Participatory Methods in Crop Research: Giving More Decision-Making Power to Farmers.

The lag time between technology development in agricultural research and farmer adoption is prohibitively long. Economic, environmental and social conditions change rapidly, continually presenting new challenges to researchers and farmers alike. Reducing the lag time between discovery and implementation is therefore critical. The purpose of this study was to investigate a new technique for improving research that expedites technology adoption by directly involving farmers in researchers’ decision-making processes. This research proposes a method that combines the input of university researchers, biological scientists, farmers and service providers to create rigorous research objectives and new knowledge. This is an original technique first developed by faculty members at the University of Florida in 2014 researching organic strawberry systems. The method has since expanded to investigate tomato production in conventional systems. This participatory method enriches data collection. Alongside biological data collection, we complement these results with input directly from local farmers and service providers. As University of Florida researchers proceeded to new projects, they have used and are currently using this assessment approach in organic and conventional systems with diverse participants who play various roles in agricultural research, outreach and production. Experience with the technique has shown that giving more decision-making responsibility to farmers enhances research quality, through improved research designs, treatments, and data collection techniques. Implications for future research are discussed.