Plain Language Summary: Co-production of agroecological innovations to improve sustainability in South American fruit farms.

By Fabiana Oliveira da Silva, Eduardo C. Arellano, Blandina Felipe Viana, Vinina Silva-Ferreira, Patricia Oliveira-Reboucas, Nadia Rojas-Arévalo, Andrés Muñoz-Sáez, Valentina Jimenez Perez, Natalia B. Zielonka, Liam P. Crowther, and Lynn V. Dicks.

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The intensification and expansion of agriculture in South America are major reasons for the loss of biodiversity. While international markets and global policies are attempting to address this issue, they may not be effective unless farmers are motivated and empowered to adopt long-term solutions that are suitable for their farming methods and local conditions.

To address this problem, we employed a collaborative approach involving farmers, researchers, and traders from Chile and Brazil, both of which have high biodiversity. A total of 14 farmers participated in the project, covering a significant amount of land used for intensive fruit farming. Through a series of dialogues and workshops, they collectively selected, co-designed, and implemented agroecological innovations that could support local biodiversity without compromising productivity or quality. These innovations included the installation of perches for birds of prey, the use of cover crops, and the planting of native hedgerows. The farmers also actively monitored the effectiveness of these practices and adapted them to their specific conditions. The results demonstrated that eight out of nine farms that implemented these innovations continued to utilize them even after the project concluded. They were motivated by the fact that these practices aligned with their management systems and enabled them to report positive actions in their supply chains pertaining to biodiversity conservation.

This work underscores the significance of locally based knowledge co-production and collaboration among various stakeholders to enhance sustainability in food supply chains. It suggests that many top-down efforts to promote sustainability in agriculture can benefit from locally based approaches to achieve greater effectiveness.