This book casts a look at innovation in agricultural and food systems. It focuses in particular on supporting innovation, by examining methods and organizations, and on evaluating innovation using different yardsticks. The book is based on reflections and research originating from various scientific disciplines, on fieldwork carried out both in France and in many countries of the Global South, and finally on the experiences gained by accompanying and supporting innovative actors. It combines theoretical contributions on innovation with iconic case studies to illustrate its observations and discussions. This book is intended for teachers, professionals, students, and researchers.

L’innovation est devenue un objet de questionnement incontournable dans nos soci.t.s. Elle est omnipr.sente dans les discours d’acteurs .conomiques ou politiques, s’inscrit dans des politiques d.di.es et dans de nouvelles institutions telles que les p.les ou les plateformes, et vient s’incarner dans la figure du h.ros contemporain cr.ateur de start-up.  Le th.me de l’innovation a aussi gagn. une place importante dans le monde scientifique, comme en t.moigne la forte croissance des travaux qui y sont consacr.s, la cr.ation de soci.t.s savantes et de revues sp.cialis.es contribuant . l’affirmation d’un champ acad.mique autour des Innovation Studies  (Fagerberg et Verspagen, 2009 ; Godin, 2014).

More than 500 million family farms manage the majority of the world’s agricultural land and produce most of the world’s food. We need family farms to ensure global food security, to care for and protect the natural environment and to end poverty, undernourishment and malnutrition. These goals can be thoroughly achieved if public policies support family farms to become more productive and sustainable; in other words policies must support family farms to innovate within a system that recognizes their diversity and the complexity of the challenges faced.

The State of Food and Agriculture 2014: Innovation in family farming analyses family farms and the role of innovation in ensuring global food security, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. It argues that family farms must be supported to innovate in ways that promote sustainable intensification of production and improvements in rural livelihoods. Innovation is a process through which farmers improve their production and farm management practices.

The Rural Development Report: Fostering Inclusive Rural Transformation focuses on inclusive rural transformation as a central element of the global efforts to eliminate poverty and hunger, and build inclusive and sustainable societies for all. 

The report analyses global, regional and national pathways of rural transformation and suggests four categories into which most countries and regions fall, each with distinct objectives for rural development strategies to promote inclusive rural transformation: to adapt, to amplify, to accelerate, and a combination of them.

While Indigenous people are generally depicted as victims of poverty and vulnerability to climate change, it would also be appropriate to emphasize their sensitivity to the environment, adaptive capacity and resilience, as manifested by their ability to modify their behaviour in response to changing climatic conditions. Indigenous peoples’ knowledge can provide important insights into the processes of observation, adaptation and mitigation of climate change consequences. 

Farmers in Nepal are getting the most out of their farms, both in nutrition as well as in economic terms, by integrating a variety of crops on the farm.

This is chapter 10 of the publication:

Farming Systems Research into the 21st Century

A presentation given at the general assemly of the World Farmes Organisation WFO

Agricultural advisory (extension) services are a vital element of the array of market and non-market entities and agents that provide critical flows of information that can improve farmers’ and other rural peoples’ welfare. After a period of neglect, agricultural advisory services have returned strongly to the international development agenda. Apart from their conventional function of providing knowledge for improved agricultural productivity, agricultural advisory services are expected to fulfill a variety of new functions, such as linking smallholder farmers to high-value and export markets, promoting environmentally sustainable production techniques, and coping with the effects of HIV/AIDS and other health challenges that affect agriculture. Therefore, it is highly appropriate that the WDR 2008 acknowledges the roles and the challenges of an effective evolution of agricultural advisory services in the coming decades.