LLAEBIO – Living Lab Agroecology and Organic Agriculture

The Living Lab Agroecology and Organic Agriculture (LLAEBIO), supports agroecological innovation as a lever in the transition to sustainable food and agricultural ecosystems in the region of Flanders (BE). This living lab brings together actors from the agri-food system with a shared interest in agroecology and organic farming to facilitate innovative research and share knowledge and experiences. The overarching goal of LLAEBIO is to connect people, organizations, policy, science and practice.

Aim

• Spread information, knowledge and expertise about agroecology and organic farming;
• Bring people together to facilitate mutual exchange of expertise and knowledge about agroecology and organic farming;
• Facilitate and support research and experiments on agroecology and organic farming.

Short background information (history)

The origin of the initiative:

• 2017: bottom up request from the organic sector for more participatory research
• 2018: top down request from the Flemish government to ILVO to set up a living lab on organic farming
• increasing societal demand to use agroecological principles as a guide for agricultural practices  
• agroecology is added to organic farming to broaden the focus of the living lab

Establishing the initiative

• 2019: broad consultation of potential stakeholders of the living lab
• late 2019: joint vision and mission statement was drawn up in consultation with interested stakeholders

Official launch of the initiative: February 2020

2020:

• participative working groups start planning concrete activities
• late 2020: launch of first activities

Ongoing:

• Participative working groups continue to plan and execute various activities;
• Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) in Melle, Belgium coordinates and facilitates the living lab.

Funding structure

ILVO facilitates the living lab and elaborates activities together with stakeholders. Resources committed are primarily (many) working hours. Funding for activities is also provided on an ad hoc basis by the actors involved in the living lab.

Activities

• Organization of interactive and educational knowledge-sharing activities in order to:
  • strengthen connection between stakeholders,
  • enhance farmers’ knowledge about agroecological practices and opportunities (preferentially via peer-to-peer exchange),
  • raise all other actors’ awareness of the potential of agroecology
  • bring scientific knowledge to experiences on the field and vice versa
• Identification of knowledge and research gaps within agroecology and organic farming;
• Support for and/or development of project proposals, in which agroecology and/or organic farming practices are investigated according to the 5 operational principles of living labs as defined by ENOLL (multi-method approach, multi-actor participation, real life context, involvement of end-users, co-creation and openness) and a transdisciplinary system thinking approach;
• Deepening of our knowledge of systems research.

From the beginning, LLAEBIO has used the basic ENOLL principles and components for living labs. These principles provide a steady compass for the members and their discussions and practical activities. System thinking, the aim to join scientific and tacit knowledge, and strong stakeholder engagement and involvement are all seen as being indispensable to innovation.

Annually, working themes are chosen together with key stakeholders of the living lab as part of an interactive workshop. Temporary participative working groups, formed of volunteers who participate based on their interests, are established to define and develop activities and actions on these themes. Depending on the specific goals of the working groups and the groups being targeted, the best tools and working methods (field visits, webinars, round tables, etc.) are explored and chosen. The activities target all actors in the agri-food system with an interest in agroecology and/or organic farming, e.g., farmers (conventional and organic/agroecological), farm suppliers and buyers, food processers, consumers, researchers in different disciplines, extension workers, (farm) advisors, teachers, policy makers, NGO members, and the like).

Outside of the annual interactive meeting and the working groups, the living lab is always open for ad hoc questions via the LLAEBIO website and e-mail.