On-Farm Experimentation and Disease Management: Insights from a Study of Winegrape Producers in Tasmania, Australia

Farmers worldwide conduct experiments on their own farms. Their on-farm experimentation is undertaken to test and modify crops, technologies, and practices to fit their specific circumstances and context. Importantly, on-farm experimentation is a key mode of farmer learning. By observing, assessing, and reflecting during experimentation, farmers not only learn about the performance of tested practices, but also develop and accumulate knowledge about the dynamics of local farming systems. However, integrating such experimentation into extension practice has been challenging historically due to the dominance of a scientific approach that is reductionist and which privileges replicated small-plot trials, providing limited insight into how new practices will perform at other locations and across seasons or varieties. To address these limitations, collaborative On-Farm Experimentation (OFE) has been recently proposed as new approach to agricultural research and innovation that ‘brings agricultural stakeholders together around mutually beneficial experimentation to support farmers’ own management decisions’ (Lacoste et al., 2022: 2). In this paper, we present progress in applying and adapting an OFE approach in the context of on-farm trials conducted in eight vineyards operated commercially in Tasmania to manage botrytis bunch rot, a disease that is estimated to directly cost the wine industry in Tasmania 20-30% of processed value in a severe season. Drawing upon qualitative data from pre-trial and post-trial interviews, and observational data collected during the trials, we examine how participants interpret the value of the trials and forms of collaboration, learning and actions that were a consequence of the OFE process. In doing so, we also critically assess what can be learned from our application of a collaborative OFE approach in contributing to ‘more flexible, responsive and adaptive outcomes’ (Comi, 2023: 17) for producers as well as farming regions.