Assessing and building of resilience in Western farming systems

In collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), we adapted the FAO SHARP tool from a developing countries’ to a Western countries’ context in order to assess the resilience of Western farming systems. We tested this adapted SHARP tool among farmers in Switzerland.

Objectives

To identify needs of farming systems to become more resilient
To adapt the FAO SHARP tool from developing to Western countries’ context
To test the adapted tool among farmers in Switzerland

Research approach

The SHARP tool was adapted through discussions with the FAO SHARP team and other experts as well as a literature review. The tool was then pre-tested with five farmers and then tested with 25 farmers from the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland.

Findings from pilot study

SHARP is a useful tool to get an overview of the current situation and to set priorities for projects aiming to build resilience in farming systems
Farmers appreciated having a computerised tool that generates immediate results because it quickly enabled a discussion on how to increase and build resilience
One farmer-identified option to support the building of farming systems’ resilience is a shift towards diversified agroecological systems

Next steps

In order to mainstream the adapted SHARP tool, further improvements on the computing part are ongoing. Once the tool is finalised, the tool will be made available for projects that aim to support the building of resilience in farming systems of Western countries. In parallel, activities are being executed in Switzerland from March to September 2017 to identify, with the farmers who tested the adapted tool, ways to build their resilience through innovative practices.

Master thesis

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