Abstract
The need for sustainable agricultural sector is growing rapidly due to climate changes. As there are still knowledge gaps and the need for innovations that support farmers in the sustainability transition, there is a need for determining priority research areas that are vital for the sustainable development of agriculture. The aim of our study was to derive a long-term vision of the desirable agricultural sector in Poland and prioritize research areas required to make Polish agriculture sustainable. We applied the living lab approach and, by conducting a backcasting exercise with the lab members, we identified a desirable vision of agriculture in Poland and the research areas needed to realize this vision. Using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Cumulative Voting (CV), we prioritized these research areas. Our results show that adaptation to climate changes is the most important area of research, having 38.6% of the total possible number of points using AHP and 29.7% in the case of CV. The analysis of the Polish strategic documents related to agriculture and agricultural research shows that, to some extent, these key research areas are already part of the national policy, but there is not sufficient funding and coordination to tackle all aspects of sustainability in agriculture.
Highlights
The need for sustainable agricultural sector is growing rapidly in line with news regarding the state of the environment and the pace of climate change
The aim of the article is to present the results of a study of the long-term vision of the desirable agricultural sector in Poland, and the prioritization of the research agenda that is required to make the Polish agriculture sustainable and resilient
As our aim was to identify priority research areas for sustainable agriculture, we limited the backcasting exercise of identifying the pathway to the desirable agriculture, to determining only its starting point; that is, the tools needed on this pathway, namely, research areas that can generate solutions to enable embarking on this pathway
Summary
The need for sustainable agricultural sector is growing rapidly in line with news regarding the state of the environment and the pace of climate change. The transition of agriculture requires conducting it in such a way that food security is not endangered. It should encompass factors other than the environmental components of sustainability. Union’s (EU) farm-to-fork strategy, cannot be implemented if there is no public consensus and if there are doubts about the feasibility of meeting the proposed targets without putting food security at risk, and about increasing sustainability [1]. New models of food systems are needed to enable a green transition that is fully sustainable and just. The new models require multi-actor governance [2,3] and engagement of research to propose innovative solutions and to verify their green credentials
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