{"id":852,"date":"2022-02-28T15:31:27","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T15:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/zbnf\/?page_id=852"},"modified":"2025-10-31T12:11:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T12:11:56","slug":"knowledge-exchange","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/zbnf\/knowledge-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge Exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Knowledge exchange between the University of Reading, RySS and external stakeholders are an integral part of this project. We try to achieve this through a variety of activities. See our news<\/a> page for regular updates of the project activities.<\/p>\n

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POLICY BRIEF<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We have recently released a new policy briefing on pathways for expanding natural farming in India. This briefing translates the learning from our empirical research in Andhra Pradesh to support policy makers and organisations interested in sustainable agricultural transitions and smallholder farmers livelihoods. Our scientific studies show no yield penalty and significantly lower input costs during the first year after the adoption of natural farming, demonstrating that it can deliver sustainable productivity, economic stability, and social transformation. We provide a set of useful key recommendations. You can read our Policy Brief here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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CO-DESIGN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

All experiments have been co-designed by\u00a0 partners in India and the University of Reading. A series of stakeholder engagement events were designed to facilitate a co-learning process around identifying research needs to evaluate the performance of APCNF. Twenty stakeholders were brought together in two workshops in Andhra Pradesh, and a subgroup of ten of them met on a third occasion. Their occupations ranged from researchers (national and international), government representatives (policy), agricultural extension officers (national and international), a philanthropic donor (financial support) and farmers (practical insights). The engagement processes included participatory exercises to identify research questions, presentations on APCNF activities, brainstorming to identify research gaps, field visits, and discussions on scientific methods and protocols.<\/p>\n

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TRAINING\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

All on the ground research activities are conducted by local personnel including Research Coordinators, or RCs,<\/span> (technical staff with master\u2019s degrees in agricultural, environmental science, microbiology, or related discipline), and Natural Farming Fellows, or NFFs (<\/span>graduates with bachelor degrees in an agricultural related subject, usually from agricultural college). A number of capacity building and training activities have been, and will continue to be, conducted within the team. Training topics have included experimental design, in field research techniques, data visualisation, gendered surveys and analysis. Members of local staff have also presented on APCNF techniques to audiences in the University of Reading, building UoR knowledge of the practise and giving staff opportunity to present to a wider audience.<\/p>\n

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COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Field experiments being conducted are open for members of the community to visit and ask questions about, and comment on, the activities taking place. All experiments were publicised within the local community and information boards were displayed. Interested parties were also able to watch project personnel while they conducted research on the site.<\/p>\n

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VISITS AND EXCHANGES\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

University of Reading staff (when COVID-19 restrictions allow) visit Andhra Pradesh regularly for training, co-design, analysis and feedback activities. In addition RySS personnel have visited the University of Reading for additional training and collaboration.<\/p>\n

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CONFERENCES AND PRESENTATIONS\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Project staff have also had the opportunity to present our work at international conferences. Conferences have included (but not limited to) the Sustainability & Development Conference,\u00a0the International Symposium on Climate-Resilient Agri-Environmental Systems (IS-CRAES), the World Congress of Soil Science and the Global Symposium on Soils for Nutrition.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is a locally developed grass-roots farming system that does not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":261,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-852","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKnowledge Exchange - APCNF<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Knowledge exchange between the University of Reading, RySS and external stakeholders are an integral part of this project. 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