Current innovations in organic farming such as non-inversion
tillage with cover crops are promising, but investigations usually do
not take farmers views into account. Therefore, research work should
include farmer participation to maximize success. The authors developed a method to help farmers in designing innovative cropping systems, involving several design workshops with farmers. The farmers generated 14
system prototypes, which differed radically
from current practices because they used biological rather
than mechanical methods. Cover crop use was almost four times
more frequent than in current systems, moldboard plowing
and mechanical weeding frequencies respectively two and eight
times lower. The main benefits are (1) the involvement of
volunteer farmers in the design process, (2) the combination of farmer
knowledge and scientific knowledge, and (3) the use of various
methodological supports.
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