Formal agricultural research is often conducted by professional researchers, however, recently there has been in an increase in farmer-led initiatives such as the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario’s (EFAO) Farmer-Led Research Program (FLRP). The Connecting the Dots initiative is excited to share a research summary about the impacts of the FLRP – Farmer Knowledge as Formal Knowledge: A Case Study of Farmer-Led Research in Ontario, Canada. The summary highlights the value of the EFAO’s FLRP and how it has been beneficial for ecological farmers in Ontario. The research was conducted by Erin Nelson, Sarah Hargreaves, and Dillon Muldoon and published in Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

The research explores:

• The key impacts of the FLRP
• The importance of farmer-led research as a method that can support ecological farming
• The limitations and challenges of the program.

Learn more about the research through a brief one-page summary and a short video. This summary serves as a valuable resource for those interested in sustainable development and land-use planning in rural Ontario.

This summary has been created through the Connecting the Dots initiative at the University of Guelph, supported by the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance. To view more research summaries or learn about the initiative visit rural.uoguelph.ca/research-summaries.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Please take a few minutes to complete our short survey and share your feedback on the research summary and video.