A co-innovation approach in family-farming livestock systems in Rocha - Uruguay: A three-year learning process.

ABSTRACT. There are opportunities to improve livestock family farms (LFF) sustainability in Uruguay by changing management practices and incorporating technologies, using the co-innovation approach. To harness these opportunities, between 2012 and 2015 a research project was implemented in Eastern Uruguay, where three simultaneous processes occurred at three levels: farm, region and research team. At farm level, the work was carried out in seven LFF as case studies. Through monthly visits to the farms by a field agronomist the process followed three phases using the Evaluation of Natural Resource Management Systems Incorporating Sustainability Indicators (MESMIS) framework: (i) characterization and diagnosis, (ii) re-design, (iii) implementation, monitoring and evaluation. As a result, farmer knowledge and skills for farm management improved and the farms increased their meat production and net income (23 and 56% on average, respectively) while preserving natural resources. At regional level, a participatory approach to planning, monitoring and evaluating the project´s progress with regional stakeholders was adapted from a Participatory Analysis of Impact Pathways (PIPA) method. An Interinstitutional network was consolidated, which developed a common vision and expected project outcomes and designed a communication plan to disseminate the results. At team level, a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach was carried out. A transdisciplinary team was consolidated through cyclic processes of research, reflection and action. Consensus on the objectives and methodsallowed combining knowledge to solve practice-oriented problems. The three-year process demonstrated effectiveness in improving LFF sustainability, opening a learning space withstakeholders and contributing with a novel model of rural development: co-innovation.