Short answer
When designing for agricultural innovation, move beyond linear adoption models and embrace the messy, experimental, and multispecies realities of practice.
- Field
- Innovation & Design
- Source
- Academic Publication (2022)
- Method
- Ethnographic research, including interviews and participant observation.
- Evidence
- Moderate effect
Farmers' transitions to regenerative agriculture are best understood as a non-linear process of experimentation, driven by more-than-human relationships and a re-acquaintance with the experimental nature of farm systems. This innovation & design research insight is drawn from a 2022 study published in Academic Publication. Using Ethnographic research, including interviews and participant observation., researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: When designing for agricultural innovation, move beyond linear adoption models and embrace the messy, experimental, and multispecies realities of practice.
Regenerative Agriculture: A Non-Linear Experimental Pathway for Farm System Innovation
Farmers' transitions to regenerative agriculture are best understood as a non-linear process of experimentation, driven by more-than-human relationships and a re-acquaintance with the experimental nature of farm systems.
Academic Publication · 2022
Key Findings
- 01Farmers' transitions to regenerative agriculture are non-linear and experimental.
- 02More-than-human relationships are central to these experimental transitions.
- 03Historical, political, economic, and environmental factors significantly mediate farmers' experiments.
- 04Regenerative agriculture offers a way for farmers to enact more liveable worlds within a productivist industry.
Application
Design takeaway
When designing for agricultural innovation, move beyond linear adoption models and embrace the messy, experimental, and multispecies realities of practice.
How to apply
When developing new agricultural technologies or practices, design research should incorporate ethnographic methods to understand the experimental journey of users and the multispecies relationships involved.
Project actions
- 01Consider how your design project might be adopted through experimentation rather than immediate full implementation.
- 02Think about all the 'actors' involved in your design's use, not just the primary human user.
Method & Evidence
Variables
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- +Provides a nuanced, ethnographic understanding of innovation adoption.
- +Emphasizes the importance of context and non-human actors.
Limitations
It can be challenging to capture the full complexity of experimental adoption in a typical design project timeline.
Reliability & validity
The qualitative, ethnographic approach provides rich, in-depth understanding (high validity) but may have limited generalizability (lower reliability across different contexts).
Think critically
How might a design be intentionally structured to facilitate and support this experimental, non-linear adoption process, rather than trying to prevent it?
Design Principles
"Innovation adoption is an emergent, experimental process shaped by complex system interactions."
This perspective challenges simplistic behavioural models of adoption, highlighting the complex interplay of practical, political, and moral factors. Understanding this experimental process is crucial for developing effective support systems and strategies for agricultural innovation.
What This Means for Your Design
Farmers don't just switch to new farming methods; they try them out, learn as they go, and involve their animals and the land in the process, which is a bit like a long-term science experiment.
How to use in your project
- 1.Use this research to justify a design approach that allows for iterative testing and user experimentation.
- 2.Reference the idea that user adoption is a complex, non-linear process when discussing your design's potential impact.
Add to My Project
Quick Cite
Paragraph starter
This research highlights that innovation adoption is often a non-linear, experimental process, influenced by multispecies interactions and broader contextual factors. Therefore, design strategies should accommodate iterative testing and acknowledge the emergent nature of user engagement, rather than assuming direct, linear implementation.
Source
Academic Publication
"One Paddock at a Time": A Multispecies Ethnography of Farmers' Experiments with Regenerative Agriculture in New Zealand
journal · 2022
View sourceQuestions About This Research
- What does the research say about regenerative agriculture: a non-linear experimental pathway for farm system innovation?
- When designing for agricultural innovation, move beyond linear adoption models and embrace the messy, experimental, and multispecies realities of practice. Evidence: Academic Publication (2022).
- Why does "Regenerative Agriculture: A Non-Linear Experimental Pathway for Farm System Innovation" matter for design?
- This perspective challenges simplistic behavioural models of adoption, highlighting the complex interplay of practical, political, and moral factors. Understanding this experimental process is crucial for developing effective support systems and strategies for agricultural innovation.
- How can designers apply this research?
- When designing for agricultural innovation, move beyond linear adoption models and embrace the messy, experimental, and multispecies realities of practice.
- What were the main findings?
- Farmers' transitions to regenerative agriculture are non-linear and experimental.. More-than-human relationships are central to these experimental transitions.. Historical, political, economic, and environmental factors significantly mediate farmers' experiments.. Regenerative agriculture offers a way for farmers to enact more liveable worlds within a productivist industry.
- What research method was used?
- Ethnographic research, including interviews and participant observation..
- How strong is the evidence?
- Evidence strength is rated Moderate effect, based on a 2022 journal from Academic Publication.
- What should I do differently in my next project?
- When developing new agricultural technologies or practices, design research should incorporate ethnographic methods to understand the experimental journey of users and the multispecies relationships involved.
- What are the limitations?
- The study focuses on a specific geographical and agricultural context in New Zealand, which may limit generalizability to other regions or agricultural systems.