Agricultural innovation is an essential component in the transition to more sustainable and resilient farming systems across the world. Innovations generally emerge from collective intelligence and action, but innovation systems are often poorly understood. This study explores the properties of innovation systems and their contribution to increased eco-efficiency in agriculture. Using aggregate data and econometric methods, the eco-efficiency of 79 countries was computed and a range of factors relating to research, extension, business and policy was examined. Despite data limitations, the analysis produced some interesting insights. For instance public research spending has a positive significant effect for emerging economies, while no statistically significant effect was found for foreign aid for research. However, foreign aid for extension is important in less developed economies. These and other results suggest the importance of context-specific interventions rather than a “one size fits all” approach. Overall, the analysis illustrated the potential of a macro-level diagnostic approach for assessing the role of innovation systems for sustainability in agriculture.

The goal of this paper is to provide insights into how scientific evidence can be used for policymaking and put evidence-based agriculture and food policies at the top of research and policy agendas. We illustrate how scientific evidence can be used in a targeted manner for better policymaking and present an overview of the rich set of ex-ante and ex-post evaluation methods and tools that agricultural economists use for evaluating agricultural policies to provide evidence for policy decisions. We present insights into both established and new/emerging methods and approaches, including their advantages and disadvantages, and discuss their potential use for policy evaluation. We also discuss how methods and approaches should be combined and could be better targeted towards decision-makers. The paper also discusses the crucial role of high-quality data in supporting the science—policy interface. Finally, we present an overview of papers in this special issue titled ‘Evidence-Based Agricultural and Food Policy: The Role of Research for Policy Making’.

In spite of the considerable potential contribution of neglected and underutilised crops to climate resilience, food security and nutrition; widespread adoption of these crops remains a challenge. Uptake is inhibited by poor economic performance due to low yields, compounded further by various social factors. Using farm survey data and aggregated time-series data from four states in southern India, this study examines factors influencing productivity in finger millet cultivation. A farm-level yield gap analysis is complemented by an analysis of total factor productivity (TFP) growth between 1999 and 2014 to better understand the role of research and innovation. Results suggest that there is considerable potential for improved growing practices to achieve better yields, but also education levels and technical support emerge as crucial factors for boosting finger millet productivity. The TFP analysis indicates a moderate level of growth, with a high variability and conflicting trends between states, suggesting a need to invest more in research and development, extension and infrastructure. Sustained productivity gains will require research efforts that respond to the needs expressed by farmers and that finger millet forms part of an overall strategy for sustainable intensification.

Certification in agriculture ensures compliance with tangible standards and should generate economic opportunities for farmers. This study quantifies the variable profit and efficiency impacts of organic certification in dairy farming across Europe, using farm‐level FADN data from 25 countries while accounting for heterogeneity through a class splitting model. Four distinct classes with dairy farm enterprises operating under similar production conditions were identified in order to assess gross margin and efficiency differences among certified and non‐certified farms. Depending on the nature of the selection bias, treatment effects were estimated either through an endogenous treatment model or through entropy balancing. The results suggest that organic certification increases gross margins for dairy farm enterprises in Europe, while slightly increasing technical efficiency in two out of four classes. These significant effects of certification on efficiency were estimated at 2% and 7%, respectively. As regards variable profit, effects range from to 66 Euros per cow to 234 euros per cow. In relative terms, this implies gains between 38% and 50% for farms classified into more cool or temperate zones and a gain of up to 182% for the farms assigned to the class that designates warmer climatic conditions.

Introduction: Agroforestry plays a vital role in maintaining and developing the resilience and productivity of farms and landscapes. Scientific evidence from the Sahel region suggests that integration of trees and shrubs has the potential to improve temperature and moisture levels whilst providing bio-based fertilizer that contributes to increased yields of annual crops. However, little is known about the factors that influence the diffusion of agroforestry. This study examines joint decisions on the use of agroforestry alongside other complementary agricultural practices and disentangles agroforestry awareness from adoption and disadoption decisions.Methods: Our analysis is based on a comprehensive farm-level dataset covering almost 3,000 farm households in Mali and Senegal. A large number of adoption determinants are utilized, with a special focus on information access, information flows and social groups.Results: The findings suggest that extension access and training participation boost awareness of agroforestry-based soil fertility management, while information provided by public extension, NGOs and community members is strongly associated with higher adoption intensity. In the analysis of disadoption, farmer-to-farmers exchange in the community was found to be a key factor in the decision to maintain agroforestry use. Membership in cooperatives and youth groups appear to have a favorable effect on awareness and adoption in Mali, but less so in the Senegalese case. Similarly, only results from Mali show that adoption of agroforestry is accompanied by the adoption of other sustainable intensification practices and lower use of synthetic pesticides.Discussion: We conclude that in order to support the transition to more widespread agroforestry-based soil fertility management, it is essential to strengthen public and NGO-based advisory systems that fully engage with local knowledge networks.