What is the role of the farmer, the support service and communication in the innovation process? What triggers innovation? And what did the nine Dutch cases not tell the AgriSpin partners about the innovation process? The pearls and puzzles from the Dutch Cross Visit presented insights and posed relevant questions.
Positive and Interesting Pearls
The Role of the Farmer
The nine Dutch cases showed the farmer to be in the driver’s seat at the beginning of the innovation process and to be the one taking the initiative. Next, the advisor got involved, but the farmer remained in the driver’s seat.
The cases also demonstrated that multiple actors inspire to more change: Single farmers want to change something in their own management process, but when multiple actors are involved they want to change a system more.
The Role of the Support Service
Going from day-to-day operations to the consolidation phase is most times out of the scope of the entrepreneur. This is when the support service needs to take responsibility.
Also, it is very important that the right people are available to the farmer during the innovation process because it takes specific people in the right organization to really take an entrepreneur further. That is to say the right kind of people must also have an entrepreneurial mindset.
Small amounts of money can help innovators take the first step. This type of investment is low risk for support services but have a large impact.
Furthermore, combining the farmer’s innovation with the right market is also very important. It may take a while before the market gets organized. In this area, assistance from the support service is paramount.
Communication Is Key
Communication with all actors and stakeholders surrounding the entrepreneur or innovator is key to his/her success as well as to getting into new networks.
The Triggers Are Manifold
Triggers are incidents that make people start the entire innovation process; it may be an outside person coming into the agricultural sector or maybe the farmer gets his inspiration from an entirely different place. A “shock” can also trigger the idea.
The Puzzles
The puzzles of an innovation process are the elements that are not clear yet, or would have been interesting to know or reconsider for the stakeholders or host:
- How typical are the innovation cases visited for the Netherlands? Are the farmers visited “elite” farmers?
- Would it be interesting to also visit farmers that struggle, have failed or who are still in the middle of their innovation process?
- The focus of the innovation cases was on individuals doing better things or doing things better. But how will the knowledge gained by these individuals spread to others? What about the transferability of their innovation process?
- Can you organize shocks for triggering ideas? And if so, how do you select the right people (farmers or support services) to get it going?
- How do you increase outreach through communication? Are there specific mediums that work better than others?
VIC Sterksel is a national pig innovation centre in the Netherlands. The centre has been very successful in developing concepts for the 21st century by translating scientific knowledge into practical solutions in the area of livestock farming systems, nutrition, genetics, animal welfare, and the impact of domestic animals on the environment.
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