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced technologies and innovation are essential for promoting sustainable food systems (SFSs) because these technologies can be used to answer some of the critical questions needed to transform SFSs and help us better understand global food security and nutrition. The main objective of this study is to address the question of whether technological innovations have an impact on the transformation of SFSs. There are certain innovations including agricultural land utilization, food processing, production systems, improvement in diets according to people's needs, and management of waste products. This study provides an overview of new technologies and innovations being used with potential to transform SFSs. Applications of emerging technologies in digital agriculture, including the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and machine learning, drones, use of new physical systems (e.g., advanced robotics, autonomous vehicles, advanced materials), and gene technology (e.g., biofortified crops, genome-wide selection, genome editing), are discussed in this study. Additionally, we suggest eight action initiatives, which are transforming mindsets, enabling social licensing, changing policies and regulations, designing market incentives, safeguarding against undesirable effects, ensuring stable finance, building trust, and developing transition pathways that can hasten the transition to more SFSs. We conclude that appropriate incentives, regulations, and social permits play a critical role in enhancing the adoption of modern technologies to promote SFSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past century, technological advances, in concert with increased extraction of nonrenewable resources, have forestalled the realization of the Malthusian prediction. Transgenic crops have been genetically modified by the insertion of genetic material from another species. These modifications create crops with certain beneficial characteristics. Already available to farmers are transgenic corn, potatoes, and cotton that produce an insecticide in the plant tissue. No less than eight additional transgenic crop technologies are currently under review by federal regulatory authorities. Critics have argued that the potential environmental benefits of transgenic crops are overshadowed by the risks associated with introducing genetically altered species into existing ecosystems. Transgenic herbicide-resistant corn and soybeans are now widely used. These crops allow for effective weed control using a single broad-spectrum herbicide applied directly over the crop. The article presents the case-study of Bt cotton that reveals the difficulties of establishing commercial property rights in the case of seeds and plants that are necessarily part of a larger ecological system.