Monitorización y Evaluación Participativa en Agricultura Regenerativa Del conocimiento y los impactos locales a la adopción a gran escala

[EN] The advanced state of land degradation affecting more than 3,200 million people worldwide have raised great international concern regarding the sustainability of socio-ecological systems, urging the large-scale adoption of contextualized sustainable land management. The agricultural industrial model is a major cause of land degradation due to the promotion of unsustainable management practices that deteriorate the quality of soils compromising their capacity to function and deliver ecosystem services. The consequences derived from land degradation are especially devastating in semi-arid regions prone to desertification, where rainfall scarcity and irregularity intensifies crop failure risks and resource degradation, compromising the long term sustainability of these regions.Regenerative agriculture (RA) has recently gained increasing recognition as a plausible solution to restore degraded agroecosystems worldwide. RA is a farming approach foreseen to reverse land degradation, increase biodiversity, boost production and enhance the delivery of multiple ecosystem services by following a series of soil quality restoration principles and practices. Despite its promising benefits, RA has been limitedly adopted in semiarid regions. Major reasons explaining this seemingly incongruous mismatch are the scarce and contrasting empirical data proving its effectiveness, top-down research approaches and lack of farmer involvement in agroecosystem restoration projects and decision-making, and the generally slow response of soils to management changes in semiarid regions, which may delay the appearance of visible results discouraging farmers from adopting RA.In the high steppe plateau of southeast Spain, an on-going process of large-scale landscape restoration through adoption of regenerative agriculture was initiated in 2015. The high steppe plateau is one of the European regions most affected by land degradation and desertification processes and represents one of the world´s largest areas for the production of rainfed organic almonds. In 2015, local farmers created the AlVelAl association with the support of the Commonland Foundation, business entrepreneurs, regional governments, and research institutions, and started to apply RA at their farms. The objective was to restore vast extensions of degraded land for increasing the productivity and biodiversity of their agroecosystems, increasing the resilience to climate change, generating job opportunities and enhancing social cohesion in the region, in a time frame of 20 years following Commonlands´ 4-Returns approach. However, the limited empirical information supporting RA effectiveness, the lack of reference examples in the region, and the slowness with which visible ecological restoration processes usually occur in semi-arid regions were considered major obstacles hindering RA adoption in the region. To effectively address this knowledge gap, support farmers and expedite RA adoption, this research proposed horizontal research fostering the creation of learning communities between farmers and researchers, putting together local and scientific knowledge to improve the understanding of RA. This thesis presents a participatory monitoring and evaluation research (PM&E) applying a combination of social and ecological methods to evaluate the potential of PM&E to enhance knowledge exchange between farmers and researchers on Regenerative Agriculture in the context of the high steppe plateau. The aim of this thesis is twofold: on one hand, to increase the understanding on RA impacts, on the other hand, to evaluate the potential contribution of PM&E to enable social learning and contribute to the adaptation and long term adoption of RA in the high steppe plateau and semiarid regions in general. To facilitate PM&E of the impacts of sustainable land management and agricultural innovations like RA, Chapter 2 presents a participatory methodological framework that guides the identification and selection of technical and local indicators of soil quality, generating a monitoring system of soil quality for PM&E by farmers and researchers. The methodological framework includes the development of a visual soil assessment tool integrating local indicators of soil quality for farmers´ monitoring. The framework consists of 7 phases: 1) Definition of research and monitoring objectives; 2) Identification, selection and prioritization of Technical Indicators of Soil Quality (TISQ); 3) Identification, selection and prioritization of Local Indicators of Soil Quality; 4) Development of a visual soil assessment tool integrating LISQ; 5) Testing and validation of the visual soil evaluation tool; 6) Monitoring and assessment of sustainable land management impacts by researchers and farmers using TISQ and the visual soil evaluation tool respectively and; 7) Exchange of monitoring results between all involved participants, and joint evaluation of impacts.To facilitate PM&E of RA in the steppe highlands, Phases 1 to 5 were applied through a series of participatory methods including a first meeting with AlVelAl board members for the definition of research objectives, farm visits, participatory workshops, and conducting formal and informal interviews, among others. Technical indicators of soil quality were identified, selected and prioritized by researchers through an extensive literature review and ad-hoc expert consultation with expertise in soil quality assessment and monitoring. Local indicators of soil quality were identified, selected, prioritized and validated by farmers in two participatory workshops. The co-developed visual soil assessment tool, named the farmer manual, was tested and validated during the second workshop. Local indicators selected by farmers focused mostly on supporting, regulating and provisioning ecosystem services including water regulation, erosion control, soil fertility and crop performance. Technical indicators selected by researchers focused mostly on soil properties including aggregate stability, soil nutrients, microbial biomass and activity, and leaf nutrients, covering crucial supporting services. The combination of local and technical indicators provided complementary information, improving the coverage and feasibility of RA impact assessment, compared to using technical or local indicators alone. The methodological framework developed in this chapter facilitated the identification and selection of local and technical indicators of soil quality to generate relevant monitoring systems and visual soil assessment tools adapted to local contexts, thus improving knowledge exchange and mutual learning between farmers and researchers to support the implementation of RA and optimize the provision of ecosystem services. Implementation of RA usually happens gradually due to socioeconomic, informational, practical, environmental and political constraints Thus, RA adoption by farmers, in practice, translates into different combinations of RA practices, with a diversity of management, based on farmer capabilities, environmental conditions, and expected restoration results.To help the design, adoption and implementation of most effective RA practices to optimize the restoration of agroecosystems, Chapter 3 presents the impacts of the different combinations of RA practices implemented by participating farmers on crucial soil quality and crop performance indicators using previously selected technical indicators of soil quality over a period of 2 years. This chapter corresponds to the application of phase 6 of the methodological framework developed in Chapter 2. RA impacts were assessed in 9 farms on one field with regenerative management and one nearby field with conventional management based on frequent tillage, that were selected together with farmers. Fields were clustered under regenerative management based on the RA practices applied and distinguished 4 types of RA treatments: 1) reduced tillage with green manure (GM), 2) reduced tillage with organic amendments (OA), 3) reduced tillage with green manure and organic amendments (GM&OA), and 4) no tillage with permanent natural covers and organic amendments (NT&OA). The impacts of RA compared to conventional management were evaluated by comparing physical (bulk density and aggregate stability), chemical (pH, salinity, total N, P, K, available P, and exchangeable cations) and biological (SOC, POC, PON, microbial activity) properties of soil quality, and the nutritional status of almond trees (leaf N, P and K). Our results show that GM improved soil physical properties, presenting higher soil aggregate stability. We found that OA improved most soil chemical and biological properties, showing higher contents of SOC, POC, PON, total N, K, P, available P, exchangeable cations and microbial respiration. RA treatments combining ground covers and organic amendments (GM&OA and NT&OA) exhibited greater overall soil quality restoration than individual practices. NT&OA stood out for presenting the highest soil quality improvements. All RA treatments maintained similar crop nutritional status compared to conventional management. We concluded that RA has strong potential to restore the physical, chemical and biological quality of soils of woody agroecosystems in Mediterranean drylands without compromising their nutritional status. Furthermore, farming management combinations of multiple regenerative practices are expected to be more effective than applying individual RA practices.In parallel to researchers´ assessment of RA impacts, farmers assessed RA impacts in their farms by using the farmer manual jointly developed in participatory workshops. Chapter 4 presents the RA impact results from farmers´ assessment, and documented farmers´ insights, in the third year of PM&E, on the visual soil assessment process using the farmer manual, and on PM&E outcomes regarding the facilitation of participation and learning processes. This chapter corresponds to the application of phase 6 and phase 7 of the methodological framework developed in Chapter 2. Farmers´ visual soil assessment indicated regenerative agriculture as a promising solution to restore degraded agroecosystems in semiarid Mediterranean drylands, although observed soil quality improvements were relatively small compared to conventional management, and more time and efforts are needed to attain desired restoration targets. The monitoring results on RA reported by farmers were complementary to researchers´ findings using technical indicators of soil quality. Farmers’ evaluation of the research project highlighted the PM&E research as an educational process that helped them look differently at their land and their restoration efforts and facilitated the creation of relationships of support and trust, learning and capacity building that are fundamental conducive conditions to enhance farming innovation efficiency and adoption. Farmers confirmed that generating spaces for farmer-to-farmer diffusion of knowledge and on-farm experiences is a key driver to expedite farming testing and adoption of innovations. Farmers insights revealed the need to actively involve them in all decision making phases of VSA tools and support them in initial implementation, in order to develop tools that meet farmers´ needs, to enhance VSA tool adoption, and facilitate reaching restoration goals. Furthermore, farmers´ evaluation of the farmer manual suggested the need to reinforce the multipurpose usefulness and potential benefits of collectively recording restoration progress in a systematized way, to enhance VSA tool adoption. Farmers´ insights on the PM&E research reinforces the importance of developing learning communities of farmers and researchers that provide a platform for exchange of experiences and support, as a crucial factor to favor social learning and support the adoption of long-term agricultural innovations. The success of PM&E research for agroecosystem restoration can be improved by integrating iterative phases where farmers can evaluate and adjust research activities and outcomes. We concluded that the process of PM&E that leads to enhanced social capital, social learning and improved understanding of restoration efforts has as much value as the actual restoration outcomes on the ground. Social learning is considered an important precondition for the adoption of contextualized sustainable land management and farming innovations like RA. The main objective of involving farmers and researchers in PM&E of RA was to enable social learning for enhanced understanding of RA impacts and support adoption of RA. Although there is a growing body of literature asserting the achievement of social learning through participatory processes, social learning has been loosely defined, sparsely assessed, and only partially covered when measured. Confirming that a participatory process has favored social learning implies demonstrating that there has been an acquisition of knowledge and change in perceptions at individual and collective level in the people involved in the participatory process, and that this change in perceptions has been generated through social relations.Chapter 5 presents an assessment of how the PM&E research process enabled social learning by effectively increasing knowledge exchange and understanding of RA impacts between participating farmers and researchers, and multiple stakeholders of farmers´ social networks. Occurrence of social learning was assessed by covering its social-cognitive (perceptions) and social-relational (social networks) dimensions. This chapter discusses the potential of PM&E to foster adoption and out-scaling of sustainable land management and farming innovations like RA by promoting the generation of information fluxes between farmers and researchers participating in PM&E and the agricultural community of which they form part. To assess changes in farmers´ perceptions and shared fluxes of information on RA before starting the PM&E and after three years of research, we applied fuzzy cognitive mapping and social network analysis as graphical semi-quantitative methods. Our results showed that PM&E enabled social learning amongst participating farmers who strengthened and enlarged their social networks on information sharing, and presented a more complex and broader common understanding of regenerative agriculture impacts and benefits. This supports the idea that PM&E thereby creates crucial preconditions for the adoption and out-scaling of RA. This study was one of the first studies in the field of natural resource management and innovation adoption proving that social learning occurred by providing evidence of both the social-cognitive and social-relational dimension. Our findings are relevant for the design of PM&E processes, agroecosystem Living Labs, and landscape restoration initiatives that aim to support farmers´ adoption and out-scaling of contextualized farming innovations and sustainable land management. We concluded that PM&E where the democratic involvement of participants is the bedrock of the whole research process and the needs and concerns of the farming community are taken as the basis for collaborative research represents a great opportunity to generate inclusive, engaging, efficient, and sound restoration processes and transitions towards sustainable and resilient agroecosystems.[ES] El avanzado estado de degradación de la tierra que afecta a más de 3.200 millones de personas en todo el mundo ha suscitado una gran preocupación internacional con respecto a la sostenibilidad de los sistemas socio-ecológicos, instando a la adopción a gran escala de manejos sostenibles de la tierra, adaptados a los diferentes contextos. El modelo agrícola industrial es uno de los principales causantes de la degradación de la tierra debido a la promoción de prácticas agrícolas insostenibles que deterioran la calidad de los suelos, comprometiendo su capacidad de funcionamiento y de prestación de servicios ecosistémicos. Las consecuencias derivadas de la degradación de la tierra son especialmente devastadoras en regiones semiáridas propensas a procesos de desertificación, donde la escasez y la irregularidad de las lluvias intensifican la degradación de los recursos naturales y el riesgo de malas cosechas, comprometiendo la sostenibilidad de estas regiones a largo plazo. Recientemente, la agricultura regenerativa (AR) ha ganado un reconocimiento cada vez mayor como solución plausible para restaurar agroecosistemas degradados de todo el mundo. La AR es un enfoque agrícola que se prevé puede revertir la degradación de la tierra, aumentar la biodiversidad, incrementar la producción y mejorar la prestación de múltiples servicios ecosistémicos mediante el seguimiento de una serie de principios y prácticas de restauración de calidad del suelo. A pesar de los prometedores beneficios de la AR, este enfoque agrícola ha sido adoptado de forma muy limitada en regiones semiáridas. Las principales razones que explican su limitada adopción son: la escasez de datos empíricos que demuestran su efectividad, la información contradictoria que ofrecen dichos datos, los enfoques verticales (top-down), la falta de inclusión, participación y toma de decisiones de las agricultoras/es en los proyectos de restauración de agroecosistemas, y la generalmente lenta respuesta de los suelos en regiones semiáridas a los cambios de manejo, lo que puede retrasar la aparición de resultados visibles y desalentar a agricultoras y agricultores a adoptar la AR. En el altiplano estepario del sureste español se inició en 2015 un proceso de restauración de ecosistemas a gran escala mediante la adopción de la AR. El altiplano estepario es una de las regiones europeas más afectadas por procesos de degradación y desertificación de la tierra, y representa una de las mayores extensiones del mundo de producción de almendras ecológicas en secano. En 2015, agricultoras y agricultores locales crearon la asociación agroecológica AlVelAl con el apoyo de la Fundación Commonland, empresas, gobiernos regionales e instituciones de investigación, y comenzaron a aplicar AR en sus fincas. Su objetivo es restaurar grandes extensiones de tierras degradadas, mejorar la productividad y la biodiversidad, aumentar la resiliencia de sus agroecosistemas al cambio climático, generar oportunidades de empleo y mejorar la cohesión social en la región en el plazo de 20 años, siguiendo el enfoque de 4 retornos de la Fundación Commonland. Sin embargo, la escasez de datos e información que respalden la efectividad de la AR, junto con la falta de ejemplos de referencia en la región y la lentitud con la que los procesos de restauración ecológica suelen ocurrir en regiones semiáridas, fueron considerados grandes obstáculos para promover la adopción de la AR en la región.Para abordar de manera efectiva la falta de conocimiento sobre los impactos de la AR y apoyar a la comunidad agrícola a mejorar y acelerar su adopción, son necesarios enfoques de investigación horizontales que fomenten la creación de comunidades de aprendizaje entre agricultoras/es e investigadoras/es, aunando el conocimiento local y científico para mejorar el conocimiento sobre la AR. Esta tesis presenta una investigación de monitorización y evaluación participativa (MEP) donde aplicamos una combinación de métodos sociales y ecológicos para evaluar el potencial de esta metodología de investigación en la mejora del intercambio de conocimientos entre agricultoras/es e investigadoras/es sobre la AR en el contexto del altiplano estepario. El objetivo de esta tesis es doble: por un lado, mejorar el conocimiento de los impactos de la AR y, por otro lado, evaluar la contribución de la MEP en facilitar procesos de aprendizaje social, contribuyendo a una mejor adaptación y adopción a largo plazo de la AR en el altiplano estepario en particular, y en regiones semiáridas en general. Combinar el conocimiento científico y local se vuelve un imperativo en procesos de MEP para mejorar la adopción de innovaciones agrícolas, siendo especialmente relevante en regiones semiáridas que típicamente responden lento a cambios de manejo, lo que suele dar lugar a bajas tasas de adopción de dichas innovaciones. Para ello es necesario generar sistemas de monitorización de calidad del suelo y sostenibilidad de los agroecosistemas que integren el conocimiento de agricultoras/es e investigadoras/es, y estén adaptados al contexto donde se aplican las innovaciones.Para facilitar la MEP de los impactos de manejos sostenibles e innovaciones agrícolas como la AR, el Capítulo 2 presenta un marco metodológico que guía la identificación y selección de indicadores técnicos y locales de calidad del suelo, conformando un sistema de monitorización para la evaluación participativa de la AR por parte de investigadoras/es y agricultoras/es. El marco metodológico incluye el desarrollo de una herramienta para la evaluación visual del suelo integrando indicadores locales de calidad de suelo para el monitoreo por parte de las agricultoras/es. El marco metodológico consta de 7 fases e incluye: Fase 1) Definición de objetivos de investigación y monitorización; Fase 2) Identificación, selección y priorización de Indicadores Técnicos de Calidad del Suelo (TISQ); Fase 3) Identificación, selección y priorización de Indicadores Locales de Calidad del Suelo (LISQ); Fase 4) Desarrollo de una herramienta de evaluación visual del suelo integrando LISQ; Fase 5) Puesta en práctica y validación de la herramienta de evaluación visual del suelo; Fase 6) Monitorización y evaluación de los impactos de los manejos implementados por parte de investigadoras/es y agricultoras/es, usando los TISQ y la herramienta de evaluación visual del suelo respectivamente y; Fase 7) I