Deliverable 3.2 - Future Visions of Sustainable Farming: Insights from European Co-Creation Workshops

(Please note that this deliverable has not yet been approved by the European Commission) This deliverable presents the design, implementation and findings of 32 co-creation workshops conducted between 2023 and 2026 in the Community of Practices (CoPs) of SUPPORT as part of Task 3.2. The co-creation workshops aimed to contribute to a responsible transition towards Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and reduced dependency on chemical plant protection products (PPPs), This was done by developing shared future farming visions for 2053 (done in 2023) and collectively identifying barriers and enablers for achieving these visions (in 2024). In addition, action agendas (in 2025) and policy recommendations (in 2026) were co-created. Workshops were organised in eight European countries each focusing on a specific crop and farming context. A backcasting approach was applied for the co-creation workshops. Backcasting moves away from current constraints, thereby enabling participants to envision more ambitious sustainable futures. Detailed co-creations workshop guides supported the execution for CoP leaders and ensured methodological coherence while allowing adaptation to national, crop and value-chain contexts. The CoP participants included growers/farmers, advisors, policymakers, plant health services, supply-chain actors, researchers, and other relevant stakeholders. Across countries and crops, the future visions show farming systems that are more technology dependent, resource efficient and less dependent on chemical PPPs. Smart and precision farming technologies with sensors, AI, robotics and drones were viewed as important enablers. In addition, more resistant crop varieties, biological control and improved management practices. Also, report of the co-creation workshops emphasised that technological and agronomic innovations need to be develop in combination with other types of innovations such as new business models, supportive market incentives and fairer distribution of risks and revenues across value chains. And last, this needs to be supported by improved knowledge and advisory systems, higher consumer awareness, long-term regulations and coherent supportive policies. When reflecting on the applied backcasting approach, SUPPORT experienced that CoPs members were able to collectively develop ambitious future visions and to identify systemic barriers and enablers. However, the action agendas and policy recommendations were sometimes less concrete and lacked follow-up in practice. In hindsight this makes sense as participants lacked mandate, resources or decision-making authority to implement proposed actions of policy changes. So, modesty about what change co-creation alone can bring in grand challenges in recommendable. Our experiences did illustrate that backcasting assisted in constructing shared vision and activating positive energy, both important elements in furthering sustainability transitions.