Ms. Nina Gheorghiță – Vice-Chair of LAPAR, university lecturer, and most importantly, a farmer directly involved in one of the AGROSUS field experiments in Romania – intervened during the Copa-Cogeca PHY Meeting to share her experience from the ground:
“I followed the presentation with great interest, and I would like to say that we are part of the AGROSUS project. I myself, as a farmer in the southeast of Romania, am directly involved in this project, through the organization I represent – LAPAR – which is a partner in AGROSUS.
I want to emphasize that, very often, the tools we are given to test in farm conditions are not always the most suitable. But we are doing it anyway. We are interested in testing them to see whether we can actually adopt them or not. AGROSUS is the research tool we need to re-iterate with new scientific instruments what old school and nature taught us.
Let me give you an example: one of the agroecological tools I am testing on my farm is increasing the seed rate by 30% – increasing the planting density to cover the soil better and leave less space for weeds. A tool like this, in the southeast of Romania, in the steppe region, where we are dealing with low rainfall and significant hydric stress caused by pedological drought, does not produce great results. But we will see at the end of the project whether these tools we were given are suitable or not for our steppe region.”
From Theory to Practice – Why Real-Field Testing Matters
Ms. Gheorghiță’s intervention underlined a key challenge in agroecological innovation: bridging the gap between theory and practice. While research and modelling offer important starting points, true validation must happen in the field, where farmers operate in complex and unpredictable conditions.
In real farming environments:
- Fields are rarely uniform;
- Weeds and pests appear in patches;
- Machinery breaks, weather shifts, labor shortages occur;
- Agronomic decisions must be made on the spot.
These realities make testing under actual field conditions essential – not only for validating tools, but for ensuring their relevance, feasibility, and adaptability.
Farmers as Innovation Partners
As Ms. Gheorghiță emphasized through her dual role as farmer and academic, farmers are not just recipients of innovation – they are central actors in shaping it. Crops don’t speak, but they suffer. It is up to the farmer to interpret the signs, act promptly, and safeguard the health and viability of both the crop and the farm.
To do this, farmers need a flexible and robust toolbox of agroecological measures, adapted to their local constraints and realities.
A Best-Practice Model for Horizon Projects like AGROSUS
Projects such as AGROSUS, which implement a multi-actor approach and prioritize real-life field testing, represent a best-practice model for Horizon Europe initiatives. Involving farmers not just as beneficiaries but as co-creators of knowledge ensures that research outputs are relevant, practical, and impactful on the ground.
