Sciences
Informing strategic research directions
Ideas and results to better explore, cross-pollinate and shape the future of the OFE sciences
There are two intertwined types of research objects in farmer-centric OFE:
The farmers’ questions - how to improve management
The methodologies required to address these - how to improve research through OFE
The papers gathered here reflect the breadth of the OFE sciences, from innovation processes to analytical tools, across large-scale and smallholder farming systems.
Discover examples of OFE research happening on each continental regions, with entry-points to research teams to connect practical relevance to broader insights, technical advances with improved organisation of social processes, and more effective, fit-for-purpose agronomy with critical perspectives.
📘Journals 📄Conferences & Briefs ▶️Presentations
Compendiums
Contributions that build the evidence base, consolidate emerging knowledge and help establish shared foundations for farmer-centric OFE at the interface of agronomy, data, social science and climate-smart practice. Submission deadline: Oct 2026
Contributions about farming-related practices emerging from collective dynamics across farms, territories, value chains, networks, and policy frameworks, rather than from individual farm decision-making. Submission deadline: Jan 2027
2026-2023 The ISPA OFE-Community has been sharing to over 450 practitioners, extension personnel, researchers and analysts several hundreds links about projects, articles and people relevant to the development of OFE in precision agriculture and beyond
2025 - The special issue associated with OFE2021, with 9 articles in contrasted farming systems: reviews, retrospectives, case studies, meta-analytics and more
2023 - 24 conference papers and 31 presentations on OFE initiatives from around the world
2021 - 64 conference papers and 150 videos, incl. 3-min introductions of OFE initiatives from 36 countries
Regional insights
Perspectives & global studies
📘Rohrbaugh et al. (2026) Farmer-centric on-farm experimentation as everyday transformative change for climate adaptation: a systematic review - Ecology & Society
📘de Sainte Agathe et al. (2026) Revealing the diversity of collective experimentation in agriculture: Constructing idealtypes from French case studies - Agricultural Systems
📘Lacoste et al. (2025) Farmer-centric On-Farm Experimentation: digital tools for a scalable transformative pathway - Agronomy for Sustainable Development
📘Giannini & Marraccini (2024) On-farm experimentation in agronomic research: an Italian perspective - Italian Journal of Agronomy
📘 de Sousa (2024) The tricot approach: an agile framework for decentralized on-farm testing supported by citizen science. A retrospective - Agronomy for Sustainable Development
📘Jackson-Smith & Veisi (2023) A typology to guide design and assessment of participatory farming research projects - Socio-Ecological Practice Research
📘Toffolini & Jeuffroy (2022) On-Farm Experimentation practices and associated farmer-researcher relationships: a systematic literature review - Agronomy for Sustainable Development
📘Lacoste et al. (2022) On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture - Nature Food
📘Richardson M, et al (2021) Farmer research networks in principle and practice - Intl Journal of Agricultural Sustainability
📘Sinclair & Coe (2019) The options by context approach: a paradigm shift in agronomy - Experimental Agriculture
📘Waters-Bayer et al (2015) Exploring the impact of farmer-led research supported by civil society organisations - Agriculture & Food Security
North America
📘Hawkins et al. (2026) Improving research and insights through the aggregation of on-farm experimentation data - Agronomy Journal
📘Longchamps et al. (2025) Strengthening farmer-led experiments through agronomic and causal inference frameworks - Agronomy Journal
📘Pires et al. (2024) Perspective of US farmers on collaborative on-farm agronomic research – Agronomy Journal
📘Koehler-Cole et al. (2023) Comparing cover crop research in farmer-led and researcher-led experiments in the Western Corn Belt - Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
📘Laurent et al. (2022) A yield comparison between small-plot and on-farm foliar fungicide trials in soybean and maize - Agronomy for Sustainable Development
📘Kyveryga (2019) On-farm research: experimental approaches, analytical frameworks, case studies, and impact - Agronomy Journal
Central & Latin America
📘Córdoba et al. (2025) A new method to compare treatments in unreplicated on-farm experimentation - Precision Agriculture
📘Andrieu et al. (2024) Introducing sheep for agroecological weed management on banana plantations in Guadeloupe: a co-design process with farmers - Agricultural Systems
📘Colaço et al. (2024) Digital strategies for nitrogen management in grain production systems: lessons from multi-method assessment using on-farm experimentation - Precision Agriculture
📄 McNee et al. (2021) Four strategies to engage farmers in digitally supported On-Farm Experimentation - lessons learnt from the Falklands Islands - OFE2021 Proceedings
▶️ Building OFE research questions using digital maps
▶️ A digitally-enabled rangelands OFE using livestock collars
▶️ Farmers' profiles: OFE types and collaboration appetite
▶️ Scaling OFE insights through Innovation Ecosystem Platforms
Europe
📘Duchene et al. (2026) Using on-farm experimentation to co-design agroecological farming: a common principle with a variety of applications and researcher stances- Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
📘Tanaka et al. (2026) Advanced data analytics for on-farm experimentation: methods, challenges, and opportunities for modern agronomic decision making - Plant Production Science
📘Daudin et al. (2025) Adaptive practices of researchers involved in low-tech co-innovation processes: Feedbacks from a multi-site experience with ICTs for irrigation systems - Agricultural Water Management
📘Tanaka et al. (2024) Can machine learning models provide accurate fertilizer recommendations? - Precision Agriculture
📘Grahmann et al. (2024) Co-designing a landscape experiment to investigate diversified cropping systems - Agricultural Systems
📘Leclère et al. (2024) Fostering action perspectives to support crop diversification: lessons from 25 change-oriented case studies across Europe - Agricultural Systems
📘Salembier et al. (2023) Exploring the inner workings of design-support experiments: lessons from 11 multi-actor experimental networks for intercrop design - European Journal of Agronomy
📘Giannini et al. (2023) Agronomic management strategies to increase soil organic carbon in the short-term: evidence from on-farm experimentation in the Veneto region - Plant and Soil
📘Bénézet et al. (2022) Use of videos to characterize farmers’ knowledge of tillage with horses and share it to promote agroecological innovations in French vineyards - Agronomy for Sustainable Development
📘Carton et al. (2022) On-farm experiments on cultivation of grain legumes for food – outcomes from a farmer–researcher collaboration - Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
📘Roques et al. (2022) Successful approaches for on-farm experimentation - Field Crops Research
📄 Aldis et al. (2021) Innovative Farmers: insights from a decade developing and accelerating farmer-led innovation in the UK agricultural Environment + ▶️Recording - OFE2021 Proceedings
📘Aare et al. (2021) Exploring transitions towards sustainable farming practices through participatory research – the case of Danish farmers’ use of species mixtures - Agricultural Systems
Africa
📘Aldolwa et al. (2026) On-farm experimentation in East and West Africa improves nutrient management decision-making and yield in cereal smallholder farming systems - Agronomy Journal
📘Aldolwa et al. (2025) Delivering nutrient management impact through farmer-centric research: a systematic review of innovation systems in African smallholder systems - Agricultural Systems
📘Lema et al. (2024) Do multilevel agricultural innovation platforms support inclusive innovation? Lessons learned from a case study in the Ethiopian highlands - Innovation and Development
📘Périnelle et al. (2024) Adaptation rather than adoption: a case study of cropping system change in West Africa - Agronomy for Sustainable Development
📘Pircher et al. (2024) Farmer-centered and structural perspectives on innovation and scaling: A study on sustainable agriculture and nutrition in East Africa - J. of Agric. Education and Extension
📘Alexandre et al. (2023) Creating shared value(s) from On-Farm Experimentation: ten key lessons learned from the development of the SoYield® digital solution in Africa - Agronomy for Sustainable Development
📄 Kitonyo et al. (2023) The on-farm experimentation process triggered farmers’ zeal to test technologies in Embu County, Kenya - OFE2023 Proceedings
📘Parry et al. (2020) The importance of learning processes in transitioning small-scale irrigation schemes - Intl J. of Water Resources Development
📘Van Rooyen et al. (2017) Theory and application of Agricultural Innovation Platforms for improved irrigation scheme management in Southern Africa - Intl J. of Water Resources Development
Asia
📘Zhang et al. (2025) Bridging Science and Smallholder Farming: The Knowledge-Technology-Community Framework for Sustainable Crop Production - Sustainable Development
📘Tanaka et al (2023) Toward an effective approach for on-farm experimentation: lessons learned from a case study of fertilizer application optimization in Japan - Precision Agriculture
📘Guo et al. (2022) A way to sustainable crop production through scientist−farmer engagement - Engineering Agriculture
📘Jiao et al. (2019) Science and Technology Backyard: A novel approach to empower smallholder farmers for sustainable intensification of agriculture in China - Journal of Integrative Agriculture
Australia & Pacific
📘Colaço et al. (2026) What makes on-farm experimental data suitable for data-driven decision-making? Implications of trial design and spatial distribution of field data for machine learning models - Precision Agriculture
📘Bourdeix et al. (2026) Controlled Pollination and Reproductive Strategies in Coconut: A Framework for Farmer-Led Breeding, Seednut Production, and In Situ Conservation - Ethnobotany and Economic Botany
📘 Song et al. (2022) Factors influencing intention to apply spatial approaches to on-farm experimentation: insights from the Australian winegrape sector - Agronomy for Sustainable Development
📘 Bramley et al. (2022) Did someone say “farmer-centric”? Digital tools for spatially distributed on-farm experimentation - Agronomy for Sustainable Development
Publications are sought that :
Enrich the diversity of approaches featured
Improve regional representation
Progress critical thinking on current practice
Crossing boundaries
Related conversations
📘Conti et al. (2025) Top-down vs bottom-up processes: A systematic review clarifying roles and patterns of interactions in food system transformation- Global Food Security
📘Conti et al. (2024) Complexity-aware principles for agri-food system interventions: lessons from project encounters with complexity - Agricultural Systems
📘Conti et al. (2024) Top-down vs bottom-up processes: A systematic review clarifying roles and patterns of interactions in food system transformation - Global Food Security
📘Fielke et al. (2022) A call to expand disciplinary boundaries so that social scientific imagination and practice are central to quests for ‘responsible’ digital agri-food innovation - Sociologia Ruralis
📘Bellon-Maurel et al. (2022) Digital revolution for the agroecological transition of food systems: a responsible research and innovation perspective - Agricultural Systems
📘Fazey et al. (2018) Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research - Energy Research & Social Science
📘Šūmane et al. (2018) Local and farmers’ knowledge matters! How integrating informal and formal knowledge enhances sustainable and resilient agriculture - Journal of Rural Studies
📘Stone (2016) Towards a general theory of agricultural knowledge production: environmental, social, and didactic learning - Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment
📄 de Janvry A et al. (2016) Adjusting extension models to the way farmers learn - FERDI Policy Briefs
📘Briggs (2013) Indigenous knowledge: a false dawn for development theory and practice? - Progress in Development Studies
Related societies
i2Insights - The Integration and Implementation Insights: concepts, methods, processes, theories, frameworks and other tools for complex societal and environmental problems
ISPA - The International Society of Precision Agriculture: new technologies to feed the world and improve quality of life
IFSA - The International Farming Systems Association: innovative practices that integrate agricultural production with environmental conservation toward sustainable farming systems
#DigitAg International Research Community: inclusive digital technologies and agricultural artificial intelligence with a low environmental impact, in support of agroecological agriculture