How to swarm? Organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis

Accelerating food systems transformation in the face of climate change and other global crises requires myriad changes across all levels, themes, and geographies. This calls for re-thinking the roles of agricultural research for development (AR4D). In this perspective article we use the metaphor of...

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Main Authors: Korner, Jana, Thornton, Philip K., Klerkx, Laurens
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/119217
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author Korner, Jana
Thornton, Philip K.
Klerkx, Laurens
author_browse Klerkx, Laurens
Korner, Jana
Thornton, Philip K.
author_facet Korner, Jana
Thornton, Philip K.
Klerkx, Laurens
author_sort Korner, Jana
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Accelerating food systems transformation in the face of climate change and other global crises requires myriad changes across all levels, themes, and geographies. This calls for re-thinking the roles of agricultural research for development (AR4D). In this perspective article we use the metaphor of ‘swarms’ and ‘swarming’ to illustrate a more distributed way of working with a set of approaches that, if implemented jointly, may help AR4D researchers and their institutions to step up the pace and scale for food systems transformation, as urgently called for in global dialogues around the UN Food System Summit, COP 26, and beyond. We identify four roles for AR4D within swarmed design: facilitating the directionality of swarms, fostering swarm mentality and reativity, engaging with swarms in different innovation spaces, and building up and monitoring swarm intelligence. Enacting these roles would require an enabling environment, with the main food systems actors working together in four priority areas: aligning allies around shared visions and innovation portfolios, coupling tailored funding schemes and reworked incentive systems, building more permanent spaces for boundary work, and exploring new ways for structuring science.
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spelling CGSpace1192172025-11-11T18:46:57Z How to swarm? Organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis Korner, Jana Thornton, Philip K. Klerkx, Laurens food systems agricultural innovation systems swarms agricultural research for development funding incentives sistemas alimentarios sistemas de innovación agrícola enjambres Accelerating food systems transformation in the face of climate change and other global crises requires myriad changes across all levels, themes, and geographies. This calls for re-thinking the roles of agricultural research for development (AR4D). In this perspective article we use the metaphor of ‘swarms’ and ‘swarming’ to illustrate a more distributed way of working with a set of approaches that, if implemented jointly, may help AR4D researchers and their institutions to step up the pace and scale for food systems transformation, as urgently called for in global dialogues around the UN Food System Summit, COP 26, and beyond. We identify four roles for AR4D within swarmed design: facilitating the directionality of swarms, fostering swarm mentality and reativity, engaging with swarms in different innovation spaces, and building up and monitoring swarm intelligence. Enacting these roles would require an enabling environment, with the main food systems actors working together in four priority areas: aligning allies around shared visions and innovation portfolios, coupling tailored funding schemes and reworked incentive systems, building more permanent spaces for boundary work, and exploring new ways for structuring science. 2022-06 2022-04-01T12:48:48Z 2022-04-01T12:48:48Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/119217 en Open Access application/pdf Elsevier Korner, J.; Thornton, P.; Klerkx, L. (2022) How to swarm? Organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis. Global Food Security 33:100629. 9 p. ISSN: 2211-9124
spellingShingle food systems
agricultural innovation systems
swarms
agricultural research for development
funding
incentives
sistemas alimentarios
sistemas de innovación agrícola
enjambres
Korner, Jana
Thornton, Philip K.
Klerkx, Laurens
How to swarm? Organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis
title How to swarm? Organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis
title_full How to swarm? Organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis
title_fullStr How to swarm? Organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis
title_full_unstemmed How to swarm? Organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis
title_short How to swarm? Organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis
title_sort how to swarm organizing for sustainable and equitable food systems transformation in a time of crisis
topic food systems
agricultural innovation systems
swarms
agricultural research for development
funding
incentives
sistemas alimentarios
sistemas de innovación agrícola
enjambres
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/119217
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