An introductory literature review highlights the growing attention within the processes taking place at farming region and landscape scale beside the classical spatial scales at cultivated/experimental plot level. This recent evolution in agronomy finds its origin in newly emerging land management issues. Meanwhile, geography and other disciplines are stressing the need for a greater integration of multifunctional agricultural activities into the decision-making processes at the various levels of land management, such as provinces, municipalities or watersheds. This requires also that studies on farmland management include explicitly the different environmental and social contexts influencing farming activities. In this paper we aim to analyse how recent agronomic oriented research are facing and supporting various land management issues. We have compared five interdisciplinary PhD theses examining their definitions and methods of analysis for: the farming system, the local land management issues at stake, the spatial scale selected for the study, the stakeholders’ involvement and the interaction with other disciplines. Common issues which emerged from this comparison are delivery of agro-environmental services, sustainable land management and landscape conservation. Multiple spatial levels were considered, which included at least one administrative unit of policy decision/implementation. Consequently, the explicit (re)definition of some agronomic concepts and methods was needed. Regarding the interdisciplinary framework, the theses have stressed the interactions among agronomy, geography and ecology. All theses aimed at delivering tools for decision-making support, mainly in the form of cartography. Nevertheless the participation of local stakeholders was generally included as a final step; herewith the settings of stakeholders’ involvement were various. In conclusion, we discuss how the produced knowledge has enhanced the land management issues in local planning tools. On these bases, we stress finally the issues at stake to strengthen the roles and contributions of agronomic oriented education and research to agricultural land management and development. __________________ suggested citation: Marraccini E, Rizzo D, Debolini M, Planchat C, Toillier A (2012) Contribution of agronomy to land management issues - A Comparison of five interdisciplinary PhD theses. 10th European Symposium of the International Farming System Association. Aarhus (Denmark). http://bit.ly/13Nq2ua

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workshop 5.3
10th European IFSA Symposium
1-4 July 2012 | Aarhus DK
Contribution of agronomy to land management issues
A comparison of five interdisciplinary PhD theses
E Marraccini • D Rizzo • M Debolini • C Planchat • A Toillier

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land management issues | LMIs
catchment protection area
water agency boundaries
municipal boundaries
single farm plots
other plots
woods, hedges

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agronomy & land management
•Need to articulate LMIs to different levels of analysis → landscape perspective (Lardon et al. 2012)
•Increasing attention of agronomy to LMIs (bibliographic review) → new societal expectations, research gaps

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COMPARING PhDs | research & education
•2009-2011
•different facets of the landscape perspective on LMIs:
–multifunctionality of agriculture
–management priorities & planning
–environmental roles of farming systems
to analyze how recent agronomic research is facing LMIs & the implications for education
→local LMIs
→farming systems involved
→spatial levels of analysis
→disciplines & methods
→stakeholders involvement
meta-analysis of 5 thesis…
…comparing them on:

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RESULTS | land management issues
•different approaches to LMIs
–Supporting decision of local stakeholders → early SH integration
–Better understanding of local dynamics ≠ levels of SH integration
–Producing knowledge to design new indicators → few SH integration
•challenging to deal with
–multiple case studies (local or international)
–LMIs dynamics  multiple spatial scales
examples from Planchat 2009

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•working at multiple spatial scales
–to assess the consistency of the results
–to test adaptations of methods
–verifying different local answers to LMIs
RESULTS | spatial scales
•need to integrate the interactions of
–non agricultural dynamics (e.g. ecological, urban sprawl)
–other actors than farmers
level of policy implementation
agroecozone
(intermediate level)
farm management level
examples from Marraccini 2009

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RESULTS | interdisciplinarity
•adaptation of methods and tools from different disciplines
–quantitative & qualitative spatial representations
–stakeholders surveys
–multi-criteria analysis
•outsourcing the educational needs
–intensive programs and PhD courses on inter- and transdisciplinarity
–PhD course on reflexivity
–doctoral schools in landscape agronomy
examples from Rizzo 2009
maps of management hotspots
agronomic analysis & supports

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DISCUSSIONS | educational needs
to tackle LMIs and to deal with “field reality” in a landscape perspective PhD students are challenged to adapt disciplinary knowledge
harmonizing detailed results and holistic approaches
diversifying the toolbox to include participatory approaches & “metric” methods
widening the educational career implies some difficulties to get published
reinforcing the publication strategy
What are the shared bases to deal with “landscape disciplines”?
Are the PhD publications enhancing the reflexivity on the landscape perspective?

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workshop 5.3 | Marraccini et al.
10th European IFSA Symposium
1-4 July 2012 | Aarhus DK
What are your experiences ?
What are the shared bases to deal with “landscape disciplines”?
Contribution of agronomy to land management issues Marraccini et al. | workshop 5.3
Contact person during the Symposium: DAVIDE RIZZO
Are the PhD publications enhancing the reflexivity on the landscape perspective?