Embracing innovation in agriculture by peer-to-peer learning via on farm-demonstrations and cost-benefit analysis

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:enhanced peer-to-peer learning leads to widespread sharing and uptake of the innovative solutions by farmers across the EU, thereby improving competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of the agricultural sector;the costs and benefits of applying innovative solutions in real context are better understood by farmers, advisors and other AKIS actors across the EU. Scope:On-farm demonstrations can be crucial for enabling innovation uptake in agriculture, as they provide a platform for showcasing and evaluating new practices, but also serve as an effective avenue for peer-to-peer (or farmer to farmer) learning, leading to skill empowerment, higher adoption rates and increased practice change compared to the traditional top-down approaches. By engaging in on-farm demonstrations, farmers are better positioned to assess the applicability of innovative practices or tools. Complementing on-farm demonstrations with comprehensive cost-benefit analyses further empowers farmers, allowing them to quantitively evaluate the costs and benefits associated with the adoption of new solutions/practices. This approach should not only promote informed decision-making but also accelerate the uptake and integration of innovative practices across the agricultural sector. Proposals should either address Area A: Crop production systems, or Area B: Livestock and mixed production systems. The area (A or B) should be clearly indicated in the proposal.Proposals should:develop objective benchmarking criteria to select agricultural innovations, considering factors such as their impact, ease of implementation, scalability and applicability across different agricultural systems;develop and apply a standardised methodology to assess the economic, environmental (including biodiversity effects), and social impacts of adopting these innovations, with focus on the analysis of the costs and benefits for