Farm PEP - the story so far ...
Agricultural practitioners have always had to deal with very complex environments and, as the climate emergency reveals its layers, this complexity is growing.
Farm PEP aims to provide a set of tools to make this uncertainty more manageable through effective peer-to-peer knowledge exchange and data benchmarking. One of the keys to the success of this project is being co-creators with final users.
As we enter this project’s second year, we’d like to invite you to share your thoughts so far and suggest your ideas to make sure the final product it as useful to you as possible.
One thing is certain: in agriculture, no season is the same
The complex environment and diverse series of factors affecting food production each season make dealing with complexity a requirement of the job.
We’re used to dealing with the weather, local and global markets, political conditions, customer requirements and input costs.
On top of this, we also have to factor in the negative impacts of the climate crisis and increased awareness of how agriculture unchecked can damage the environment.
Agricultural practitioners dealing with uncertainty must react fast to complex sets of factors and data to make decisions which will affect results season by season and can also carry its consequences into the future.
How can they access the right knowledge and necessary data management tools to make these intricate decisions within an ever-changing environment?
Knowledge exchange and networking
Connecting peers to share knowledge and relevant data is currently recognised as the best way to make effective decisions.
In this complex environment, networks of knowledge become crucial: no one person can hold all the ideas, but a group of well-connected agricultural practitioners is a wealth of practical knowledge and much more than the sum of their parts.
The challenges of working together
The challenge is not only to overcome the geographical isolation that characterises rural work. It’s also important to manage the increasingly complex data sets available. Soil, weather, yield, new practices, old practices making a come-back … all these require tools to process data that is easy to manage and share.
What does Farm PEP offer?
The Farm PEP project aims to facilitate knowledge creation, data management and knowledge sharing for agricultural practitioners across the country to leverage these assets through new digital tools that respond to the needs of users. To make sure stakeholder needs are directing the process, we are reaching out to farmers and advisors at each stage of the process to understand what is needed.
Now entering our second year, we’d like to open this invitation to any stakeholders interested in providing your feedback and participating in our activities. If interested, please contact Farming and Land Use Manager Ana Allamand (aallamand@soilassociation.org).
Find out more about Farm PEP at www.farmpep.net