ALBERT

Description: In manifold ways science and practice are working together to find solutions for sustainable land management. New research programmes on this topic generate a large variety of single project results. Accompanying research projects will realize additional value by merging and synthesising the results from these projects and by supporting the generation of new knowledge for science and society. For many actors in science and policy, the additional value of research accompanying research projects remains open. Referring to a recent publication in GAIA that introduces a typology for accompanying research (AR), this article discusses the central issues, content, processes and ongoing challenges in an AR project accompanying the German research programme Sustainable Land Management. The important value of AR can be seen in communication, networking, the reflexive generation of new knowledge and knowledge management based on trust building and competence. AR also exhibits great potential for research on cross-cutting issues in research programmes and has special significance for meta-studies on different research projects taking place under similar funding conditions. However, additional analyses are necessary for a better understanding of the outcomes and impacts of AR and to create wider appreciation and acceptance.

Description: This introductory chapter, written by the editors, provides an overview of their conceptual approach, the book’s line of argumentation, and an insight into the different chapters of the book “Sustainable Land Management in a European Context—a co-design approach”. The synopsis highlights the various approaches and possible applications of a co-design approach.

Description: The concept of real-world laboratories is difficult to distinguish from the concept of transdisciplinary research. Thus, the question has arisen: to what extent is the real-world laboratory truly novel? If transdisciplinary research is considered a process providing only socially robust knowledge and orientation (instead of solutions), then the real-world lab could be thought of as a model in which evidence-supported solutions can be tested and adjusted, and progress can be achieved.

Description: The digitalization of agricultural production and the use of digital data are fundamentally transforming processes, products, and services of the agro-food systems. Digitalization improves efficiency and facilitates sophisticated farm management, thus increasing productivity, efficacy, and profitability. At the same time, it promises many opportunities for a more sustainable and, especially, more ecological and cleaner agricultural production. However, with it comes the potential for a number of unintended side effects and risks that may increase the vulnerability of agricultural production and have, thus far, received scant scientific and societal attention. This article presents the results of a two-year transdisciplinary process that aimed to identify unintended side-effects (short “unseens”) and perceived risks of digitalization in German agriculture. Results base on a triangulation of knowledge integration from the transdisciplinary group process involving twelve representatives from science and practice and an ethnographic qualitative meta-analysis. The findings have shown that, despite digitalization's numerous promises for a more ecological and resource efficient agricultural production, a broad range of risks was perceived by some key stakeholders involved. These risks were anticipated to be caused by unintended negative and uncertain side effects on agro-ecological and social systems. Data rights, the restructuring of the value chain with new market concentrations, power structures and dependencies, changing knowledge requirements for farmers (lacking “digital literacy”), and information asymmetries that may cause potentially negative effects on food security were identified as causal factors. Based on these results, we co-developed socially robust orientations (SoROs) for coping with resulting risks and vulnerabilities. We argue that these SoROs provide perspectives on how anticipated knowledge can be turned into responsible action within the RRI (responsible research and innovation) framework. Finally, with regard to the preventive and anticipatory paradigm of “cleaner production”, our transdisciplinary methodology shows a way to adaptively govern the highly complex socio-technological transitions of digitalization in agriculture in the sense of a sustainability-oriented transformation.