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All-ReadyAgroecology Living Labs & Research InfrastructuresPilot NetworkALL-Ready Pilot network membersAgricultural Climate Solutions

Living Labs at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

ADVISOR - Living Lab & Research Infrastructure

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has built a nationwide network of living labs through the Living Laboratories Initiative (2018–2023) and the Agricultural Climate Solutions program (2021–2031). These two programs apply an integrated approach to agricultural innovation by bringing together farmers, scientists, and other partners to co-develop, test, and monitor new practices and technologies in a real-life context.

Aim

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s living labs programs focus on co-developing innovative solutions to environmental issues related to agriculture, such as climate change, soil health, water quality, and biodiversity. The goal is to accelerate the development and adoption of sustainable practices and technologies by Canadian farmers.

Short background information

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada recognized that urgent action is needed to accelerate our response to climate change and other agri-environmental challenges. Starting 2018, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada launched a nationwide network of living labs to help accelerate the development and adoption of sustainable practices and technologies by Canadian farmers. Building on the Living Laboratories Initiative’s network of four living labs, the Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Labs program aims to have at least one living lab in every one of Canada’s 10 provinces. These living labs will focus on co-developing innovative solutions and transferring knowledge to other farmers so that they can deploy solutions that are tailored to their region and promote environmental sustainability and resiliency in the agriculture sector.

Internationally, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada presented the idea of "agroecosystem living labs" during the May 2018 G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists in Argentina and has been active in further developing the concept in parallel to the implementation of its network of agroecosystem living labs. These activities include co-leadership of the International Society of Professional Innovation Management’s Special Interest Group on Living Labs, participation in the European Network of Living Labs’ (ENoLL’s) Working Group on Agriculture and Agri-Food Living Labs, and participation as an international partners in the European Commission’s ALL-Ready project to lay the foundation for a potential future network of agroecology living labs and related research networks across Europe. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada also has ongoing active collaborations with the France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) Network.

Funding

The $10 million investment in the Living Laboratories Initiative (2018–2023) is part of the Government of Canada's $70 million commitment to support agricultural discovery science and innovation, with a focus on climate change and soil and water conservation.

Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Labs is a $185 million, 10-year program  (2021–2031). Phase 1 consists of Grant Funding to support organizations in building capacity, developing networks of participants, and drafting comprehensive project proposals that will be submitted for Phase 2 funding. Phase 2 consists of Contribution Funding to implement approved comprehensive project proposals, following the living lab approach, and may include collaborative research and development support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Activities

  • The Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Labs program focuses on activities to accelerate the co-development, testing, adoption, dissemination and monitoring of technologies and practices, including beneficial management practices (BMPs), that sequester carbon and/or mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, activities support the achievement of other relevant socio-economic and environmental benefits.
  • The Living Laboratories Initiative focuses on the development and local use of practical technologies and sustainable farming practices to help Canadian farmers: mitigate and adapt to climate change; reduce water contamination; improve soil and water conservation; and maximize habitat capacity and biodiversity on agricultural landscapes.
Living Lab – Atlantic (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Methods, stakeholder engagements and tools

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s living labs are based on three core principles:

  1. Focusing on farmers’ needs: As the people who ultimately use these innovations, farmers are key collaborators throughout the entire process. Farmers not only test the proposed innovations, they contribute knowledge and experience to their development and improvement at every step.
  2. Broad and diverse partnerships: Farmers, multidisciplinary teams of scientists and researchers, and other collaborators contribute their expertise and resources to develop innovative farming practices and technologies. These collaborators include First Nations, governmental institutions, industry representatives, non-profit organizations and producer groups.
  3. Testing in the real-life context: The practices and technologies are tested in the context and scale in which they will be adopted: on local farms under real agricultural production conditions.

At the start of a living lab project, farmers, scientists, local collaborators, and others come together to discuss the farmers’ needs and to identify common priorities and objectives. Then, working together, they design innovative new practices or technologies to help address these needs. These innovations are then tested, evaluated, and further improved through a set of repeating steps.

  1. Co-develop: This is a creative step where diverse perspectives are brought together to share information, data, experiences, and new ideas about how to improve farming practices or technologies. With the active involvement of farmers, the innovations and accompanying scientific research activities are co-developed and prepared for testing.
  2. Test: The innovations are tested where they will be used: by farmers on real farms. Along with real-life tests, scientific research helps assess how well the practices or technologies are performing, including their environmental and socio-economic impact.
  3. Evaluate: The innovations are evaluated in many ways, such as their practical application and effectiveness, based on both scientific research and the hands-on experience of farmers. This data and evaluation ensures that farmers and scientists have useful and scientifically-proven solutions that can be readily adopted by others.

With each cycle of innovation, we learn more about the practices and technologies under development. As the cycle is repeated, the innovations are continually adjusted to address feedback from farmers, collaborators and scientists, as well as prioritize agri-environmental challenges.

Because the resulting innovations are co-developed with farmers from beginning to end, they are more likely to be adopted by farmers. The co-development process ensures that innovations are economically viable, technically feasible and desirable for the producers in addition to being scientifically sound. Collaboration with farmers throughout the cycle of innovation is therefore essential.

Achievements

Further information and links

Videos:

Scientific papers:

  • McPhee, C.; Bancerz, M.; Mambrini-Doudet, M.; Chrétien, F.; Huyghe, C.; Gracia-Garza, J. The Defining Characteristics of Agroecosystem Living Labs. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1718. Link to Publication

Presentation:

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