Participatory research and on-farm management of agricultural biodiversity in Europe

Drawing on experience in Europe and the wider literature, this paper offers some critical reflections on how—and under what conditions—the EU might support the development of innovative participatory approaches for the management of agricultural biodiversity in Europe.

Recommendations for the European Union and its citizens are offered on how to address three challenges in particular:

i) transforming knowledge and ways of knowing for the local adaptive management of agricultural biodiversity and resilience in the face of climate change and uncertainty;~ii) scaling up and institutionalising participatory research and innovation in plant breeding, varietal selection, and agroecological research; and~iii) policy reversals for the participatory management of agricultural biodiversity.

This EU-wide transformation is all the more necessary now given that resilience, mitigation and adaptation to climate change directly depend on supporting innovative participatory approaches for managing agricultural biodiversity at the farm and landscape levels. The construction of a new modernity for food and farming in Europe also depends on such a transformation.