Co-creation and Policy Brief

Co-creation methods

Policy Brief

Defining a roadmap for sustainable nitrogen fertilization

Download

Bringing research and its results closer to the main interest groups in the agricultural sector has marked the line of work of AgrosceNA-UP since its launch. To this end, during the project we have carried out two co-creation activities with the interest groups from the agricultural sector, so that, by applying participatory methodologies, we could adapt our research to the greatest extent possible to the challenges that the interest groups perceive and the solutions they propose based on their knowledge and experience.

Co-design of the barley trial

The objective of the first co-creation activity was the co-design of the barley trial that we have carried out at the CENTER of Madrid to monitor yields and nitrogen losses of different management systems considering adaptation and mitigation to climate change in the context of the European Farm to Fork strategy. To do this, we organized a participatory workshop in September 2021, attended by 7 people representing farmers, environmental organizations, CENTER, and research. The co-design of the barley trial was organized based on the following decision-making:

  • Variety
  • Sowing: Date/s and dose
  • Fertilization: fertilizer, dose, fractionation
  • Water management: Possibility of support irrigation, dose and timing
  • Experimental design

Implementation of management scenarios to reduce nitrogen losses

The objective of the second co-creation activity was the co-design of the actions to be carried out to facilitate the implementation of management scenarios to reduce nitrogen losses. To this end, in June 2023, we organized a participatory workshop attended by 8 people representing farmers, ranchers, fertilizer companies, sectoral units of the public administration, environmental organizations and research. On this occasion, we structured the participatory process according to the following phases:

  • Co-design of agricultural management scenarios
  • Identification of barriers to the implementation of agricultural management scenarios
  • Co-creation of actions to overcome barriers to the implementation of agricultural management scenarios
  • Co-creation of the map of nitrogen loss reduction strategies
Stakeholders in the participatory workshop on scenarios for nitrogen losses abatement.
Design of the participatory process to define and apply sscenarios for nitrogen losses abbatment.

As a result of this participatory process, we have published a Policy Brief entitled “Defining a roadmap for sustainable nitrogen fertilization” with the aim of contributing to the transition towards more sustainable systems, for which we inform policy makers and the rest from interest groups in the sector on what actions can be carried out to overcome the barriers that are currently limiting the implementation of strategies that allow reducing nitrogen losses.