Canada plays an important role in the agricultural industry, nationally and internationally. According to Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, collective action is essential to co-develop new sustainable agriculture principles that guide the work of farmers. Our applied project aims to stimulate collective action to connect groups of farmers across siloed and diverse perspectives (e.g., crop, livestock, fruits, and vegetables), and to co-create new ways of farming that reduce emissions, preserve biodiversity, and generate positive economic returns for all.
Ongoing research indicates there is little knowledge and resource sharing among farmers and a lack of clearly defined, broadly accepted principles and protocols of sustainable or regenerative farming. Such knowledge and standardization, achieved through our project, could boost ecological and economic performance within and across farms in the same county.
Project Goal
The main goal of the Collective Action Project is to establish a regional community of practice that catalyzes sustainable, regenerative agriculture at the county level through a series of curated workshops and social events; these workshops and social events, led by an expert facilitator from the agricultural community, will take participants through an iterative pathway development process including understanding the history and current state of agriculture within a county, co-developing shared visions, and ideating on solutions. The emergent community of practice will in turn enable peer-driven co-creation, experimentation, and institutionalization of new ways of farming and creating a way of co-managing resources between farmers.
Are you a farmer or do you know of a farmer or agronomist that would like to work together to experiment with more sustainable and regenerative practices?
Please reach out to Jury Gualandris at jgualandris@ivey.ca if you’d like more information.
Join other passionate, innovative farmers and agronomists in your county along a journey that will improve individual and collective ecological and economic performance. During workshops and social events, you will:
- Discuss and learn about potential problems affecting the ability of your county and its diverse farms to further develop and expand their ecological and economic potential.
- Share your knowledge and discuss distinctive experiences and traditions with farmers and agronomists from diverse agricultural groups (i.e., crop, horticulture, livestock) to develop principles that guide your future actions.
- Experiment with other local farmers on diverse ways of farming and co-managing resources (labor and animals, machinery, inputs of production, land), informed by shared principles of action, to find ways to de-risk the transition toward improved ecological and economic outcomes.
- Receive support to assess and improve the ecological and economic potential of emergent ways of farming and co-managing resources in the county by an interdisciplinary team of researchers.