The tenth Conversation on Agroecology on April 30^th, 2025, focused on transforming food systems through agroecology living labs.

Tiffanie Faye Stone (Aarhus University, Denmark) presented on the “Agroecology living labs to transform food systems: A critical review at the science-policy-society nexus in Europe.” Tiffanie is part of work package 7 of the AE partnership, which is about capacity building in living labs (LLs) and research infrastructures. In their review, Tiffanie and her colleagues were describing key characteristics and possibilities of transformative agroecology (AE) LLs. They investigated theories and approaches that support transformation, transformative components and characteristics of AE LLs and how living labs contribute to AE transition in Europe. With the SDGs in mind, sustainable transition and innovation theories, and literature on agricultural knowledge and innovation systems were reviewed and connected with three core components of transformative AE LLs: 1) aligning methods with AE principles, 2) utilizing place-based transformation approaches and 3) supporting a paradigm shift to participatory knowledge production. The team then identified three seeds of transformation which hold potential for supporting transformative AE LLs as a new participatory paradigm at the science-policy-society nexus in Europe. These are first, methods beyond technical innovation and towards socio-ecological system governance, second, landscape scale AE LLs as a mediator for open innovation and lastly, inclusive knowledge production in AE LLs and structures scaling via networks.

Ana Allamand (Soil Association, Scotland) gave a presentation on “Implementing Living Labs: Overcoming Challenges and Maximizing Impact for Sustainable Agricultural Transformation”. Ana showed that the traditional model of innovation is rather linear and does not engage all stakeholders. LLs exist in a completely different model, which is iterative, many actors are working together, and the users are in the centre, using multifaceted solutions. This model is close to real world conditions and helps to address implementation challenges. Ana presented several challenges and gave examples on how to overcome them. On the challenge of embracing adaptability and bringing diversity, Ana explained that rigid models as well as time, resource and perspective limitations are reducing the space for the new. To tackle this, changing the mindset towards curiosity and creating an environment which is actively engaging many different stakeholders and their perspectives is crucial. This can be practically implemented by leveraging the community and embracing challenging ideas and results. Furthermore, integrating feedback loops and revisiting the plan are vital to stay on track while being flexible to adaptation. In her presentation, Ana gave insights on several more of such challenges in implementing LLs and ways to overcome them. A central message throughout the presentation was that LLs need to be safe spaces for all actors.

Ana lastly wanted to shed light on the NBsoil Living Lab course which is live and free. Registration to the Living Lab Academy Module 2 can be accessed here:
https://soilacademy.nbsoil.eu/login/index.php

Level 1: Interactive Innovation
Level 2: Living Labs, the basics
Level 3: Living Labs, useful tools.

In these you can find many tools (and most of the ones Ana talked about are explained in detail in Level 3).

You can also find most of the tools in the ATTRACTISS TOOLBOX: https://akisconnect.eu/iss-tools-and-methods