Level: Plot & Farm
The field, the farm and the household are common levels of analysis in agronomical studies. A farm is comprised of fields and this is the level that individual farmers can act on and affect change. The farm is, especially in development contexts, often managed by the household, which is then also the economic and decision making unit. Moreover, this level is relevant for legislation on environmental issues. Around the world, the household forms a strong unit of agricultural production for both crops and livestock, with tight interdependencies between decision making and exchanging and sharing resources – tools, labour, capital and food – from the various crop and livestock components of the farm.

Lessons learned
The importance of considering gender to maintain and enhance soil health.
By Wei Zhang
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Lessons learned
Promising changes at the field level are no guarantee for good results at the farm level.
By Roos de Adelhart Toorop
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Lessons learned
Consider from the start: the social fit of technical changes!
By Mirja Michalscheck
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Looking ahead
Centering gender equity in nature-based approaches can harness synergies among biodiversity, climate, land restoration and equality goals.
By Marlène Elias
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Looking ahead
A ”fishy” situation: social ecological traps in small-scale fisheries and a gender transformative approach for synergistic solutions.
By Steven Cole
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Looking ahead
Knowledge gap in how deforestation, simplification of diets and decreasing agricultural biodiversity are dynamically linked.
By Genowefa Blundo-Canto
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Looking ahead
Without understanding people’s opportunity spaces, talking about their adaptive capacity is void of meaning.
By Anne Rietveld
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Looking ahead
Designing Decision Simulation Models With Trade Offs In Mind.
By Cory Whitney & Eike Luedeling
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Case study
Nutrient flows and intensification options for smallholder farmers of the Lao uplands.
By Sabine Douxchamps
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Case study
Farm-scale trade-offs between legume use as forage versus green manure.
By Sabine Douxchamps
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Case study
The push-pull system needs to better consider farmers’ constraints and needs.
By Yodit Kedebe
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Case study
Reconciling trade-offs between gender equality and carbon mitigation and adaptation in Burkina Faso.
By Marlène Elias
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Case study
An emerging transition towards less diversified food access coupled with loss of forest cover and agricultural biodiversity.
By Genowefa Blundo-Canto
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Case study
How agricultural intensification increased inequality in Southwestern Uganda.
By Anne Rietveld
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Presentation
I – SDGs, Biodiversity & Bioeconomy: Introduction to the concepts as related to the trade-offs between human development and conservation. Video available here
By Lisa Biber-Freudenberger
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Presentation
II – SDGs, Biodiversity & Bioeconomy: Introduction to the concepts as related to the trade-offs between human development and conservation. Video available here
By Lisa Biber-Freudenberger
read moreQuestion for reflection
- In your context, what are some (positive or negative) unintended consequences of farm-level practices?
- What criteria are most relevant to you for designing a multifunctional and resilient farm?
- In your context, what are potential conflicting farming objectives at the household level? How are these being handled?
Some geographical examples:













