Post-Covid Knowledge exchange in agriculture: Evaluating current practice and Co-designing a digital solution to connect farmers and the AKIS

Covid19 has necessitated a rapid shift to digital communications by all individuals and organisations. Platforms that were already being used regularly by some (eg Teams, Zoom) have now become essential to many, and new solutions and technologies continue to emerge, along with the collective knowhow. However, these have not been able to fill the hole in the communication, conversation, networking and engagement space left by the absence of face-to-face shows, meetings and events in agriculture. There has so far been no formal evaluation of the impacts of Covid19 on Knowledge Exchange (KE) in agriculture or other sectors. Such KE is essential to progress in agriculture, enabling the improvement of food security & quality, productivity, profitability, sustainability, social welfare and the environment. Covid19 has highlighted the importance of agriculture in the UK, which now faces multiple challenges (and opportunities). UK agricultural productivity has lagged behind competitors for decades, in part due to fragmentation of the knowledge system.

As the UK's leading independent provider of agricultural research and KE, ADAS will lead an Action Research approach, working with practitioners to evaluate and provide urgent insights into the impacts and responses in the AKIS and what KE approaches work best in the face of Covid19 disruption. Multiple stakeholders will co-create a new digital solution (Farm-PEP), bringing together tools, experience and knowhow to provide a dedicated Covid-secure online community space for KE. Crucially, this will integrate existing tools & initiatives (The Farming Forum, Agri-techE, Innovative Farmers, Yield Enhancement Network, Agricology, AHDB) and make full use of the social media, video and podcasts which have become important in recent months. Nothing comparable to Farm-PEP currently exists. Current platforms are disjointed and siloed, with discussions temporary in nature, easy to miss, and rarely leading to rich outcomes or collaboration. They do not contribute to a recognised knowledge base, with little opportunity for inclusive distillation, connection, development of ideas for further exploration or forming of coherent messages for widespread adoption. Farm-PEP will provide the space for deeper, trusted, meaningful connections, knowledge sharing, community building and collaboration. It will provide solutions and spaces where people can find out what's going on across the industry, can demonstrate what they are doing and solicit feedback in order to build shared knowledge. It will enable serendipitous, synchronous and asynchronous discussions and connections to be made around topics of interest.